Taking a year off between Undergrad and PhD applications?

[blizzap]

I'm graduating undergrad in May 2014 and want to pursue a PhD soon. Unfortunately, I was pretty swamped with work and also had this realization sort of late so I didn't have time to take the GRE and get a strong application ready before the December/January deadlines. I'll probably be accepting a job offer from one of a few companies and reapplying after next year. Has anybody been in the same boat? Are there pros and/or cons of being in my position?

[meowth]

I waited until after I graduated to apply because I was already so busy doing an honors thesis. I also wasn't 100% on what I wanted to go to grad school for.

 

Pros:

• I get to use my complete transcript, that I graduated with highest honors, and show my honors thesis.
• Time to gain more experience (like even my last spring semester helped a lot).
• More time to think about where to go to graduate school and what to go for.
• Time to see if I just like working or if there's anything else I'd rather do.

Cons:

• Since I started working I actually still ended up quite pressed for time when application season rolled around again.
• It took me a while to actually find a job (but you'll be okay there).
• Might be hard to take time off work to go to interviews to visits.
• Student loans started collecting six months after graduating.

[Leuco]

I am working in a lab in the year in-between as a research assistant/tech, due to grad school rejections last year.  I had similar but different experiences as meowth.

 

For me, I had far more time to fill out applications.  I had a crazy busy fall senior semester, and this year, I had far more time to focus on apps.  I also have more money than I did last year, which gives me the freedom to apply to more schools.

 

Working in a lab (for a professor who wrote one of my letters) makes the interview process easier, I think: He'll have no problem letting me take off work to go on interviews, and I don't have to worry about missing class/exams, which I saw a lot of my friends suffer from last year.

 

 

To me, the best things about getting rejected and taking a year off is actually the experience I gained and the time it gave me to reflect.  After being rejected, I had a bit of a freak-out as to what I wanted to do with my life: Is grad school really where I want to be?  Now, I can say, unequivocally, that the answer is yes.  I figured out why the answer was yes, and I was able to better convey this in my personal statement, I think.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Leuco

[phdapp]

I was 100% sure that I wanted to do a PhD. However, in my last year of my Master's degree I realized I didn't have time to both do well my last year of Master's work and still get my applications done in any satisfactory way ---- so I waited. Now I've applied for Fall 2014 admission. I graduated in June of this year from my Masters program.

[Maleficent999]

I am currently in the boat you'll be in next year. I, like Meowth, thought I'd have more time but I ended up being pretty swamped for time too. If I could go back and change anything it'd be that I'd take the GRE pretty soon after graduation instead of waiting until the Fall. I don't regret the decision to take a year off though. It would've been impossible for me to take the GRE and apply to all the schools I want to while I was still an undergrad because I worked full-time back then too.

[rexzeppelin]

I had planned to apply during my senior year (I graduated in 2012), but like several of you I was too busy to devote the time to researching PI's and programs and taking the GRE. After graduation I spent a year abroad teaching english, where I had plenty of time for both.

 

I also really appreciated my gap year because it gave me a chance to reflect on why I wanted to get a PhD, instead of feeling like I was just following some accepted path straight from undergrad, and it really solidified my conviction that that's what I want. It was also awesome to do some traveling, learn a new language, and meet some amazing people. I'm back now applying for fall 2014, and found a job as a lab grunt in an industrial clinical lab, and I don't regret the time I've spent off.

 

It seems like many people take a year off and do wildly different things, but they probably all value their experiences. Even if you have to work a shitty job for a few months, it will put your reasons for graduate study into sharp relief, and ultimately make you a better student.

[AvatarPsych]

 

I waited until after I graduated to apply because I was already so busy doing an honors thesis. I also wasn't 100% on what I wanted to go to grad school for.

 

Pros:

• I get to use my complete transcript, that I graduated with highest honors, and show my honors thesis.
• Time to gain more experience (like even my last spring semester helped a lot).
• More time to think about where to go to graduate school and what to go for.
• Time to see if I just like working or if there's anything else I'd rather do.

Cons:

• Since I started working I actually still ended up quite pressed for time when application season rolled around again.
• It took me a while to actually find a job (but you'll be okay there).
• Might be hard to take time off work to go to interviews to visits.
• Student loans started collecting six months after graduating.

 

 

 

This, 100%. Only difference is I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and during school I was swamped with extracurriculars, research jobs, and my honors thesis. However, I still found myself pressed for time with another year. The work experience though, is extremely helpful and helped me realize that I really love school and want to dedicate the insane amount of years it takes to get a PhD. Student loan repayments suck, but it's helped with money management which is something that will be needed when going through graduate school. Luckily, I found a job in academia so they are very supportive of me having interviews and working on applications.

 

Another interesting part of taking a year off: I thought I'd settle into the working world and wouldn't want to get out of that comfort zone. However, in my research job I find that working with these populations I have a LOT of questions of my own and get frsutrated that I can't do that much with my bachelor's degree. So in a weird twist, it has motivated me to go back that much more because I realize just how much I need  PhD to really do the research I want to do. It's pretty reassuring to have that happen, as it solidifies the decision to go back. But this poster above lays out the pros/cons really well.

[victorydance]

My year off has been a blessing. I don't have any student debts and still have a bunch of money saved up that I didn't burn through so I don't even need to rely on a full-time job. I moved to a foreign country and got a part-time job as a RA. My language skills are greatly improving. I get to spend upwards of 30+ hours a week on my grad school applications. 

 

I don't think many people are 'ready' to go straight into Ph.D. programs from undergrad, especially those who went straight into undergrad from high school. People don't realize just how much of a commitment it is and I think that is why attrition rates are so high. 

 

I don't get the rush. Life experience is important in life. I have now taken 4 years off in total since high school and I believe I am a much better and rounded person for it. 

[Munashi]

I loved taking the time off in between.  I was lucky and got a job immediately after graduation that was in my field and really allowed me to strengthen my application.  It was also great - for me - to take some time off of school and learn how to live on my own.  It's also let me get a small amount of savings together so that I could afford the application process and, now that I'm in, allow me to move without needing to borrow money.

[whitegummy]

Took a year off and don't regret it at all. I'm glad I had time to learn a bit more about the programs I was interested in, talked to some grad students about their experiences and in general enjoying life without the stress and hassle of papers and exams. Last vacation before 5 years of doom? Hell yeah.