Summer before Grad School

[Boba felt]

I'm also backpacking for 5 weeks, but in Europe . So excited!

[Macavity]

Probably staying in the city where I did my MA, working some minimum wage summer job to save up for moving expenses.   I'm going to try to visit my parents and friends from hometown a few times while they're still within driving distance.

[marsmat]

Backpacking three months in the US and Mex. Then huge midsummer party in the Swedish forest (parents-in-law dont know yet and we are trying to find a way to tell them they will have to go away for midsummer) and a few weeks of slacking/ trying to hire someone to take over my job.

 

Im guessing this summer will be at least a good second place in the scale of summer experiences after those epic last few months before undergrad.

[overworkedta]

Read, travel, work, whatever makes you happy.

 

I'm not happy being bored, so I took a summer internship with a Medicaid provider to essentially study bureaucrats and work on health reform with them.  It was a great experience and I could bike commute to work!  I loved my coworkers and learned a lot about what I wanted to do from there.

 

I read but not as much as I should.  Now, I can barely bother to get a book out.  So depressing!  READ.

 

I also met up with my BFF from the UK and we did a bit of travelling around the states.

 

I also managed to be hospitalized two times thanks to complex migraines and a kidney stone!  It was an "entertaining" summer.

[GraceEun00]

Most likely going back home and staying with the parents while working some minimum wage job. I was planning to work as a residential counselor at a summer program for 6 weeks, but it looks like that's not going to happen since I recently bought flights to KOREA during that time!!!! Wooooo!

 

Otherwise, I'll be reading for leisure and research, spending as much time as possible with my family, dog, and friends, and exercising a lot. 

Might be the best summer ever? 

[themmases]

Originally my partner and I wanted to go on one big vacation (where we do something involving more planning than driving to a different part of the Midwest for a few days), but I decided to take biology and chemistry classes at night and they ate my money.

 

Now my big gift to myself is quitting my job early-- hopefully at the end of July-- and giving plenty of notice so hopefully people start to leave me alone a while before that. I'm applying a year or two earlier than I thought I would because of some terrible stuff that happened at my job, so this is actually huge for me. Sometimes I think at least 1/3 of my anxiety to hear back from schools is because I feel sooooo ready to give notice!

[DigDeep(inactive)]

Although it may not work for your field, I will make the suggestion for others in the same boat:

 

Try to work with your department the summer before you actually start. Before my masters program I went in the field with my new POI right before I started and it made a huge difference. I came in as "one of the guys/gals" and was already a part of the existing cohort when I began. Plus, I got a jump start on data collection and got to know my POI really well (drank beer with him all summer). 

 

This summer -- the summer before I start my doctoral program -- I will do the same. This time it's in Greece, so I'm going to stick around and prepare (i.e., read) in cafes and such with the money I make in the field working with my new POI.

Edited March 21, 2014 by DigDeep

[maelia8]

I am from the US but live in Germany. My contract for my current job ends on June 30th, so I'll be going home for the first time in a year! Everyone else seems to want to leave home and go on a trip to Europe, but for me it's just the opposite I need to be moved in and ready to start grad school by August 20th, so I'm expecting that my six weeks at home are going to be busy as I go through all the stuff I bring back from Germany, all the stuff I left at home, and decide what the heck to bring with me when I move. My new university is 6 hours' drive from my hometown, so there will probably be some going back and forth between the two places as I look for apartments during that time. I'm assuming I'll be pretty busy, and I don't think it will be possible to get a job at home for such a short time, so when I'm not packing, apartment hunting, or selling stuff on Craigslist, I was planning on just enjoying time with my family and reading fiction for probably the last time in the next 5 or 6 years  

[ravenray]

Everyone's plans sound great!

 

I'm going to Cabo San Lucus right after I graduate for a week with my husband.  I'm very excited, I've never been to Mexico before. Then I suppose we will spend the rest of the summer camping, hiking, maybe some weekend trips, looking for a house to rent, reading, knitting, hanging out with friends and family, and practicing things. 

 

I think I am going to get bored though because my husband starts work in July so I am sure there will be a lot of sitting around the house. 

[actuallyatree]

I'm going tree planting. One last season, only two months (thank god), and my wallet likes it.

[LexHex]

Nothing exciting like all of you  Just gonna work at an English Language Summer Camp and possible try to squeeze in a trip to Vegas.

[unbrokenthread]

What did/are you going to do for the summer before grad school begins?

 

I have to be on campus for the first five weeks of summer (through the 25th of July, basically) to comply with research program requirements. I'm flying out to Atlanta on the 26th, putzing about until Aug 1* when I move in to my new place, and after that I'll get a week or so to relax, and then TA training begins!

 

I was really hoping to get an extended break for summer, but it just didn't happen. 

 

* One of my favorite things is just taking the time to explore a new place. August in Atlanta has been described to me as a "swampy armpit" in which I will have to learn to "breathe underwater," and I've been in the South in Aug/Sept so I know that this is true, but I'm still not going to waste the little free time I have by just sitting around indoors! I'm trying to think of it as a free sauna.

[WriteAndKnit]

Work! I already have a job at the university's bookstore. It's good and busy and keeps me occupied, pays the bills, AND I get to see what books are ordered for all classes. 

[MakeYourself]

I suggest you fuck shit up.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I suggest you fuck shit up.

Fuck it real good. 

[Sigaba]

I worked for as long as I could before it was time to take care of the move.

[fuzzylogician]

I suggest you fuck shit up.

 

Fuck it real good. 

 

I suggest you watch your language. I don't have a lot of patience for this. Both of you.  

[MakeYourself]

I suggest you watch your language. I don't have a lot of patience for this. Both of you.

Sorry master.

[EngineerGrad]

Although it may not work for your field, I will make the suggestion for others in the same boat:

 

Try to work with your department the summer before you actually start. Before my masters program I went in the field with my new POI right before I started and it made a huge difference. I came in as "one of the guys/gals" and was already a part of the existing cohort when I began. Plus, I got a jump start on data collection and got to know my POI really well (drank beer with him all summer). 

 

This summer -- the summer before I start my doctoral program -- I will do the same. This time it's in Greece, so I'm going to stick around and prepare (i.e., read) in cafes and such with the money I make in the field working with my new POI.

Totally agree with you!

 

I am working with my POI this summer (I start my PhD in august). And it's being phenomenal! I'm learning a lot, getting a hold on the experiments and etc... It's definitely a lot of work, but hey... I'm getting paid and getting started in my research =)

Edited June 5, 2014 by EngineerGrad

[thedig13]

As I'll be moving across the country for grad school in the Autumn, multiple professors have actively urged me to enjoy myself this summer.

 

Thus, I am heading back to my hometown, where I have resolved (and made plans) to, in some order:

 - Hang out with local friends

 - Play a lot of basketball (i.e.: catch up on all the basketball I missed while grueling away over the school year)

 - Coach basketball

 - Brush up on my Spanish

 - Play a lot of videogames

 - Work out

 

So, basically, in terms of professional and/or academic development, a whole lot of nothing.

[Maleficent999]

I'm working until about a week before I move but on the weekends I plan to make as many little road trips as I can and enjoy my Xbox before I breakup with her. I'll also do some reading and hang out with my family and new baby niece.

[ecm07e]

I am going to Florida for 4 days and attending an AP training for US History. Other than that I am reading some fiction and just relaxing. Working full time and going to school part-time (2 classes) is going to be interesting. I need to catch up on my sleep now.

[efs001]

I've been working for the past 2 years so I'm quitting my job at the end of the month and moving back in with my parents for a month.  It means one less month of NYC rent and it's easier to move from my parents' house to North Carolina.  I'll probably go on vacation with them and just chill for a month before the big move.

[starofdawn]

I originally wanted to quit my job early and travel around some foreign country before starting grad school, but I'll probably be quitting in a month and just travel out to Texas to see family. In the mean time, I'll be reading Getting What You Came For and At The Bench: A Laboratory Navigator.

[S_Colorado]

This is my last week of work and then I have a little over two months before my program starts. My plan is to visit the new city, find a place to live, and move out there as soon as possible so I can enjoy and get to know the new city and state before having to throw myself into school.