When is the best time for doing internship?

[Cookie]

I'm going to apply for NSF GROW+GRIP as an NSF-GRFP fellow; these opportunities allow fellows to do research in the US or abroad for 2-12 months. To me, it's a long absence from the lab!

I'm finishing the 3rd semester in my program. By December I will complete all my coursework. I have already passed a progress exam and writing my 3rd papers (one submitted and the other two in preparation). So is this the best time to go on a (fairly) long internship 3+ months? My potential collaborators are doing slightly different projects than mine (although there are some common grounds in the theory part), so working with them on their projects would mean spending less time on my current projects. I was thinking about waiting til I finish my current projects/papers, but then it is not easy to predict when.

I'd love to hear from your experience about: (1) When do you choose to do internship? (2) How do you manage working on your internship project and your own projects at the same time?

Edited November 9, 2014 by Cookie

[juilletmercredi]

I just looked up GRIP and oh wow, I wish that existed when I was a GRF!

 

I did a non-academic corporate internship in the summer after my third year of grad school.  I think after coursework is complete is the best time to do an internship, particularly a research one.  You have more skills and will be more useful to the scientists you'll be working with, and you'll be making the transition into comprehensive and dissertation work - the research  you do at the summer program might enhance or contribute to that research.

 

It also depends on the length.  A 3-month short-term project, usually done over the summer, doesn't have to be done after finishing current projects - they're usually an opportunity to collaborate with different researchers on different projects, and perhaps write some papers with other authors and get enriching experience.  A 12-month overseas project is usually done in support of the dissertation, though.  Perhaps there's a researcher abroad who has the perfect dissertation project for you and you get the GROW to go work with them on that.  I don't think you should just take 12 months off from your program to do unrelated research, unless, of course, you are fine with the idea of delaying your graduation to do that.

[Cookie]

Thanks juilletmercredi! I will apply for a shorter internship.