Summer between Undergrad and Grad

[Tez92]

As I sit and wait to hear back from graduate programs that I have applied to, I figured as a way to pass the time I should start looking into things to do over the summer. While I was in undergraduate school there were many research opportunities I participated in, but they were usually for non graduating students.

What are you all planning on doing/or did the summer right before you started your graduate program?

What advice would you give someone?

Should they just find a job and save up their money?

Should they take a break from academics to rest their mind?

Respond as you will like.

[GeoDUDE!]

finish up manuscripts/posters from old department.

save money.

have fun.

[eeee1923]

Work on my my MS manuscript

 

Get a part time job doing something non-academic

 

Sleep and start tackling the backlog of TV shows I've been meaning to watch

[TakeruK]

I did what GeoDUDE! did in between undergrad and masters. I worked as a paid research assistant for 2 months to finish up my undergrad project (not to manuscript level, just tie up loose ends / train another person so that it did become a manuscript a year later). However, I also made my move across Canada into a month-long vacation so all money saved was quickly spent, but it was an awesome trip! The 4th and final month of summer was spent in new grad school city, getting stuff settled etc. and relaxing.

[VulpesZerda]

1. I'm going to finish out my time at my stupid retail job because it pays pretty well for a stupid retail job and I can't commit to anything else for that short amount of time. Money's money!

2. I booked a trip to Europe that is the cheapest thing I've ever managed to throw together-yay! You should definitely travel if you can/like to!

3. I also decided to re-read the Harry Potter series. It's been too long!

4. I'm going to spend a good amount of time on the process of moving out of my parents house and hopefully getting rid of half my stuff.

[mb712]

My goal is to work, submit at least one thing for publication, and finally watch House of Cards.

[MathCat]

I plan on reading some textbooks to fill in some gaps in my background, but also relaxing a bit and then moving.

[shadowclaw]

Between undergrad and my masters program, I worked almost full-time as a waitress, volunteered at a nature camp for a week, got outside and had some fun, and binge watched a bunch of Star Trek.

 

Assuming I'm accepted to a PhD program, I plan to try to get a seasonal job doing field work, which should earn me a nice chunk of cash from May through July. That will leave August open for moving to my new city. If I don't get accepted, I'll have to hit the job market and look for something more long-term. In either case, I'll also take some time to finish up my manuscripts from my masters research and send them out. It will also be a great time to catch up on some reading as well as get my kayak out on the local rivers and creeks.

[teddybrosevelt]

Reading! A lot of material related to my field as well as some fiction.

Assuming I get in to graduate school, my summer of 2015 will be spent working as an intern for a large mining company

[FacelessMage]

I took a full year off between my undergrad and grad school (because burnout led to sickness) and during that year I:

-published my undergrad thesis

-went to Europe

-worked part-time in retail and full-time in a job somewhat in my field (saved lots of $$)

-mostly just tried to get well again in amongst all that (didn't really work)

 

I think if you just a have a summer off, use that time to try to relax and save some money. You definitely need some decompression time before starting graduate work. 

[Octoberstormxx]

For me, I plan to work on my manuscript of my first YA novel. With the summer, I'll finally have time to do that.

[victorydance]

- I've been living abroad for the the last year or so, working on becoming advanced in Spanish. 

- I want to start to turn my honours thesis into a workable manuscript by the time I start grad school.

- I am reading/writing a book review for a journal. 

[FoggyAnhinga]

After I finished my undergrad, I spent the three months of my summer (before starting my master's) abroad in east Asia, conducting ecological research at a government agency there. I returned from Asia less than a week before my master's program started so it was quite a packed summer lol... 

 

For this summer, if I am accepted to a Ph.D. program for this fall's admission, before enrolling I plan to continue tutoring my students and volunteer at a local church for several more months and embark on a summer trip to Australia in June. I also plan to backpack across Oregon and Washington after I return from Australia. Oh, and perform my duty as a groomsman for my best buddy's wedding too, haha.

[lizardclan]

If accepted (I only had the money to apply to 1 school, and I only recently got credit cards) I plan to move to Riverside the summer before my program begins.

 

I have already met with some faculty, and if I'm on campus 2 or 3 months before the fall, I am hopeful I can do summer research before my program begins.

 

-lizardclan