Summer

[NOWAYNOHOW]

Now that I know I'll be somewhere in the fall, I've been wondering how I'm going to spend my summer. My research fellowship ends June 1, so I have some time between then and the start of classes. 

 

I went straight from a professional career to my MA and then to this fellowship, so I've been working in research for the past few years and am feeling kind of out of touch! I also like money, because it pays my bills, so that is also a priority. 

 

Are we supposed to get internships? Find jobs? Are there pre-doctoral summer fellowships? I assume most deadlines have passed, right? I'm sure responses will vary for subfields, but I'm stumped. Anyone have any good resources? 

 

If your answer is "Go to the beach and read magazines" I will accept those suggestions too.

[smg]

 I was told to read fiction cause I'm not going to have time for it in the near future.  Other than that I'm looking for work.  

 

Now that I know I'll be somewhere in the fall, I've been wondering how I'm going to spend my summer. My research fellowship ends June 1, so I have some time between then and the start of classes. 

 

I went straight from a professional career to my MA and then to this fellowship, so I've been working in research for the past few years and am feeling kind of out of touch! I also like money, because it pays my bills, so that is also a priority. 

 

Are we supposed to get internships? Find jobs? Are there pre-doctoral summer fellowships? I assume most deadlines have passed, right? I'm sure responses will vary for subfields, but I'm stumped. Anyone have any good resources? 

 

If your answer is "Go to the beach and read magazines" I will accept those suggestions too.

[museum_geek]

 I was told to read fiction cause I'm not going to have time for it in the near future.  Other than that I'm looking for work.  

 

Seconded.  I am doing my best to work my way through my current list of light reading before classes start in the Fall.

 

I currently work full time at an entry level job in a related field so I'll probably keep working that job right up until my lease ends in August.  Other than that I expect to spend a significant amount of time planning the move - apartment hunting, deciding what stuff to take with me and what stuff to sell, travel plans, etc - I'm probably looking at a 1,500+ mile drive wherever I go so this whole process is going to be a pain in the butt.

[annwyn]

Seconded.  I am doing my best to work my way through my current list of light reading before classes start in the Fall.

 

I currently work full time at an entry level job in a related field so I'll probably keep working that job right up until my lease ends in August.  Other than that I expect to spend a significant amount of time planning the move - apartment hunting, deciding what stuff to take with me and what stuff to sell, travel plans, etc - I'm probably looking at a 1,500+ mile drive wherever I go so this whole process is going to be a pain in the butt.

All of this.  Going to work right up to August while trying to reduce my household accumulation of total crap to a manageable size. I have three kids, so I don't have high hopes in the household reduction arena.  I too am looking at 1500 mile move.  I imagine that "pain in the butt" will be a wild understatement!  

But, if I can find time to relax and maybe read something frivolous, I'd like to see what that's like for a change.

[have2thinkboutit]

All of the above, really... especially, the 'reading fiction' part because I remember how much I missed when studying for my Masters... As for a 1500 move - mine will be a wee bit longer. I'll be leaving my work in SE Asia in August to get a chance to see my family in Europe for a while before moving to the US. But it's all good! I'm so excited and grateful and excited and grateful (kinda alternating there) that I'll happily downsize to a 20kg piece of luggage again.

And since it cannot be said often enough - CONGRATULATIONS to everybody! I'm not a very regular poster here, but I've been following many threads on an obsessively regular basis (think "oh, it's been at least 20 minutes since I last checked on any gradcafe updates...") and am have really shared everybody's ups and downs and am so happy for everybody who got in. This process can be so harsh and doing it more than once - wow... so I think whatever else the summer holds - take some time to relax, to connect with those who may live much further away, read a couple of goooood books and just relish the time before this exciting new chapter

[FaultyPowers]

I'm apparently a glutton for punishment, so I'm actually going to try to buy a house this summer. My list is brief. A roof, some windows...that is all.

My lease is up in June, so best case scenario, I'll pull it all off in time and spend a couple of months getting to know my new town before classes start.

[museum_geek]

I can't say I blame you for wanting to buy a house Faulty!  Assuming you go to UMass, the Pioneer Valley is an amazing place to live and there are some really great properties available (i.e. huge lots) available in Hadley and Sunderland.  Take a drive down route 47 and route 116 when you're in the area and you'll get an idea of how much land is available for homeowners!

[daykid]

Absolutely go read for fun on the beach. I worked through mid-August and I wish I had been able to take more time. For financial reasons that wasn't an option. But, this may be your last commitment free summer.....well, till tenure really. So, enjoy it.

[Kaitri]

Make some time to get outside and do something at least mildly active. It will clear any lingering stress away, and will better prepare you for the onslaught associated with the first year of coursework. Last summer, I spent as much time as I could walking, riding my bike, and generally soaking up the sun. All of those things are free (or inexpensive if you don't have a bike), so they shouldn't cut into your budget for the year.

 

(I do *not* look forward to having to do another year or two of courses. You learn so much, but the workload is just way too heavy at times. BLEH.)

 

This summer I'm finishing my MA thesis, but my funding ends in April, so I'm wondering if I should get a job to help pay the bills until the fall. For those of you who have written MA theses or MRPs, is it possible to work and write? I'm not doing any fieldwork, so I don't have to worry about travel breaking up my summer.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Kaitri

[Ajtz'ihb]

Ditto about getting outside, being active, and reading some novels (or at least non-academic nonfiction).

 

The summer before I started I was on my honeymoon so of course mine is a bit of a special case, but my wife and I backpacked around the Andes for 4 months. One perk of having done so is that I've got a pretty solid handle on Andean prehistory and contemporary Andean cultures even though I'm a Mesoamericanist. Also, I read a lot of Borges, which was great.

[grad_wannabe]

Also, I read a lot of Borges, which was great.

 

this is the best way to spend any summer!

[rising_star]

This summer I'm finishing my MA thesis, but my funding ends in April, so I'm wondering if I should get a job to help pay the bills until the fall. For those of you who have written MA theses or MRPs, is it possible to work and write? I'm not doing any fieldwork, so I don't have to worry about travel breaking up my summer.

 

I worked while writing my MA thesis and it was fine. It helped that I had a desk job that wasn't too busy so I had time to do things like look up more articles, edit chapters, or make outlines. I didn't do much writing at my job but, having it helped because it meant I had to more carefully schedule my writing time to ensure said time actually happened. I was actually really productive the spring of my second year of the MA, taking a grad seminar (and I might've audited another but I can't remember now), working part-time off campus, and fostering two dogs, all while dealing with crazy roommate drama. The craziness made it easier to write in some ways since I knew I had limited time to get that done. I also highly recommend setting clear deadlines with your advisor and not missing those (mine was crazy early, Feb 1 for the first draft). Again, that helps you stay on task.

[annwyn]

For those of you who have written MA theses or MRPs, is it possible to work and write? I'm not doing any fieldwork, so I don't have to worry about travel breaking up my summer.

 

 

You can totally work and write at the same time.  I did, many of my friends did.  BUT, a few couldn't do it.  My advisor said that writing is the one place most students will drop out of their degrees.  His advice (which I found to absolutely true for me): write every day.  Even if it's crap, even if it's just transitions between sections or chapters, even if it's just basically jotting down the broad strokes about what you know on your topic as if you were having a conversation without references or anything.  Make a goal to write EVERY DAY.  You won't, and that will be okay.  But if your goal is everyday, and you write five days a week then you will be getting enough done to get finished.  He called it overcoming inertia. 

I found it helped me to have a specific time of day that I wrote, and a specific space.  Unfortunately for me, the time was usually midnight to 2 am, and the space was my living room floor...but I got it done! 

As long as you make time to write, and stick to it, you will be fine.  I do better when I have to micro-manage my time because I'm super busy.  If I have too much free time, I won't get my work done.  So for me, a job helped me manage my time productively.  But if you don't work that way, and you do better having a free flowing time schedule (and you don't NEED the job) you might seriously consider taking the summer to write and relax before fall class start!