Summer Fellowship

[insaneinthemembrane]

I've gotten a lot of advice suggesting I take some time off before graduate school (I'm going straight from undergrad) but both of my top choices have offered me a summer fellowship program. I know someone at one institution was really happy that he did it (he also came straight from undergrad) and at the other institution, the faculty seemed to push the program but the students didn't as much. 

 

I would have about a month and a half off between graduation and the start of the first rotation for the school I'm leaning towards more (the one where the student was happy he did it). Does anyone think I might need more time off than that and I should take the whole summer or would gaining new skills and getting better preparation for grad school while taking a small break help more? 

[hgp]

I'm all for positive mental health so I think the biggest question is if you feel as though you need a break. If you are burnt out from four years of undergrad and the summer program is supposed to be challenging, resting your brain and establishing healthy habits might be of better service to you. A month and a half seems like a solid amount of time to recharge - although you may be surprised how quickly it goes. However, I don't know how big an advantage it would be to do the fellowship in terms of preparation for grad school - I mean, you were accepted because they thought you were prepared enough already. You could always take the summer off and do prep on your own. Everyone is different, but I know after I graduated, I didn't use my brain for a solid two months after and then slowly started back into productive, academic work thru a part time research assistant position - and now (after 7 months) I feel so ready to jump back in academia for the next six years. 

[rising_star]

This is an incredibly personal decision. I did the summer program and actually ended up with only a few days off between graduation and when the program started. I don't regret it because I made great friends through the program, learned a lot about what the expectations were of a grad student, and got a chance to get started early on research, which ultimately helped me finish my master's on time.

[Cookie]

I started working in June, so when grad school officially started I already had 2 solid months to get acclimated to the school, the  department, the weather, done moving in my apartment etc. I see no disadvantage in starting early, since it's not like they expect you to produce publishable data in the summer. My friends in biological sciences all started in the summer as an early/extra rotation and none of them regretted it.

[insaneinthemembrane]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm leaning a bit more towards taking the fellowship offer since I think it will be a valuable experience and I personally feel that a month and a half of doing nothing will definitely recharge me before graduate school! 

[jujubea]

Soooo what are your top choices?

[insaneinthemembrane]

Soooo what are your top choices?

 

I'm trying to decide between UChicago and Stanford. Both have good programs for me I think, it's just very difficult to decide where to go since both are top schools.