One year---What do I do?

[Plasmodel]

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So, I graduate college in 2010. Since, I don't intend to matriculate until 2013 I still have a year left between the time I finish my masters and my intended matriculation date. I am applying next Fall..

The thing is what do I do:

I don't know if I want to continue doing research (albeit in another lab as my funding runs out in my present) but I also want to do something that is flexible enough to allow me to go on interviews (hopefully I will get some!). I do have adequate research experience + publications (I think..). I wanted to do something different from research bcz I am probably going to be doing it all my life and want to explore my other interests/curiosities! I wanted to learn a new language in a foreign country but then realized that I didn't want to be flying back and forth across world for interviews! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[MSTPlease]

I wanted to do something different from research bcz I am probably going to be doing it all my life and want to explore my other interests/curiosities!

It's one thing to spend a year doing something you won't be able to do later in life, it's a totally different thing to spend a year away from research because you're going to do research the rest of your life and you want a break from it. I'm obviously not on an admissions committee, but that attitude would raise a huge red flag for me regarding your commitment to research.

I am not saying you intend to convey the latter attitude, but your current phrasing certainly does.

 

[Maebea]

I'm obviously not on an admissions committee, but that attitude would raise a huge red flag for me regarding your commitment to research. I am not saying you intend to convey the latter attitude, but your current phrasing certainly does.

QFT! Admissions committees will view a "year off" with concern. This does not mean that your application will be DOA, but it will raise doubts about your commitment. Admissions committees are risk-averse, and we will have hundreds of other applicants to choose from who do not have this risk factor in their profile. (A comparable risk factor would be C's in Organic Chemistry. This is not fatal in and of itself, but it takes a good deal of the shine off an application.) Your application will have to be very strong to overcome the doubts this will introduce into our minds.

 

[MSTPlease]

QFT! Admissions committees will view a "year off" with concern.

Just want to double check that we're all on the same page. In my understanding, there is nothing wrong with spending a year between the master's and the MD/PhD, the point I was making (and want to make sure Maeba is also making) is that ideally you should just do research in a lab somewhere, and if not, you need to have a really solid reason that does not include specifically desiring a year off from research.

 

[phonyreal98]

Sorry for the bump (and hijack), but would an appropriate excuse for having a "year off" from research be that after graduation you couldn't find a position in a research lab and you had to find some way to support yourself, leaving no time for research...or would this be a red flag to MD-PhD adcoms?