Advice for a Young Grad School Applicant?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hey, everyone!</p>

<p>Basically, I want to apply for my PhD in English this fall. I'm a senior at UPenn.</p>

<p>Here's where it gets muddy: I'm a transfer from a CC (4.0, honors program, published research, PTK, etc, etc). I've been at Penn for a year right now, and they're having me graduate early. I'm 19 now, but I'll be 20 when I graduate.</p>

<p>I would <em>love</em> to take a gap year because I feel that my age will work against me when I apply since I have literally no experience, but my parents are against it. I know that technically I am an adult and should make my own decisions, but they are willing to help me with grad school whereas if I decide to take a gap year, I'll be out on my own.</p>

<p>I feel that the problem now is that I haven't proven myself well enough to apply for the grad schools I want to apply to (definitely UCLA, USC, Berkeley, and UCI, but there are others that I would like to apply to, like Brown, Chapel Hill, Columbia). I was supposed to have an internship with summer, but due to family obligations and personal issues, I had to back out. I only have a 3.45 GPA here at Penn, and my official GRE scores aren't great (which I just took last week, and came up to 157 V, 154 Q, and a 5.0 W). I'm hoping that the fact that I've had two jobs last semester and this semester (including one on research this semester) will help, as will a retake of the GRE.</p>

<p>Any thoughts, advice, or suggestions? I know that the likelihood of getting in is almost nil, but any suggestions would be nice (especially before I talk to my major advisor... I don't want to sound like an idiot in front of her).</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Don’t listen to your parents. Take a gap year, or two, or three. Go travel. Go work. Regardless of how that affects your chances for graduate school, it’s the best thing you can do for your life. It’ll give you a new perspective, and you’ll get to see the real world. </p>

<p>Do you really want to spend all of the best years of your life in school? You may regret it later on.</p>

<p>I took a gap year after high school, and two years after my undergrad. I traveled a lot, worked, started a company, failed a lot, met tons of people, lived in other countries. Best thing I ever did. When I talk incoming PhD students right from undergrad it’s easy to see that most of them have no perspective of what really matters in life, or they want to do with it. The conversations I have with people who have worked or traveled are so different, and so much more interesting and insightful. </p>

<p>Universities offer amazing resources and by taking a gap year you will be able get much more out of graduate school than you would otherwise. Life is not about academics.</p>

<p>Edit regarding the financing issue: Who cares? Sorry if this sounds harsh, but grow up and take your life in your own hands. You don’t need your parents’ money. There are miliions of people who make it without their parents help (me included). Many PhD programs offer fully funded positions anyway.</p>

3

<p>I wouldn’t say your chances are nil, but if you don’t feel you’re ready for grad school yet, you’re the best judge of that. It’s totally OK to take a gap year, and it can also help to clarify where you actually want to go with your future.
I would see if you can find some resources pointing out the advantages of taking a gap year and discuss the issue with your parents.</p>

4

<p>Any PhD program worth going to will offer you full funding, even in the humanities. Seriously. If they’re not offering you full funding (through fellowships, teaching, and/or research), the program really isn’t up to snuff.</p>

<p>As someone just finishing a PhD right now, I will say that you need to be absolutely sure that it’s what you want to do and that it will get you where you want to go. Otherwise, it is such a tough process (rewarding as well, certainly, but tough), that you’ll be miserable or drop out. You need to not doubt the path to stay on it. Taking a year or two sounds like a great way to make sure of that, and it’s something I wish I had done.</p>

5

<p>Parents are often against gap years because they believe that students “will never go back” to graduate school, or they believe (erroneously) that their children will never get a job without a graduate degree. Neither of these things are true - PhD students are often in their mid-to-late 20s or early 30s (or older - the oldest woman in my cohort was 34 when we began) when they begin. And they bring with them maturity and experiences that help them weather graduate school, both academically/professionally and personally.</p>

<p>Also, PhD programs are typically fully funded, so don’t worry so much about your parents not helping you financially. It would be nice, but you can make it on your own. Please don’t rush yourself into graduate school just because your parents seem not to understand the realities.</p>

<p>I too wish I had taken 2-3 years off before coming to the PhD program. It’s grueling! And long! An English PhD can easily take 7-10 years. If there’s anything you want to do before that, do it now!</p>