<p>Hey guys, so I've been trying to plan out the next couple years and was hoping if I could get some opinions on this plan. </p>
<p>I'll be graduating in the summer of this year with a double major in bio + art, and my plan was to apply to graduate programs in medical illustration, which I planned to prepare a portfolio for by being in an atelier for a year (actually, the portfolio is important, but a huge reason why I want to do an atelier is simply to get better at art). So the general plan after school was: 1 yr atelier + 2 yr grad school. </p>
<p>However, like many people I have extreme wanderlust, and the closer I get to graduation the more I fantasize about just ditching it and traveling around the world for a few months or up to a year. I'm not looking for working or volunteering abroad; I just want to travel for the sake of travelling. So I guess that would make it a 2 year gap if I tried to fit that in. At the moment I don't have any major debt, some money saved up, and I'll be working until I graduate so that should help further the funds. IF I did this, I'd most likely travel first, then do the atelier/apply in that same year. </p>
<p>My question is, am I being realistic? I've also asked for letters of recommendation based on the fact that I'll be applying next year, so how would my professors react if I told them this plan instead (which would mean they would be writing my letters after 2 years from now. The time lag is way too much isn't it?)?</p>
<p>Your professors won’t care. They can write your letters now while their memory of you is still fresh in their mind, save them and submit them whenever you are ready to apply.</p>
<p>Lucky you if you have the money to travel the world for a year! I am jealous :)</p>
<p>My advice is that if you want to do this, do it. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t do international opportunities like that before graduate school - like trying out the JET Programme or applying for an English Teaching Assistant Fulbright, which were always dreams of mine. I thought that getting straight to graduate school would be the best thing because I wasn’t getting any younger. It’s only once you’re here that you realize how much of your life stretches ahead of you. Grad school will always be here; go satisfy your wanderlust. It’s much more difficult to do those things after grad school (or during).</p>
<p>Don’t put so stringent a time limit on yourself, either. I mean, I’m not saying don’t plan to take off for X amount of years - but be flexible about that amount of time, too. It may be difficult to put in applications while you are traveling around the world, so maybe you take a 3rd year to actually do the applications. Or maybe you find some other fantastic opportunity that takes you in another direction and makes it 5 years instead of 2. I’m saying, just be flexible and allow yourself to take good opportunities instead of pigeonholing yourself, because grad school will always be here.</p>