<p>do most people take a few years off school before going to grad school? i wanted to go to usc annenberg (even though im a ucla student haha) for a masters in communications management to eventually be a talent agent. and also, when are good times to take the GRE both if i was to go right after undergrad or take some time off.</p>
<p>I believe that the best time to take GRE will be during senior year or just after graduation. Definitely, not during full-time work as you will be busy.</p>
<p>I took 10 yrs. off before going to Grad. School. Some people go straight from undergraduate studies and some wait for decades.
I believe that GRE acores are reportable for 5 years but you could quickly verify this. The GRE is computer-based so you have a lot of flexibility in taking it. I would work through some practice material before taking it, just to be sure that you can get the score you need.</p>
<p>It depends on when you feel that having a graduate degree will be the necessary next step in your career/life goals. If a year of work after undergrad is what you need, then take it. If 5 years is what you need, then take it. If you feel ready to go straight after undergrad, then go. There isn't a set timetable for being ready for grad school.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to contact your prospective schools and ask what the median number of years of work experience, area of work experience, etc., are.</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to go to graduate school in and what kind of degree you want. Some areas of study encourage or require some work experience. Others want people straight from university, especially if it is a difficult, time-consuming degree.</p>
<p>If you are applying for a competitive and time-consuming program like a PhD program in Psychology, 10 years after graduating may be a problem. The PhD programs in Psych generally like people right out of undergrad or within a year or 2, because the process to get the doctorate takes several years. So they generally don't want someone 35 years or older because if they have to invest 5-8 years of graduate school training on you, there is less working years for you to be productive (i.e. publish research). Not sure about other fields, but probably a similar scenario for other competitive fields that require several years of study. However, some programs like MBA's or Training and Development actually like it when you have a few years of real-world work experience under your belt before starting a master's program.</p>