Thanks for weighing in for my threads. My past threads give insights on my son’s troubled academic times. He was graduated in May 2020, with good credentials/GPA, but his Graduate school dream shattered by Covid-19 and forced him a gap year. He is in cross roads. He applied many jobs, all are stuck without progress.
What is the right forum to open a thread about Graduate School navigation/options/issues.
I find Professional & Graduate School/ Graduate School forum do not have any recent threads.
He might do better to find a non-CC forum that is specialized to the work or type of grad school he wants. For example, although there are knowledgeable people here who know about law school and can answer questions, I can think of 3 much more active forums that are better. CC is great for undergrad or boarding school questions, not so much about post-grad questions.
Why was his graduate school dream “shattered” by the pandemic? A gap year is not a terrible thing - or even a bad thing - and for many graduate programs, it can be a good thing or a necessary thing. Furthermore, the pandemic is temporary; theoretically, we won’t all still be social distancing a year from now (dear god, I hope not - but with a vaccine on the way, it seems unlikely), and most graduate programs will eventually resume taking students as they did before.
So unless something else happened, his dream’s not shattered, just postponed. He just needs to be patient.
As for the jobs - well, the economy is in a difficult place. Some businesses are booming (mostly digital ones) while others are really suffering (the hospitality industry). So it may take longer than usual for him to find a job.
Thanks for weighing in. Yes , by the pandemic. His adviser told him that he would get a admission . He applied for 10 schools, but his GRE on border line.
He is looking for a avenue to improve his profile with a Research project/job. It is not happening.
What is the story, he can tell for gap year (time) for prospective graduate school to evaluate his application?
I agree the pandemic is temporary. When most graduate programs eventually resume taking students as they did before, he will be challenged by many students. He need to build a compelling story/profile to stand out.
How he tells the story depends on what he does, so that’s why he’s struggling: you can’t tell a story that you don’t know the plot or ending to yet Right now he should concentrate on finding a job; once he has one, and he’s in a position to apply to graduate school, then he can start working on what his story will be.
But one thing I would advise is for him to shift his thinking: this isn’t a “gap year.” This is just his life.
LOTS of people work before they pursue a graduate degree for a variety of reasons, including that they just don’t feel like going to graduate school right away. He doesn’t need to explain why he didn’t go straight from undergrad to grad school, as if that is some kind of bad thing.
If he’s able to find a research job in his field, that’s great - he can easily write a story about wanting to pursue a research position to really immerse himself and how he fell even more deeply in love with the field or whatnot on that. If he works a job in an unrelated field, he doesn’t even necessarily have to address it. Especially if he only takes one year - he’d only have been working the job max a few months before applying anyway.
An adjunct position is usually for people who have a graduate degree.
He needs to work on getting a job - any job- and/or studying for the GRE. A lot of scientific research has been put on hold because of covid.
Grad school applications for fall 2021 are due around now. If he manages to get a job involving research, the soonest he could be admitted to grad school would be fall 2022.
Yeah, “adjunct” research positions are not the right ones to look at. He’d want to look at research assistant positions, which are the ones for undergrads and recent grads. You don’t say what discipline he’s in, and that’s important: natural/life sciences labs and medical research labs are the most likely ones to have paid positions for research assistants still open right now in the pandemic. In psychology, many labs at research universities have 1-2 paid positions for research/lab managers.
Depending on the field, there may also be opportunities outside of academia - like at nonprofits and think tanks or whatnot.
Right now he should concentrate on finding a job; once he has one, and he’s in a position to apply to graduate school, then he can start working on what his story will be.