<p>I went straight from UG to grad school and was burned out. I took a year off after my first year, but would have been better off taking a gap year. </p>
<p>The one qualifier is that math skills atrophy in a year. This did happen to me when I returned (my PhD is in Statistics). So, I think I’d be reluctant to take a gap year in a field like physics or spend some time over the summer reviewing. I think there is lesser or greater mathematical depth required in different areas of geology.</p>
<p>Other than that, subject to the issue of visiting bio labs, I think it would not be viewed negatively and could well be positive if he is doing something interesting. I second (or fourth) the suggestions to a) ask his professors; and b) look at the web page of the departments that interest him. Some schools might be more straight-laced about the proper path whereas others might value more eclecticism. For example, Persi Diaconis was a professional magician before going into mathematics and was accepted to the PhD program at Harvard.</p>
<p>At a holiday party yesterday I sat with two highly qualified PhDs (biologist and chemist) who both counseled taking time off between undergrad and PhD grad school, even saying that two years off may be better than one. The caveat was that one should be working in one’s field during this time. The time working should actually shorten the PhD time requirement, they agreed.</p>
<p>thank you to everyone who has posted so far! this is just the kind of input I was hoping for! it has been very educational and helpful! keep it coming!</p>
<p>I would appreciate further input on the following:
If someone has recently AND successfully taken a “gap” year or 2 between UG and a science PHD program, were they accepted to their PHD program first, or did they apply after their break ?</p>
<p>i know people who have done it both ways— but the people who took time off and then applied tended to be working in a lab for a couple of years before applying. It was the students who applied and then deferred that did less related work for a year or two.</p>
<p>I also don’t know how geology grad schools work- but I think it would have been hard to interview while working a real job. I was gone for ~4-5 weeks of my senior year of college on interviews, and I don’t think that most jobs would give you off for that amount of time. If you are doing something in the field, then they want you to go to grad school so they tend to be a bit more flexible.</p>
<p>I actually haven’t seen many programs that allow deferral of PhD acceptance – because PhD acceptances are tied to funding, the programs to which I applied were generally reluctant to allow students to defer. One of the girls in my interview cohort picked her PhD program because it was the only one to which she was accepted that would allow her to defer.</p>