<p>I am wondering what the normal/most appropriate path is for students entering grad school. I want to work (not take the summer off), and I have two choices (internship or early start).</p>
<p>If I work, I can make ~9k doing easy work. I like the location and the flexible work week. Unfortunately, it is not related to my desired grad studies/career (it's in mechanical vs. diff grad studies).</p>
<p>In grad school, I have a fellowship+assistanceship combo. This allows me to make ~4500 additional if I start grad school early. I may want to start early in order to better prepare for my qualifiers (January 2011); however, I also partially want to take the summer off (aka, internship).</p>
<p>I wanted to know: 1) what is the norm? and, what is appropriate/suggested?</p>
<p>PS- Is it possible to ask for a higher funding state as a purely researching grad student during the summer? (more job-esque).</p>
<p>I’m not a grad student (entering this Fall), but I haven’t heard of grad programs that let you start early as in taking classes, etc. There is, however, the option of coming early in the summer and getting involved in research of a lab you’re interested in. You’re generally not committed to the lab you work for over the summer, but it gives you an opportunity to get your feet wet, acclimate to the university and the new location, and see if this lab is the lab you want to (or don’t want to) work for. Some schools have required lab rotations before you pick a lab/PI so this would be an additional rotation for you… going in the summer seems especially nice if your graduate program does not give you the chance to rotate. If it’s a group you’re really interested, but you’re interested in others, it’s a good way to eliminate a choice or realize that it’s exactly what you want. I’m not sure if you will get a chance to take grad classes, so I’m not sure how much coming early would help for your qualifiers if that is your main reason of going.</p>
<p>As for me… the school I’m going to has required rotations/meetings with PI’s so I’m opting to work over the summer in industry. There are lots of openings, and I figure I can learn something new about my field that maybe I would not get as much exposure to in my graduate group… sort of an opportunity to fill my belt with one more thing before I’m expected to perform. Also, I’m moving out of state for the first time and I want the chance to have one more amazing summer with my family before I disappear for 5 years =)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>take the money.
The extra bucks will allow you to do more of everything as grad student. At the very least, the money will relieve some pressure on living expenses and living style.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help guys(/gals). </p>
<p>I appreciate your thoughts regarding qualifiers chickaboomm. It seems that I had a pretty optimistic view regarding preparation for the tests, and speaking with others seems to have verified the point that early summer study will do little to better prepare me (simply going to have a tough Nov-Jan by the looks of it).</p>
<p>Likewise, LongPrime thanks for the succinct reply… I agree, I could use the money as a grad student (my fellowship/assistanceship is really good, but a little more money couldn’t hurt).</p>
<p>I’ll probably side with the internship for the mere sake of wanting: 1) another (and better) industry internship on my resume (experience); 2) a break from highly challenging course/research work; and, 3) the $$$ couldn’t hurt</p>
<p>Of course, I can only take the internship if my professor relinquishes me for the summer… (Something he is not very want to do at this point)</p>