<p>So my daughter just informed me that she is seriously considering doing Teach For America after she graduates and putting off Grad school. She will graduate with a Marine Science/Bio double major and a Math/Chem double minor. She has always said she was going to do a PHD immediately, so this is a new development. </p>
<p>Here is my question:</p>
<p>If she takes two years off and works, can she still find an advisor to take her on as a grad student? Does it make it much harder? Will she still be able to have grad school paid for by the school? </p>
<p>She is afraid of being pigeon holed into research that she is not really that interested in. She feels that the extra time will allow her to examine her interests and develop a lifetime research goal. Yours thoughts please?</p>
<p>I think it’s a great idea. I’m the only one in my cohort who came directly from undergrad; everyone else took at least a year off before grad school. Graduate school is extremely demanding and stressful, and some time off from school is usually more helpful than harmful.</p>
<p>She should carefully investigate TFA before she commits. Some of my friends loved it, and some absolutely hated it. The level of administrative support you get can vary immensely depending on your assignment, and that usually makes or breaks your experience. It’s also a good idea to have a back-up plan; TFA has boomed in popularity among those who don’t know what else to do after graduation, and it’s extremely selective.</p>
<p>In addition to TFA, she should check out some things a bit closer to her field. Many places are looking for environmental educators, for instance, and some field research stations hire interns/researchers on a seasonal basis (e.g. to monitor bird migrations). AmeriCorps hires people for environmental-related things as well.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>I am really worried about the funding aspect. For the sciences, students usually get a full ride for Grad school (or so I am told). Would she still be able to go for free?</p>
<p>SVMMom, it depends on the school. Your daughter will be able to go for “free” if she’s accepted to a school that provides funding. Usually, the top schools and/or large schools provide full funding.</p>
<p>So I wouldn’t worry about “that”…</p>
<p>BUT I would point out that Ph.D programs are research programs. Does your daughter have the research background to be competitive for fully funded Ph.D programs. If not, I would suggest she spend the next 2 years working as a research assistant and/or technician somewhere…rather than teach. Years ago, my brother spent a couple of years after graduating, working as a research tech and co-authoring publications. That was followed with a fully funded doctorate at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Perhaps your daughter should spend her time as a marine biology/biology/chemistry research assistant? The one thing she will get out of this experience is that she will know if it’s for her (or not). I am of the opinion that to really know whether you like something or not, you have to do it (experience it). Then you’ll know. Kicking back 2 years just thinking about what you may or may not like, while doing something else will not help much. </p>
<p>On the other hand, she may find that she likes teaching. You never know.</p>
<p>I would encourage you to seek the advice of someone who’s actually in your daughter’s intended graduate field because the conventions do vary a lot by field. </p>
<p>I am in math and everyone in my PhD program came directly from undergrad (or a foreign graduate program). I have heard countless numbers of times how difficult it would be to get back into math (both content-wise and admission-wise) after leaving academia. </p>
<p>Please beware of anyone’s advice who makes sweeping generalizations for all graduate programs.</p>
<p>I’m going to second what nwcrazy said…</p>
<p>If your daughter wants to pursue graduate studies (especially PhD programs), at least in the immediate future, she’s going to need to stay in the research game in some capacity. 2 years doing only TFA is probably not going to impress adcoms since they will be looking most heavily for research experience (arguably one of the most, if not the most important aspect of an application to a PhD program). Something my PI told me before I took a year off before applying to graduate schools: “Think about how whatever you do during your year off will strengthen your application and assure the adcom that you are not only ready but capable of committing the next few years of your life to research.”</p>
<p>Also it is my understanding that most institutions fully fund their doctorate students in science and engineering so if your daughter is admitted, she should be funded. If not, I’d be weary of the program.</p>
<p>EDIT: And I am assuming your daughter’s intended field is marine biology or biology.</p>
<p>Yes, she wants to stay in Marine Science. </p>
<p>She has worked as a lab tech at the National Resource for Aplysia for two years. She has also been working on research with a professor at the U. of Miami for the last two years and working on her college thesis. She just got back from a study abroad semester in the Galapagos Islands where she did a lot of field research/studies. She will be leaving in a few weeks for a summer REU internship at Texas A & M Galvaston where she will be doing a research project with a professor. </p>
<p>This all sets her up nicely for getting her into a good grad school.</p>
<p>I am afraid if she decides to wait a few years for grad school that it will be much harder for her to be accepted somewhere. If Teach For America is selective and research lab positions hard to come by, she might have to take just any old job to get by. Then I feel her options could be greatly diminished.</p>
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<p>Why are you afraid of this? No one cares if your daughter applies today or 2 years from now. The important thing is the strength of the application, and that cannot be made any worse by taking time off.</p>
<p>That said, she needs alternatives to academia anyway, since fully-funded PhD programs are very competitive.</p>
<p>My advice is - if she wants to do Teach for America, I mean if it is really something that appeals to her and she wants to do it for the experience - she should go ahead and DO IT. I’m in my fourth year of a PhD program and I came right from undergrad, and I regret not teaching abroad and traveling between grad and undergrad because people told me that I wouldn’t be able to get back into the field (which isn’t even true, especially not in my field).</p>
<p>Life doesn’t have to take a straight linear path and there are plenty of people in all fields who took time “off” between undergrad and grad school to do other things. If she takes time to do TfA, perhaps she will have to get back into research first before applying to PhD programs - she may want to do 1-2 years as a research technician or coordinator in a lab somewhere. Some programs may take her even though there is a 1-year gap between her research and application; a lot of students end up going back to graduate school after TfA.</p>
<p>She might want to apply to one of the earlier deadlines for TfA, and also begin to prepare some applications for MS and/or PhD programs in her field if she is afraid of not getting into TfA. But funding is not based on how many years you have out of undergrad; it’s based on your credentials and preparation for grad study.</p>
<p>There isn’t really any reason she couldn’t continue to do research while teaching. At my school there was a guy who taught physics in a local high school during the day and worked in a physics lab after school. Its a lot, but doing research for even as little as two hours a day is better than nothing.</p>
<p>My best friend was in this same boat and decided to do TFA right after undergrad, with the intention of going to grad school after that. She certainly would have had the support and LORs necessary for applications.
However, she found that she really loved teaching and is now doing very well for herself at a public charter, where she works hard but gets good recognition and compensation while helping kids from a terrible area get into and succeed in college. Pretty good, eh?
What I’m trying to say here is that she’ll be fine either way. :)</p>
<p>Oh, I should also note that TFA is just as competitive as getting into a Ph.D program, so she definitely shouldn’t look at it as a backup. And also, if she does go that direction, she will not have time to do research. Really. Almost across the board, these schools are overloaded and challenging, she’ll be constantly training to be a better teacher and individual school’s admin may or may not make life any easier.</p>
<p>She needs to talk to her profs and grad students that are at her current uni to see what the expectations are in Marine Bio. One gap year doesn’t sound too bad to me but as a Mom, I’d get worried at 2 years. If she does delay, she needs to still talk to profs about the Letters of Reccomendation that she will need them in a year or two and can she ask if they feel comfortable writing her a strong one-- hopefully they will write them now while memory is fresh and have them on file when application time comes.</p>
<p>As far as funding, again talk to grad students, I don’t know from Marine Bio. But my daughter is in a Comp Sci PhD program (straight out of undergrad, which had heavy research.) Her financial offers varied by school location (likely cost of living differential.) And the guaranteed years of the funding varied from 2 years to 4 years. After that it expected that you find a professor to take you on and fund you from his research budget (or get an outside fellowship.) Almost all schools offer some limited full scholarships in CS but they may be only for tippy top admits. Others get either Research-ships or TA-ships to pay for living expenses. But these hard times for state uni’s changed things up. I know a student admitted to UCLA but not offered any funding. Whaaaaa?</p>
<p>About specializations and her not feeling strongly about one area: When my daughter was invited to visit the school she decided to attend (they pay), she was going into one particular area of CS. This school had over 1,000 applications that year, but each prof got to pick one regardless of the admission committee. He picked her but also told her the funding wasn’t restricted by concentration, and indeed after doing almost 2 years she did change into another area of research. I’m sure this varies by school.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is usual to get an advisor right away. I think you develop relationships within the first two years when you are likely doing the breadth requirements for the Master’s portion of the degree. But certainly getting an advisor has nothing to do with applying after a gap. Everyone gets one.</p>
<p>I hope I have not mispoken for any other major but this is know as related to dd’s experience.</p>