The 4 way Path of Postgrad Life
Ah, Graduate School because studying for an average of 18 *plus * years its not enough. It’s the season to ask and get asked what will you do after graduation? You probably already had a plan and working towards it wether is more internships, real job experience, taking a gap year or applying and hopefully getting into grad school. Maybe you had a plan but here you are questioning yourself if you should go through with it or not, or maybe you are just exploring your options because you have no idea what you should do next. Collegiate I know this is overwhelming I am going through this and many of my friends too and believe me its totally normal to feel this no you are not alone. Wether you choose one thing or the other it must be responsible of you to truly think this through and see where your goals and aspirations fit better. Here I gathered the four most common possibilities of recent graduates their pros and their cons.
- Professional Internships: Reality is that a well-rounded student is not made only in the classroom and with lectures. You need to put everything you’ve learned these four or more years into practice, get hands down experience and learn from people in your fields, the experts who can mentor and correct you. While you’re doing this you have a great chance to network with people in your field ensuring those recommendation letters for grad school or future employment reference. On the other hand, if you don’t truly feel ready to enter immediately the adult world participating in an internship can give you a taste of what to expect without the permanent possibility. If you are thinking about going trough this route y advice is to make your search early at least six months before your desired start date and start applying.
- Real Job experience: When I say this I mean working in something related to your major, not that doing otherwise is incorrect but let’s be real you didn’t go to college so many years to continue working the same part time job you had as an undergraduate. The majority of us want to work in something related to what we studied all of those all-nighters have to pay for something, and besides you probably want to have more financial stability maybe with a professional job you will do so. Again start applying ahead of your desired date and making your search because depending in the area you are willing to apply to or your major the job listings may not be as much or may be more competitive.
- The Gap Year: More and more common now between students even Obama’s daughter is making one after High School.Our system makes us make big decisions about what to do with our lives in a very young age. I think its totally ok to take a semester or year off before graduate school maybe you are to tired, you can take this time to prepare better for graduate school applications, decide which program you want to go, visit college campus, do volunteer work, an internship, work and make some money before graduate school, if you can financially go and travel wherever you want to. The point is you already had been studying much for a lot of years you shouldn’t let this slow you down thought don’t get used to it and end up not doing anything productive with your life you went to college after all but if you feel like you need a break take it. Worse is you get tired in the middle of you Phd program and decide to drop out it can happen. With the people I’ve talked to that had taken a gap year don’t regret it, and some others that didn’t had the opportunity to do so highly suggest it. No one should judge you its your decision do whats best for you, believe in yourself and you will be successful either way I believe in you.
- Applying to Graduate School: If you think this process is in anyway like when you applied to college in senior year of High School you are wrong. This is not a decision to be taken lightly you need to do your research ahead of time. Weight the pros and cons of the programs you like more, see how you will pay for this, where you will live, would you have to work while studying, if it had the accreditations you need, the deadlines, etcetera. You have to be aware of deadlines many programs have admissions on a rolling basis but most of them is for the fall term, others for spring. You will need to take the GRE (Graduate R Examination) almost every program will require this, GMAT for business school, LSAT for Law Schoo and MCAT for Medicine School and more as they go. The application process can be a little expensive so prepare financially for this, almost always you will have to include Resumes or CV, about two to three recommendation letters and Statement of Purpose or Letter of Intent here you explain you goals within the program and career and why you want to study to what you are applying to. You have to gather all this documents on time because Graduate Programs wont make an exception, later if you meet the requirements you will get admitted or some program will first invite you for an interview and later make the decision this is something to consider if you are applying to a program that is not in your country or hometown, you will have to make the arrangements to travel. My advice is to do everything with time so you wont stress and everything will turn out fine.
Remember no matter which route you decide to take do so yourself and by yourself don’t let anyone have an influence in your decision. Don’t settle to fill no one’s expectations not society, not your parents or family, not your friends and not anyone.