Gap year or years before grad/professional school

[Anonymous]

Some people take time off, get distracted and then never go back. Life takes away that opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely take time off and do something relevant. I went to one of the best graduate programs in my field and they flat-out did not accept students straight from undergraduate because they believed you needed to bring some actual experience before you could be a resource for your peers and really understand the material.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends heavily on the graduate program and the individual. MBA? Absolutely work first. PhD? Really depends on the program, the experience the person has has and how sure they are that they want to pursue it. I have a son in a 6 year PhD program- the work he wants to pursue requires a PhD in the field, so if he took time to work after college, he felt he would have been biding his time in a job he wasn't interested in just to have a gap. He also is well aware he'll be close to 28 when he finishes and would like to be done with school by then if possible.

I think there's a lot of situations where a gap is preferable for both personal and career reasons, but in some situations it makes sense to move straight to grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people take time off, get distracted and then never go back. Life takes away that opportunity.

Those people may be better off having never gone to law school. I have also heard from friends who are doctors that having a couple years of a working can help with med school (those students are more mature, etc).

[Anonymous]

Depending on the grad program, you may need work experience to get your foot in the door to a high quality program. Many people choose top business schools not because the education quality is better, but because they can be recruited by better firms.

[Anonymous]

I worked for 3 years before grad school in the field I was going to pursue.

It helped me get into a more competitive program, and helped me get interesting part-time work during grad school.

I was also acutely aware of the lost income from being in school and felt I owed it to myself to really make the most of the experience professionally, more so than in undergrad. I also found that being used to 50 or 60 hour weeks of work helped me treat grad school like a job. I admire those who did this in undergrad, but I personally wasted huge blocks of time between classes in undergrad and by getting a late start to the day if my first class wasn't until 10 or 11. By grad school I started at 8 most days, regardless of my course schedule.

There's also something to be said about learning those tough lessons like working with bad bosses, dealing with office politics, and doing a bit of 'growing up' before getting into your actual career. I think I was a better employee in my post-grad jobs than I would have been without the experience and maturity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people take time off, get distracted and then never go back. Life takes away that opportunity.

It’s not always an “opportunity.” Most grad degrees have horrific ROI. Especially non-T14 JDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people take time off, get distracted and then never go back. Life takes away that opportunity.

I went to decent but not highly ranked law school and was mostly friends with other students who took time off. Having relevant experience in a field seemed to lead to pretty good outcomes after graduation especially compared to students who went straight from undergrad. I doubt it applies to the Harvard Laws of the world, but having a CPA and having worked for a big 4 or having been a consultant seemed to be a huge leg up for those who had the experience.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I'm not talking specifically about law school. I understand most people need experience to strengthen their resume to get accepted and income to save money but asking specifically for students who can get accepted out of undergrad and family can afford to pay.

[Anonymous]

My nephew joined Yale Law right out of a souther state school's undergrad and seems to be doing really well. Obviously he had good internship experience.

[Anonymous]

I’m going for a memory here, but I think that there are numerous studies showing that your brain continues to develop until your mid-20s. In other words, that there is a very strong benefit from studying and going to school, college, grad school, etc. younger and after 20 for one or two years could make a huge difference. I would do the gap year after you graduate all of the school you intend to take please do your own research because again I’m going from memory.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from UVA with a degree in Computer Science and worked for three years before attending Wharton. It worked out very well for me. I joined a FinTech company and made enough money to retire for life at the age of 43.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nephew joined Yale Law right out of a souther state school's undergrad and seems to be doing really well. Obviously he had good internship experience.

Internship experience is irrelevant for Law school admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew joined Yale Law right out of a souther state school's undergrad and seems to be doing really well. Obviously he had good internship experience.

Internship experience is irrelevant for Law school admissions.

Got him in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m going for a memory here, but I think that there are numerous studies showing that your brain continues to develop until your mid-20s. In other words, that there is a very strong benefit from studying and going to school, college, grad school, etc. younger and after 20 for one or two years could make a huge difference. I would do the gap year after you graduate all of the school you intend to take please do your own research because again I’m going from memory.

Frontal cortex point is valid but most prodigy do their best work before 30. Alexander the great went to conquer the world at 17?