To take a year off, or not?

belevitt
Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:12:09 +0000

If you are set on taking time off to sit around the house or backpack across Europe or whatever, you will probably end having to work to support yourself when you are done. The longer you are away from science, the more difficult it will be to get back into it. Be prepared that if you try to get a job a year after graduation with nothing to show for it, employers will be super cautious about hiring you. I don’t know how admission committees would feel about it but there is no way it will be viewed as positively as having done research in that time.