Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hi,
I wanted to know if say after the completion of Masters ( on route to Ph.D) colleges allow a break for a year or couple during which one can pursue Industrial Jobs and then return to Ph.D.

For US schools, this is not normally the case. It's a "Masters on the way", which means there is no stopping point.

In Canada however, the MSc and PhD programs are separate and you must do a MSc before a PhD. This means it's quite often that Canadian students will do a 2 year MSc, then decide whether they want to stay in academia or not. They might take a few years off to do industry work or pursue some other passion before returning for a 3-4 year PhD. Applying to the PhD program after the Masters is a completely new application, with LORs and everything, even if you are staying at the same school with the same supervisor. I would imagine other countries that run their grad program this way would also be amenable to your plan.

But this is still possible in the US at some places. My school allows students to take up to 2 years off on a leave of absence during grad school if necessary and with the approval of your supervisor. Some students do this to start their own company or try different work. Getting approval of your supervisor is a key part though -- you'll have to find some way to wrap up a project so that it just doesn't sit there while you're away.

Another way this can be possible is that some schools do have "co-op" / internship type opportunities built into their grad program. It's not very common though but perhaps you can find a program that allows you to intern with other companies in the summer or something.

Explorer33 wrote:Hi,
I wanted to know if say after the completion of Masters ( on route to Ph.D) colleges allow a break for a year or couple during which one can pursue Industrial Jobs and then return to Ph.D.

I think you should look at Georgetown ILP... this is a program meant for people who want a PhD so that they work in industry afterward.

http://physics.georgetown.edu/graduate- ... ip-physics

However, even with that component in place, you should at least look at the research conducted there before applying to the ILP track, plus it's not overly selective.

Thanks

I do remember reading somewhere that break to do an Industrial/Research job is allowed for US colleges.

It's much more common at undergrad than at the graduate level. Also, many schools might have rules that allow for it subject to advisor approval, but sometimes getting advisor approval is almost impossible.