Research During a Gap Year

  • This has become our largest and most active forum because the physics GRE is just one aspect of getting accepted into a graduate physics program.
  • There are applications, personal statements, letters of recommendation, visiting schools, anxiety of waiting for acceptances, deciding between schools, finding out where others are going, etc.

Post Reply
gapYearSearcher
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2016 2:38 am

Research During a Gap Year

Post by gapYearSearcher » Mon Apr 18, 2016 3:15 am

I'm graduating in May and since high school my long term career plan has been to try to be a scientific researcher. For a whole host of reasons I had become very doubtful about that path last semester and ended up not applying to grad schools. This semester I joined a research group that really reignited my confidence in trying to become a researcher, which is good, but I've decided to take a gap year between graduating and applying to grad schools.

I'd like to make the most of said gap year. Ideally, I'd do research in a lab or under a professor. I know there are threads discussing this on this forum, in particular this one:

http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1573

is encouraging.

I discussed the prospect of working as a researcher in a university group with my current research advisor. He gave me the impression that it would be difficult to find paid positions with university professors for someone in my position, which is to say someone who is not enrolled as a graduate student. Frankly this is what I expected, but I can't accept an unpaid position for a year and would really like to pursue this avenue if possible. Certainly I will try my luck at national labs, but I'd like to seek positions at universities too.

So my question is, is it at all possible for someone not enrolled as a graduate student to find a paid position as part of a research group? If I email professors asking for such a role am I simply wasting my time?

Thanks for any direction you can offer.

broo
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 7:23 pm

Re: Research During a Gap Year

Post by broo » Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:29 pm

In my opinion, it'd depend mostly on the size of the research at your university. I know someone who graduated who is working at a lab at my university for a year before attending graduate school, but my university is a large research institute. I don't think it's a waste of time to at least try, but I would also look at alternatives at the same time.



Post Reply