How to turn nine empty months into an opportunity

October 31, 2008 8:54 PM

In what worthwhile or cautionary ways have you spent a gap of downtime before grad school starts?

Underemployed, going back to school in nine months. It feels like a good time to try something completely off the wall before my new life starts.

It's a longer period of time than a summer job would fill, but too short for the kinds of significant things I imagine would take a year-long commitment.

So I was wondering whether anyone out there has had any especially interesting experiences, doing something temporary to fill in a gap like this. Don't want to avoid being in financial freefall, but am willing to work on the very cheap.

Drive a tomato truck? Move in with your parents? Get a full-time position while keeping your impending escape a secret? Do some pseudo-Peace Corps thing somewhere?

Any help much appreciated.

posted by anonymous to education (14 comments total)

I would say if you already know where you're going, try to get a job on that campus. Admissions offices are desperate in most places for people to take even temporary jobs to wade through the raft of applications from people who are going back to school now the economy is slowing down.
posted by parmanparman at 9:11 PM on October 31, 2008

I would not spend any of the time in a library that actually requires you to work. Shelving books continuously is a miserable experience.

I found working at a gelato shop was a pretty cool experience, but only because I never worked in food service before. I learned how to make great gelato, coffee and sandwiches. I would not work in the job for more than 6 weeks though. At that point, you've mastered most of your duties, the fun is gone and everything after that is becoming more efficient.


There are a bunch of people who fly to Australia, get some sort of visa that lets them work a while, and they work on farms and travel the country by bus. It's the 18-21 crowd that seems to do this sort of thing a lot. This way you pay as you go.
posted by abdulf at 11:12 PM on October 31, 2008

re: farmwork: WWOOF. I've had tons of friends that did it during a transitional phase, all loved it and came out of it with stories and more.
posted by piratebowling at 11:24 PM on October 31, 2008

During the summer before grad school, I took an art class at Cambridge University through UC Irvine Summer Sessions (even though I wasn't a UC Irvine student). I met a lot of great people and it was an absolutely amazing, unforgettable experience. It was kinda pricey, so the work-travel idea sounds perfect for you, as I really suggest that you travel & explore the world while you have the time.
posted by cucumberfresh at 12:07 AM on November 1, 2008

If your undergrad is anything that makes you temporarily employable in a related field, I would strongly suggest that. Get a temporary job (relating to your grad school ambitions), consult, freelance, do gigs ... call it whatever you want, but try to get some work done in the field related to your grad school if possible. Seeing the 'real world' of employment is useful for getting a perspective on things when in grad school.
posted by bsdfish at 2:17 AM on November 1, 2008

enjoy your pre-grad school time, because its going to be very intense and very demanding from here on in. Don't do something worthwhile, do something enjoyable.
posted by iamnotateenagegirl at 3:35 AM on November 1, 2008

What to do for nine months... have a baby?

Seriously though, this is a great opportunity that you may never have again, and you want to make the most of this time. I would advise travelling, ideally combined with volunteering somewhere. I did that the year before I started uni, and it helped me get a lot of things straight in my head. I ended up changing what I wanted to study, and worked out what I want to do in life. It was also very good for me as a person, I think.

iamnotateenagegirl has it right. Although depending on your financial situation you may need to work a (crap or otherwise) job for a while before you do anything else.
posted by badmoonrising at 3:45 AM on November 1, 2008

Travel. It doesn't really matter where. It is hard to regret any time or money spent traveling for your own enjoyment, and its something that might prove harder once you start school.
posted by jacobbarssbailey at 7:36 AM on November 1, 2008

learn a language. especially if your major requires you learn 1-3 languages, get a head start.
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 8:00 AM on November 1, 2008

Don't get a job. Plenty of time for that later. Don't just stay home. You'll be bored and listless by the time school starts.

Go somewhere. Anywhere that's unfamiliar to you. Get a backpack and a eurail pass and an open-return ticket, and just go. Spend this time reveling in your rootlessness. There will never be a better time.
posted by ook at 8:15 AM on November 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

between gradutating from college and going to grad school i lived at home with my parents and was a substitute teacher. k-12, any and all subjects, even special ed. i was qualified for some of it, but certainly not all of it, and certainly not special ed. i worked in the rich white districts and the poor black/brown/white districts. basically, the whole gamut of the educational system in my area. it was a major life-learning experience. some of my expectations (and maybe even prejudices) were thrown on their heads. it was hard, thankless work, but it was a paycheck and it was on my own schedule. and it made me think about a lot of things in a different way. i think it was good preparation for moving away from home to a city where i knew no one and nothing.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:20 AM on November 1, 2008

Learn an instrument. Or to hang-glide.
posted by paultopia at 11:44 AM on November 1, 2008

Be careful making TOO much money. If you make a lot, it might screw you for financial aid the next year. Find out what the maximum you can make and still be eligible for the financial aid that you need.
posted by k8t at 12:09 PM on November 1, 2008

I only had six months, but I worked hard and partied harder.

The working hard part meant that when it came time to pay for groceries, rent, and movies those first couple of months of grad school before the aid check came through, I wasn't scrambling like some friends were. Also, the way things worked out was that those months really impressed employers looking at my application later, because I could claim some 'real world' experience that some of my peers who traveled more could not claim.

The partying hard was a celebration (hey, you graduated from college! that's definitely something worth celebrating) and also a farewell--I stayed in my hometown while in the transition (my undergrad and grad were both out of the area) so I could say goodbye to friends and family and also feel free to make a clean transition to grad school. But part of the time I was partying, I was in another country, and quite a bit of the time was spent hitting the clubs and being a wild and free 20something.

So it's worth pointing out that though I lived with my parents, I had a blast and saved up money that proved to be VERY valuable in the months that followed.
posted by librarylis at 8:41 PM on November 2, 2008