Did I rush for grad school?

Is there really right time to go to grad school? Will the time change the success level?

These were few of the questions I was asking myself when I started studying in Texas A&M. Even though I came from a small school I had very good foundation on structural courses. I thought I needed to know everything I could, which I believe I pretty much did. What I didn’t know was (I see a lot clearer now) is that I didn’t know the American education system, I didn’t know code requirements (and how they are strict on those).

Besides general knowledge, research is a totally new thing for a fresh undergraduate graduate. Even though I was hard working and lucky enough to get research funding for a project while I was in my 2nd year in bachelor's degree. When you are a graduate student in one of the top institutes, they prefer you to take independent decisions on your research project. That is the whole reason anyone would (maybe even should) go for research based degree.

I always thought if I pursued my masters in Celal Bayar University or in Turkey, I would be more successful in Texas A&M. I would at least know what to expect from research and have a schedule that works better for me.

Life happens while we are planning. I went to grad school right after my bachelors degree with a very prestigious scholarship. When I look back, I could do a lot of things differently or even better. At the end of the day it is all part of the learning process.

To test if I was thinking right, I took a year off after my masters degree before deciding to go for PhD. Now I am very motivated to go back to research because I took enough time to compare all other options. One take off from this is that even though I would like to end up with a PhD, unfortunately academia is no longer a very feasible options. I recently discovered that there are 7 times more PhD graduates than job openings in academia.

I always prefer to go get what I want but I feel like I am at a stage of life that I need to give things sometime.