In the increasingly competitive space of PhD graduate school admissions, I decided to spend my gap year(s) working full-time as a postbaccalaureate (postbac) research scholar. How did I discover research in the first place? Quite honestly, I wanted to earn some money while going to school as I was fully funding myself during this time. Since I was eligible for work-study as part of my financial aid package, I looked for on-campus, work-study positions through Handshake. There