Sheetalb, I am sorry if my reply offended you but believe me I was not trying to intimidate or discourage you. If you feel like going for a Phd, just go for it. That's what I was trying to convey. Coming to your question about taking a break after MS before going for a Phd straightaway, I would encourage you to do so. Go for a job and get some practical experience of the coroporate world and then come back to school for a Phd. It is always good to have a practical hands on experience of your field before starting a serious research. Having said that I would like to mention two things. Firstly, there is no point going for not so good jobs defering your Phd. Secondly, there is a high possibility that once you are into corporate world and getting paid handsomely, you tend to enjoy the luxuries you may get and not come back for Phd at all. It happens to most of the people especially when their conviction towards Phd is not so strong. So just be aware of that. In my case, I had to go through a semester break before the start of my Phd in a different university, hence I did work for a company for 6 months during my OPT. Fortunately/unfortunately, it did not change my mind of coming back to school. My two years of work experience before MS is proving to be useful in my research though. If you are seeking to pursue your Phd in a different university, let me tell you that the application process for Phd works almost the same way as that for MS. If you are doing a research in MS (thesis) and/or perhaps have published or planning to publish papers, that would be great. It always helps to get into top schools if you have journals or conference papers from your work in MS. One more thing I would encourage you to do is, make a short trip to the university and see the lab and reasearch work going on in there to get a feel of the department, the program and your professor. It gives an indication of your seriousness about the program to the professor and will always help in your advantage. Good luck again!! Oys, Hehe. The passion thing is an idealistic scenario. I am always sort of zeal and have to recharge myself everytime. Research has taught me to cope up with failures in life better than to enjoy the miniscule success that I manage to get once in a while.