This advice could easily be applied to anyone thinking of entering a graduate program.

Once upon a time, just graduating high school was considered a big career move. Then, after a large majority of people had their high school diplomas, getting your Bachelor’s was purported to be the key to a successful career. Now that the job market is flooded with undergraduate degrees, people are convincing themselves that a master’s degree is necessary to get ahead in your career.

The problem is, most people don’t know why they want to go to grad school, let alone what they need it for or how it will actually help them get a better-paying, more rewarding position. That’s a lot of uncertainty with a VERY big price tag (time, money, emotional cost, etc.).

For anyone interested in going to grad school, business school, law school, etc. I would recommend a book my sister lent me: _Getting What You Came For_ by Robert Peters. It’s helped me to sort out my own reasons for going to graduate school, and to develop a plan for what to do when I get there.

This is a great point, Diana. Often I find that people who go to business school spend a lot of time thinking about the financial implications of the decision, and people who go to grad school in humanities don’t.

I interviewd a guy who is a professor and writes an (annonymous) column in the Chrnonicle of Higher Learning. This is what he said:

“It is almost impossible to make more than $20K in grad school. Economically is not a good move at all. For example, among students entering grad school for english only one in five will find jobs. There used to be an unspoken contract to live in poverty and then get a job. Now the deal is you live in poverty and in the end you still are in poverty.”

What about an argument for graduate school based upon respect?

Independent of what one actually learns in business school, law school, or medical school one is still respected more when they have a professional degree. This can translate into making it much easier to land certain jobs. Maybe one could have performed this job just as well before, but now others believe one is ‘worthy’ of it. This respect could also make the difference in getting investment money to open one’s own business.

The US Census Bureau has stated (in 2002 I believe) that the average lifetime earnings for people with bachelor’s degrees is $2.1 million, while people with master’s degrees were able to pull in $2.5 million, and those with professional degrees averaged $4.4 million (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/cb02-95.html). Granted, this doesn’t involve things like job satisfaction. However, if we assume that the schooling doesn’t matter all that much then the respect earned by professional degrees appears to make a very big difference.

One could shake their head and talk about what a misguided argument this is because it is based on money. However, money is what we can easily quantify. The opportunities and respect earned with a professional degree could also be used in non-monetary ways. It seems at least plausible that this heightened respect could allow one to undertake tasks that lead to higher satisfaction and/or intellectual stimulation.

One could also support the belife that it is good to hire people with professonal degrees. The professional degree shows that someone has the spunk to make it through a tough level of school. If such focus and spunk is what is what is actually important, then someone with a professional degree does look like a good option. Though this may also lead to a latent form of classism.

Just a little argument from another perspective.

As a side note, I have a degree in philosophy and it appears to earn me very limited respect from employers.

Thad, thank you for providing another (philosophical) perspective. And, even if you are not using you philosophy degree at work, I’m happy to see that you’re using it on my blog.

I agree with you that many people go to graduate school to get some respect. But I think truly impressive people do not need to rely on a degree to win respect. In fact, using a degree to get respect smacks of rankism to me.

In some cases, a graduate degree will make you better qualified for a job. In many cases, two years in the workplace would have given you the same qualifications.

So I think it’s safe to say that a degree that is necessary for the job you’re applying to makes you look better. And if the degree is not necessary then it starts to look like a tactic for putting off adult life.

I think that statistic about average salaries is not informative because averages lie in so many different ways. And if money is your number-one concern, you should read about why it won’t make you happy.

I thoroughly enjoy, and am impressed by, the points that you bring up in your posts. Thank you very much for putting in the effort to write them.

You are quite right that money is not the only goal of a career, however, it can be a useful tool when looking at careers as a group. Money is something that many people want and is easily quantifiable. It would seem reasonable to think that the amount of money offered to certain groups of people can correlate with the amount of general opportunities offered to these people. Such opportunities (from flex time to intellectual challenge) can lead to other honestly valuable quantities. Thus, when looking at large groups, it seems possible that money and desired benefits might be correlated.

I agree with you that in many situations time in the work force can be more valuable than time in the classroom. However, it is also rather common that the people responsible for filling a particular position do not know the details of the knowledge and skills that are useful in that job. This makes it hard for them to tell who will actually be good at the job in question. To make up for this many employers instead rely on things like education and work history. Because a degree can be necessary to allow work history to fully blossom it can often be the keystone for developing a good resume. It is in these annoyingly important interview situation with potential employers or clients that a degree can really matter.

I’m not saying the careers of those without degrees are stagnant or limited in any way. They are surely not. I’m just saying that things might be a lot easier for them if they had some silly words on their resume.

I whole heartedly agree that truly impressive people don’t need a degree to earn respect from their friends and coworkers. However, earning respect in a ten minute interview with a client or from a high level boss you rarely interact with can be different. Even truly impressive people might need a degree in order to get the job or client they really want.

This may be rankism, classism, or racism. It is surely not the ideal meritocracy we hope for. But, sometimes even rageing against the machine is easier when one has a degree.

Thanks for the dose of realism! I am in my second semester of an MBA program at a top-ranked biz school, and I’ve been contemplating leaving the program since about 2 weeks in. I know I will be an entrepreneur in the future, and I thought this would help me better prepare, plus I was banking on some of the credibility that comes along with the degree to help me secure a business loan. Clearly I have a wild imagination and somehow sold myself on the fantasy that business school was going to cultivate me into a fantastic manager ready to tackle the start-up frontier!!

Unfortunately what I’m finding is that business schools are much like factories, and the students are like monkeys. Train each monkey to calculate, use snappy business lingo, and read between the lines on financial statements and “poof!”, you have an army of robots with no creative ability ready to take on the next generation of business. To further support my point, any applicant monkey will do! I happen to work for a company that will pay for my MBA (which still only marginally lessens the pain to attend). If your application has this company’s name on it, you are in! I happen to sit directly next to one of the most ignorant individuals I have ever met in my career, and she of course is attending the same high-ranking MBA program and passing classes with flying colors. Of course, she does no homework and misuses “commodities” in casual conversation on a daily basis, but of course the school would not leave such a well-funded monkey out of the program! Ugh, how insulting! And to think that I had a 4.0 in undergrad and actually TRIED on my GMAT!

So, bottom line, if you have above average intelligence (even slightly above), with a strong work ethic and creative ideas, I think business school is a horrific waste of 3 years of your short life. I’m having zero trouble advancing at work without my MBA, and I’m sure if I read the right materials and get the right work experience, I’ll be a successful small business owner someday soon. I just have to find the courage to go against the status quo and not take it as a personal hit to my ego that in 2.5 years Miss Ignoramus next door will have her MBA and I won’t. Now I’m off to research drop dates…

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What a wonderful comment to leave here. Thank you for taking the time to write this, Becky. Everyone thinking about business school should read this. You give great, specific examples. Great candor. Of course, this is only one person’s experience. But it’s so well written :)

-Penelope

Hoping I am not too late into this discussion, I am on the other side of the “wall” that Rebecca is facing.Simply put, I have taken my GMAT and have 750 with a 6/6 in AW (no intention of showing off).

I was searching in google for “How to zero in on the right business school” and this was the 6th link that I get :). I am thoroughly confused. I have always wanted to pursue an MBA; a good reason being learning the intricacies of economy and the human aspect to it. At a later point in life, I want to be an entrepreneur and work in the field of “social entrepreneurship”. Now I have no idea, from one end of the spectrum - “Checking out scholarships available” I am on the other end “Are B Schools really worth it”; I have read both sides. I guess I will keep on searching !

This is such an insightful post, Penelope, and I wish I had read it before going to business school. I thought that business school would provide me with two years to hone in on my ideal career and develop important skills. The reality was that I had about two weeks to decide what job I wanted and a lot of the skills business schools “teach” (like networking and strategic thinking) I discovered I already had or could have developed through other arenas.

I do believe that the right people can learn a lot from business school. The important thing is to decide if you are one of those people, or if there are other, less expensive options that will provide just as much benefit.

If anyone is trying to decide if business school is right for them you can read more what it did and didn’t teach me at my blog, http://caitlinweaver.blog.com/

Hey Penelope. Business school isn’t just about how to make yourself “appear” better to employers you moron. Did you know people actually LEARN stuff there? The main theme in my MBA program, one of the top in the nation, was business ETHICS. Leaders need to learn this important skill in order to make the right decisions in the real world. Sadly the lower number of MBA graduates we have today has affected the surge in arrests for fraudulent business schemes over the past several years. Stupid idiots like you who think the only value a degree has is to get your foot in the door should be banned spreading this bogus garbage. It’s obvious you never went to business school and your ignorance just makes you look pathetic.

I agree with you Caitlin. Business school is more than just getting the degree. It’s learning how to run businesses ethically, financially, and more.