Don’t try to dodge the recession with grad school
A recession is typically a good time for graduate schools. Their application pool goes up because people see them as safe shelter from the storm. The scariest part of a down economy is the idea of having no income. Of course, graduate school does not solve for that. But graduate school does solve the second most scary thing about a bad economy: lack of a learning curve.
The more desperate you are for a job, the more likely you are to take a job that doesn’t teach you what you want to learn. And then you get to that job and you think, “Grad school could solve this problem.” But in fact, grad school creates larger, and more insurmountable problems. And some the problems you’re trying to solve with grad school might not be problems at all.
1. Grad school pointlessly delays adulthood.
The best thing you can do for yourself is take time to figure out who you are and where you fit in the world. No one teaches you that in school. You need to do it yourself. Grad school is a way to delay this process, rather than move you forward, according to Thomas Benton of the Chronicle of Higher Education. So instead of dodging tough questions by going back to school, try being lost. It’s normal, and honest, and you will end up with more self-knowledge and less debt than your grad-school counterparts, and in many cases, you will be similarly qualified for your next big job.
2. PhD programs are pyramid schemes
It’s very hard to get a job teaching at a university. And if you are not going to teach, why are you getting a degree? You don’t need a piece of paper to show that you are learning. Go read books after work. Because look: In the arts, you would have a better chance of surviving the Titanic than getting a tenure-track position; and once you adjust for IQ, education, and working hours, post-PhD science jobs are among the most low-paying jobs you could get.
3. Business school is not going to help 90% of the people who go.
Here’s the problem with business school. Most people want to work for themselves, but you can’t learn entrepreneurship in school — you have to learn by doing. And a business degree that is not from a top school is not going to get you very much at all, according to recruiting firm Challenger & Gray. Finally, Harvard Business School has acknowleged that if you are planning to downshift for kids around the time you are 30, your ability to leverage an MBA is drastically compromised.
4. Law school is a factory for depressives.
It used to be that if you had a law degree it was a ticket to a high salary and a safe career. Today many people go to law school and cannot find a job. This is, in a large part, because law school selects for people who are good with details and pass tests and law firms select for people who are good at marketing themselves and can drum up business. Law firms are in a transition phase, and they have many unfair labor practices leftover from older generations, for example, hourly billing and making young lawyers pay dues for what is, today, a largely uncertain future. Which might explain why the American Bar Association reports that the majority of lawyers would recommend that people not to go into law.
5. The medical school model assumes that health care spending is not a mess.
Medical school is extremely expensive, and our health care system does not pay enough to doctors for them to sanely accept the risk of taking $200,000 in debt to serve as doctors. Specialists like opthalmologists have great hours, and plastic surgeons have great salaries, but most doctors will be stuck in a system that is largely broken, and could easily break them financially — like OBGYNs who cannot afford to deliver babies in New York because they can’t afford the malpractice insurance with their salary.
6. Going to grad school is like going into the military.
Applications to the military increase in a bad economy in a disturbingly similar way that applications to graduate school do. For the most part, both alternatives are bad. They limit your future in ways you can’t even imagine, and they are not likely to open the kind of doors you really want. Military is the terrible escape hatch for poor kids, and grad school is the terrible escape hatch for rich kids.
7. Most jobs are better than they seem: You can learn from any job.
When I worked on a French chicken farm, I thought I’d learn French, but I didn’t, because I was so foreign to the French farm family that they couldn’t talk to me. However I did learn a lot of other things, like how to bargain to get the best job in the chicken coop, and how to get out of killing the bunnies. You don’t need to be learning the perfect thing in your job. You just need to be learning. Don’t tell yourself you need a job that gives your life meaning. Jobs don’t do that; doesn’t that make you feel better? Suddenly being in the workplace doesn’t seem so bad.
8. Graduate school forces you to overinvest: It’s too high risk.
In a world where people did not change careers, grad school made sense. Today, grad school is antiquated. You invest three to six extra years in school in order to get your dream career. But the problem is that not only are the old dream careers deteriorating, but even if you have a dream career, it won’t last. You’ll want to change because you can. Because that’s normal for today’s workplace. People who are in their twenties today will change careers about four times in their life. Which means that grad school is a steep investment for such a short period of time. The grad school model needs to change to adapt to the new workplace. Until then. Stay away.
First of all, PhDs do pay, the median income for PhDs is higher than for Master’s degrees, BAs, BSs, all the way down. That is the from the BLS.gov.
Also, if you take away grad students, the university system fails, since no one is left to teach or do research. Oh well, guess we should just nix college too while we’re at it, eh?
I find this article very interesting. I can only comment on my own experience, but I will offer my insights as a means of partial – though by no means total, as I am neither a medical, law nor business student – rebuttal.
Frankly, I find this article flat-out wrongheaded. I am a graduate student. The debt I have had to incur because of graduate school: $0. There is a common truism that, in the humanities (I am a historian by training), you oughtn’t go into a Ph.D. program if you’re not getting funding. I hold by that statement. So the debt question is, in my opinion, a silly one. Master’s programs, true, are often unfunded; but unless you’re attending one as a form of entrée into a prestigious Ph.D. program (where, of course, you DO get funding), then I have to ask: why EXACTLY do you want an M.A.? Go large: go for the Ph.D., and you can always bail with a terminal M.A.
So. Now to the frankly OFFENSIVE assertion that grad school delays adulthood. I am 28, married, living in New York City, contemplating having children in a few years, and I have rent, health insurance, a Roth IRA and, until I sold my car to move to NYC, had car insurance. What exactly about that makes me not an adult? I went into graduate school for the reason that people should go into the graduate school – because they love what they’re doing. And if you go into what you love to do, but have never dared to do because it didn’t pay as much or offer as many perks as the comfortable-but-less-fulfilling job you just lost due to Mr. Madoff, then I hardly think that qualifies as running away from reality. I find that the sanguine decision to enter a program fully intending to bail as soon as economic fortunes improve is underhanded; but even that scenario speaks to a certain shamelessness rather than immaturity. Lastly, I take umbrage with the implication that graduate school cannot play a role in determining what you want to do in life; rather, I maintain, the high pressures and constant self-questioning that academic self-discipline entails has lead more than one acquaintance of mine to realize their true interests, and the fact that those lay elsewhere. Grad school is a tremendous opportunity for personal growth.
And, by the way, I’d like to point one additional thing out. The skills you learn in grad school are immensely useful anywhere. Strong analytical thinking, clear writing (note that one of the negative posts about graduate school cited graduate study as a “cacoon [sic]”) and, for that matter, a certain willingness to introspect and self-critique is never amiss. And, while a stray degree may not seem immediately useful (to paraphrase Avenue Q, “what do you do with an M.A. in English?”), one never knows when that random piece of paper will smooth the way to a teaching job, a consultantship, or some other post that helps you weather another economically difficult time, just like this one.
Penelope, I love this article! I have been thinking all of these things for the past few years while all of my teachers were pressuring me to apply for Grad school and follow their paths to professorhood. Well I am already in 10k debt from undergrad school and I don’t see any of my teachers offering me money so I just said forget it. Yea, it’s fun to slack off in college and avoid the real world but when your faced with either getting a job or racking up tens of thousands more in debt by staying in school, I would much rather just get a job. I can easily spend my free time doing what I love. Professors can make you feel bad if you don’t go to grad school. They make you feel like if you don’t go, you will be a failure and never be a true “artist.” They would tell me that my BFA is worthless and if I really want to succeed, I need an MFA. Part of me thinks that they want others to do what they did just to justify their own lame decisions in life…. And then I remember the saying, those who can’t do, teach.
So that’s why this person is so bitter. They took the bait for a corporate gig just shy of actually getting a Master’s degree and now this Penelope character is trying to justify her poor decision.
Graduate school can be a crap shoot, but it can also be a great experience, a chance to learn, and a chance to do what you want with your life. Or you could chase the almighty dollar like Penelope and be smacking yourself for being so ignorant.
Penelop is spot-on, and I can speak from experience.
In an effort to become a college professor (or perhaps teach at the lower levels), I embarked on a Ph.D. in English. Even though I did very well in school, I began to realize that I had “overinvested” and was making myself miserable. By the time I was ABD and looking for a job, the U.S. economy was in the gutter. I realized:
1. My school did not have a good enough reputation, so I would have one strike against me right there.
2. Universities (and even community colleges) seldom hire full-time faculty anymore. They hire adjuncts and part-timers for slave wages and no benefits.
3. The market is glutted with Ph.D.s
4. The time I spent getting the degree would have been better spent in the private sector.
5. I can’t teach at the lower levels because most school districts have strict policies forbidding the hiring of teachers with advanced degrees–such teachers are “too expensive.”
6. Few high schools are going to hire anyone over the age of 30 anyway.
In all, my foray into graduate school was an enormous waste of time. Any self-enrichment could have been obtained outside the classroom. Just as Penelope says, being “lost” is o.k.
Sometimes I think we don’t know what we want early enough in life and the opportunities to join up to further education later in life is something that we should consider. I know many people who are very educated in various fields but they still don’t know what they want to do or yet do what they feel they love doing?
wow, obviously someones a little bitter about not getting into grad school
Jon,
Hello! I’m a producer/journalist in New York and would welcome the chance to speak with you for a really interesting project I’m working on – a series of short films about Gen Y and their financial pressures. For it, we’d like to address the fact that many young people are debating the pros and cons of grad school in this recession.
The project – Your Money Story – is being produced by an Academy Award-winning filmmaker (Tom Lennon) and is backed by a national foundation in NY (see our Web site for more information at http://www.yourmoneystory.net)
If you’re interested and have the time, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could send me a quick note to mollyknightraskin@gmail.com with the best time/number to reach you.
Cheers & thanks for your time
Molly Raskin
Associate Producer, Your Money Story
I’m debating whether or not I should go back to school to get an MBA degree. From what i read, I think deferring graduate school is the best way. I will go ahead and work for small a firm for 2-5 years and then I will decide whether or not at that point in my life if its worth it to go back to school. Thanks Penelope.
I’m debating whether or not I should go back to school to get a MBA degree. From what i read, I think deferring graduate school is the best way. I will go ahead and work for small a firm for 2-5 years and then I will decide whether or not at that point in my life if its worth it to go back to school. Thanks Penelope.
I got a perfect on my ACT’s. I received as close to a full ride as possible at a private, liberal arts college. I majored in a subject that seemed interesting at the time and did well enough at it to move on to graduate school immediately following commencement. Unfortunately, my wife and I were forced to take a few years off because of an unexpected family emergency that truly, honestly, and immediately required us to be closer to home for a while. I returned to graduate school, where I am receiving full tuition and a stipend via a teaching and research assistantship. However, I am no longer interested in the subject I am studying. I will fake it until I receive my certificate (which should only be a few months from now unless physicists discover a new stable isotope of hydrogen) that says I did my work. After that, I don’t know what to do. This was an interesting essay/blog; if I hadn’t wasted my time on this educational tangent I may have taken a chance on something I really wanted to do. I’ve always felt a bit lost, but it’s truly coming to a head now as I want to be a productive member of society in a position commensurate with my abilities, but it seems near impossible now unless I chase the tenured professor dream in a subject that it utterly meaningless to me….
I earned my MFA (in Creative Writing) and immediately started working as a Grant Coordinator for a huge foundation. It didn’t make a huge salary, but I learned everything I could about the world of grant funding. I leveraged that experience to start grant writing consulting and then found a job working as a Grant Writing Coordinator with a fantastic company based in DC. I telecommute and absolutely love the salary and the work. The generous salary enables me to take on more “charity” projects (which further develop my skills) and market my services to paying clients.
I am one semester away from finishing my MLIS and I’m excited. With a specialization in archiving and database management allows me to consult with health care companies doing EMR and other sorts of library/archiving work.
Grad school really turned out well for me, and the best part is I have time to devote to my first love…writing.
What about a doctorate in psychometrics? I have heard from every psychology professor with which I’ve discussed the matter that it’s highly beneficial to not only have a Master’s in psychometrics but a doctorate as well.
I’m still a year and a half away from my Bachelor’s but I plan on pursuing a doctorate immediately following my Bachelor’s degree.
What recession are we dodging. Haven’t you heard? The Great Decession is over! It’s faith, mes amis. Morgan Stanley posted huge losses but set aside 3 billion dollars for bonuses. Why…the factories are roaring again, people are going back to work, everyone will have company sponsored healthcare! Have a little faith and then put down that weed you’re smoking.
This article might be true for some people, but for me it’s completely wrong.
I am passionate about my subject (Biology) and I knew I wanted to go to grad school right out of undergrad.
Grad school has changed my life in every way. I moved half way across the country and I am experiencing a completely new way of living (which I LOVE). I am meeting new people that I never would have if I hadn’t moved for grad school and learning how to live completely on my own. I am learning time management, which I never learned as an undergrad, and also how to teach students (I am a lab TA). And most of all, I am learning more about myself.
However, I also worked all the way through undergrad so that helped me realize that I hated doing stuff like selling tickets at a theater, making coffee for rude customers, and working a cashier.
In Biology you really need at least a Masters to get out of being the B.S. that does all the dirty grunt work for research positions so that’s what I’m doing and I have not regretted it one bit.
Besides, I will get out of this not having any debt, since being a TA provides me with a full tuition waiver, university health insurance, and a stipend.
My adviser is also well-known in his field and his past students have not had any problem getting a job.
I know I won’t get paid much because of my subject, but I am ok with that. At least I will be doing something I love.
I decided to go the grad school way. I am applying to a few programs right now. Actually I am really looking forward to it and am very excited about it. I am going for an MBA. I wrote the GMAT a few months back and did surprisingly well. Scored well on math but 80th percentile on the verbal. With regards to my work…even though it has been ages since i got a promotion or any raise, now I am being offered new and great things as if they are trying to keep me from going anywhere. I don’t want to get into the whole recession fear thing but graduate school can only work in ones advantage. Of course there is an opportunity cost…the money you will have to pay for it and the money you will lose from not working but you need to see it as an investment for the future. You never know what doors a degree can open for you.
I am not sure I’m sold on this article. If grad school is a waste of time, then is an undergraduate degree too? I have an undergraduate degree and I KNOW that it is a huge advantage. I may not have a permanent job yet (I graduated just a few months ago) but the stints I’ve done pay very well. I have a friend who is in his 30’s, never went to school, and makes a living as a landlord paying ridiculously high property taxes, fixing broken utilites, and breaks his back moving furniture for a few bucks on the side. School’s a waste of time, eh?
I can’t get certified as a speech pathologist unless I go to gradschool! Also, I can’t get certified as an audiologist unless I go into the doctorial program. nothing you said applies to the speech and hearing sciences.
I think it is funny how many people read this article and thought “Going to grad school is a waste.” The point was clearly to point out going to grad school to defer the loans that are hovering over your neck is pointless.
Real world experience trumps all, there are requirements for certain positions however; these exceptions should be assumed considering you would not be attending a graduate class just to dodge the recession. They are required to move on.
I couldn’t agree anymore with this article, and have used this to show my parents why I am not wasting my time continuing on to get my Masters in Fine Arts for Digital Arts and Design. If my dream was to become a doctor then I would obviously continue on to obtain my PHD.
The same applies to the people claiming that P was attacking the military, they were simply stating that going into the military as a be all end all to debt after going through undergrad would be shooting yourself in the foot. This is obviously a generalization because there are some careers in which you can advance yourself in the military. To say it can continue to advance any career is an extremely far stretch.
Any Ph.D. students reading this…must get away from this blog. It’s useless, negative propaganda, used by people to make excuses, and used by people who don’t have what it takes to achieve the ultimate education. This blog was started by someone who left three failed startups trying to look for the next big one. The Brazen Careerist should be renamed to The Brazen Lowered Expectations..how do do what you want and really not care about anyone but self.
The military limits your future I guess you ar a Democrat…
This blog post is misdirected and biased. The fact is that to get your foot in the door for most professions, you need some sort of training. Sometimes this is, gasp, a graduate degree and it should! You would not want to go to a psychologist who just had “on the job training” and no graduate degree, would you? The level of research, scholarship and depth of knowledge someone gains (or should gain) from a degree is hard to match in the real world.
A graduate degree is sometimes very worth it. I wish I had gotten one instead of floundering for a decade with no direction and no decent job prospects. People who go into professions that require graduate level training early on are much better off. I would have a much better career now if I hadn’t spent my twenties lost and lacking self-esteem because of it. And I was a serious student with a lot of potential.
Old thread, but I can’t resist placing my own comment here. I agree with much of what this article says. Until I began my internship and volunteer work, I didn’t really learn much of anything. Right now I’m working on my masters degree in philosophy and loving every moment I learn in the classroom and on the job.
I am paid a LOT to grade a few papers and I have free tuition. Not bad at all. I have also found my passion for health care management and have enrolled in a few of those courses on the side. I have a management internship at a community health center and it is AWESOME. I think a combination of work and school is really important.
This post is perfect advice at this stage of my life. I am a military wife of 15 years and I just learned of a new tuition assistance program for military spouses. I have a B.A. in sociology and had all intentions of becoming a psychologist until I actually worked in a mental health clinic for 3 years. I’m so relieved that I didn’t go straight to grad school and end up with piles of debt in a career I couldn’t stand.
My dilemma now is that because we move all around the world every 3 years or so, my career is affected by many forces out of my control. The military has recently created a program that provides $6K worth of tuition assistance for any type of post-high school education or training. There are no limits although they would prefer the training go towards “portable” careers. 6K won’t cover grad school, even if I knew what I wanted to study. But it does cover all sorts of things that I never considered before. Perhaps some kind of medical or computer training. I’m currently unemployed and am okay with being “lost”
If I remember this, you might be able to swing a large part of psychoanalytic training via one of the training institutes, and for about six grand. The question is whether you want to, and whether the military would pay for training in psychoanalysis. It’s a very long course of study. I guess question one is whether it’s still interesting.
Also, forgot to mention that although I loved your post, I found your comments about the military to be inaccurate and insulting. If an individual does not have major moral objections to war or combat, the military is a great place to gain valuable work experience. Young people are given supervisory duties and responsibilities at and age far earlier than they would in the private sector. Also, officers are on a leadership/executive tract and military service provides generous tuition assistance. I welcome the influx of new talent into the military due to the recession, especially officers. These people make decisions that impact my life. They determine my husband’s safety or lack-there-of in combat, design my housing, provide health care for my family, etc. My husband is enlisted and although he has been in for 15 years, his bosses are officers that are usually young and fresh from a B.A. I can tell you that the enlisted corps welcomes quality officers with some real life work experience under their belts.
DON’T GO TO LAW SCHOOL!!! $150k AND 3 YEARS OF YOUR LIFE GONE IN EXCHANGE FOR A 60% CHANCE (AT BEST) OF FINDING EMPLOYMENT THAT WILL DRAIN YOUR SOUL.
You nailed it!
I think the resurgence of views and posts may have come from some googling after reading this article:
http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the-Huma/44846/
I especially like your “PhD pyramid scheme” I am going to conversation drop that and will attribute it but may also substitute PhD = ponzi scheme to match the meter to the alliteration!
Once again nice piece of writing with resonant stylistic touches!!
This has to be the most retarded advice I have ever seen. I went to grad school and now make $90,000 a year at the age of 26 in a career that I wake up everyday LOVING! As an acute care physical therapist I get to help people and use my brain, skills, and understanding of the human body and biomechanics to change peoples’ lives.
I think your advice for not going to school is simply because your a lazy fuck who is jealous of those who actually made it in the world. I feel sorry for you.
and P.S. : My friends who payed HUGE tuitions to go to medical school now make more than $200,000 a year and payed off their loans in no time at all. Now they drive porsches and live on the beach. Yea – they sure are losers who should have taken your advice, right…
Our downturn economy and this current recession should be a wakeup call for many Americans that our consumer based society cannot be sustained by all the White Collar paper pushing office workers who deal only with intangibles. It seems like every aspiring young student today wants to become a Wall St. banker, lawyer or some other person who just fumbles around the office. There are only a few people in their 20s to 30s who demonstrate a strong interest in the sciences, technology and engineering, subjects that involve some form of innovative streak which would ultimately lead to manufacturing of new products and a healthy economy. I’m afraid America will lose out to a nation such as China where many of its students are more interested in engineering than law school.
A clear example and difference is the professional background of our leaders and the Chinese ones. President Barack Obama was an attorney, and so is Vice President Joe Biden. The Chinese Prime Minster and Premier were both engineers in training.
What if you are working in fast food after college and can’t get anything else, even thought you went to a tier 1 university and had a high gpa? BA in economics.
I agree with everything John Doe said.
If you are going to settle for less, follow this advice. However, if you have the motivation, drive, and passion to succeed in graduate school (as I WILL be doing come this September) do not take any of this advice. It’s worthless.
I graduated a little bit more than a year ago with a liberal arts degree in political science and psychology from a top tier school. Panic ensued when I realized that I might not be able to get a well-paying and meaningful job. I agree that there is a good percentage of people who go to law school or grad school right after college solely because they feel lost and that pursuing another degree felt safer than taking a gamble and exploring a little. For a period of time I thought about going to law school, but I am glad that I decided to take another path. My friend who has an engineering degree and who later on went to law school at NYU just wrote a guest post about why law school is not the right choice for most liberal arts degree graduates for my blog at http://catwchang.com/?p=234
I skimmed over the previous comments quickly and I may have missed it if some one already said what I am going to say here.
This article has several flaws.
1) It assumes that the only measure of success is a paycheck (not happiness, low stress, etc…)
2) Where would you like to obtain college professors from in the future if “noone should obtain a Ph.D.”
3) I typically see professions requiring a Ph.D. (historian, economist) rank pretty well on best jobs lists (cnbc.com) in terms of average salary, stress, and a multitude of other factors
4) One comment said something about doing the “same thing every day for the rest of your life” if you have a Ph.D. This is wildly untrue, as the connections you make after graduation and when entering academics, non-profits, research centers, etc… enable you to travel and commit to different research projects consistently
5) I have friends that work for HP and Enterprise who will make more money than me for the rest of their lives… this is totally fine with me as I will always be doing something I love and have a connection (not to mention being able to start more intriguing conversations) with and they will sell computer parts and cars….
I am in the military. I have good pay, tuition assistance for my graduate degree, free health care, and I’ve traveled all over the world. I am much better off than most of my peers in my college class. Plus my specific career field has led many of my coworkers to high-paying jobs in the civilian sector. How exactly have I limited myself?
“Military is the terrible escape hatch for poor kids”
I cannot disagree with you more. As a prior Officer in the Navy, I can’t even begin to describe the caliber of some of our young enlisted sailors, many of whom did not have the same good fortunes and upbringing as you and I. The military has provided a structure that allows many young people to get their lives back on track while offering opportunities through the Post 9/11 GI bill to get a degree on the government. Yes, there are also many who do not take advantage of this for whatever reason, but this is individual’s choice, and you will see similar failures to drive one’s career at Harvard business school or Yale law: it’s a fact of life. However, you cannot blindly apply this general stereotype across the entire military. In one of my collateral duties as an Education Officer, I personally worked with a sailor that escaped gangs in LA by joining the Navy. This sailor later applied for and accepted a 3-year undergraduate scholarship and a commission as an Officer in the Navy.
I also know for a fact that my military experience, laden with incredibly higher levels of responsibility than many of peers from a top undergraduate university, was a prime reason I was accepted to a top MBA program and further offered an internship at one of the top consulting firms. Please keep your ignorant views of the military to yourself, especially when you have no idea what you are talking about.
Someone sounds a bit bitter.
While I agree that graduate school is a waste for certain fields and careers…such as business, marketing, communications, this writer is completely irresponsible in suggesting that medical careers, science careers, and the like are not good to get into.
Some fields, if this writer could pull their head out of their ass to see it, actually require advanced degrees to even get in the door in fields.
Psychology, medicine, biochemistry, and similar fields won’t hire you if you don’t have a Masters and in fact won’t hire you if you don’t have a doctorate.
State boards won’t issue licenses to people without Masters and in some cases PhDs.
Practicalities aside, most useful graduate programs do require internships; again these are mostly in fields of psychology, medicine, and some sciences.
I agree that some fields offer little reason for a Masters or Doctorate such as Comm and Marketing, and I also agree that some advanced degree fields are more pet interests of people rather than job requirements (such as English and some Arts).
But this writer forgets 2 key things:
1.) Many jobs require advanced degrees.
2.) Some people actually follow a passion or interest and see education as an investment beyond how much cash they’ll rake in.
Just because business type advanced degrees are typically useless in terms of learning or income doesn’t mean all advanced degrees are useless. It depends on the area of the degree!!
The debt just isn’t worth the costs anymore. There is no possible way that wages can keep up with the rising cost of tuition. It’s a bubble and it’s going to explode. College is a scam. http://www.thegreatcollegehoax.com
Great post Penelope, Thank you for saying what needs to be said. You don’t hafta be in school trying for a piece of paper to learn. You can learn for free – or better yet, get paid to learn. Or conversely, take the $50,000 that you would’ve spent on grad school and fail at a business. It’ll be much more educational.
I work in a theater. I know more about what we do than my current theater manager, who is there on a temporary basis. The old manager retired and, this new person took over beause they were directly underneath the manager. However, the new person does not have an MA and, therefore, he is in a temporary position, as a fix for the vacant spot, until the position is filled by a “qualified” manager.
The manager’s boss told me that, with my experience, and with my skills, if I had only had an MFA, I could land the job as manager and, have a wonderful high paying career for the rest of my life.
I have seen numerous occasions like this where someone’s potential career path is lethally hindered by not having a degree.
Meanwhile, I was offered a simple teaching position, related to my job. I am qualified for this position because I have extensive experience. However, If I did not have my BA, I would not be allowed to apply.
get the picture?
I don’t think that you’ve given medical school a fair treatment. I agree with you that a desire for money is a bad reason to go to medical school; doctors have a duty much greater than the bottom line. I think that there are a lot of very good reasons to go to medical school, however. You might have a sincere desire to help people, and a holy curiosity and passion for the workings of the body. I know that there are good reasons to go to law school, and Ph.D. programs as well. But I agree that dodging the recession isn’t a good reason to pick any career. What you do should be about what you want, not what your parents want, not what the Wall Street Journal says is a great career, and not about what the economy wants.
Could this article be anymore de-moralizing. If someone wants to go back to school they should. Just because they odds are against a person succeeding doesn’t mean you can’t. I mean, isn’t that how people succeed in this world? They go against the odds (grain).
Also,
Would anyone recommend taking grad school classes online from an accredited university while also keeping your current job?
I have wanted to get my masters ever since I attained my undergraduate degree.
Thank-you for confirming my doubt. It’s 2:40 a.m. on a Thursday, and the pressures of being out of work were getting to me. Thinking that my ONLY option was to get a Master’s Degree, go 50-60k further into debt, I came across this. (Well, googled “why going to grad school is a bad idea.”) It’s comforting to know that my doubts were justified.
I am an undergraduate and I am often astonished when great people like you do not really like the educational system. Though it provides a basic foundation, it is not a refuge not an assurance that you will get a job, your dream job. Or maybe at some point it will, but it’s not always a solution.
I couldn’t think of success without thinking of the people that defy the current educational system and thrived in their fields like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. They’re both drop out but are currently earning more than any other MPA holders do. :)
Jonha
I didn’t choose to go to graduate school because of the recession, but I’m terrified of leaving because of the recession. There are no jobs for someone with and undergraduate in chemistry. None. I have bills, a wife, a mortgage. How can you ‘try being lost’ under those circumstances? Without that college stipend, I’m $1,500 poorer every month and a very, very long way from getting a job.
I have worked in various customer service positions for most of my adult life. I am 43 years old, and after months of soul-searching, research, and volunteering at an AIDS hospice I have decided to quit my job and go to grad school starting this fall, in the field of Social Work. I am currently debt-free, and will be able to finance the bulk of my education without borrowing too much. I am even perfectly willing to sell my car. I am just sharing this with you because I can’t wait to get back to school and learn a the profession about which I am extremely passionate. Some ask “Really? Social Work? and you’re quitting your job for this?” I am not hiding from anything; I am moving onward and upward.
But that’s just me.
Geeze…Let’s see how relevant your comments are in 10 years when a new generation of more educated professionals are taking over the workforce. What a narrow point of view…Someone could use a grad course or two.
p.s.
Most graduate schools fully fund and even pay stipends to their students. But, you wouldn’t know that because you were learning HTML. Nice.
This article is poorly written.
Just wondering if the person writing this has a PhD?
Interesting thought
It is refreshing to think about graduate school as perhaps a decision and experience that is better later.
I would say that older people are happier in general.
All the best, Mike Belly