Is going on to grad school a necessity?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>My friend mentioned to me today that "right now, graduate school is a necessity." I'd never heard that before; call me ignorant but I thought that only students who want to become doctors (and similar professions), those who want to specialize in their major and those who want to do extensive research in their field go to graduate school.</p>

<p>She clarified, telling me that there is basically no other route to take, unless you're going straight into retail business or you're becoming a teacher (both of which you can start right after college). If you don't know what you're going to do yet, she said, then you might as well play it safe and continue onto grad school.</p>

<p>Is anyone else as surprised by this as I am? Or, any comments on this? I would really know is this is true or not. Thanks!</p>

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<p>I'm a bit surprised. I thought the same as you about doctors and all. I honestly wouldn't go with that advice. My dad didn't even go to college and he is well off. Millions of people haven't gone to grad school and seem to be doing alright with themselves.</p>

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<p>I think the idea comes from how it is commonly asserted (by whom? I don't know!) that the bachelor's degree of today is equivalent to the high school degree of yesterday. That is, so many people are getting them, it's becoming the 'basic' degree to work with.</p>

<p>A graduate degree might not be a bad idea, but I don't think it's necessary. Doctors/veterinarians, architects, lawyers and future business moguls (and others, I'm sure) will want to take the professional school route, and those who enjoy research or are traditionally aiming for professorships or something along those lines would head for their master's or doctorate. </p>

<p>Are the higher, higher degrees necessary? I don't think so. Are they useful? I think they can be. Going to grad school is a great way to 'delay life' because even though you're working and are essentially 'independent,' you're going to school and putting off your choice of career. ;)</p>

<p>I doubt you'll find an entry-level job that would require such an advanced degree, but I doubt you'll have much trouble finding a job with grad school under your belt (unless you run into the 'you're overqualified' business, which is amusingly positive and terrible all at the same time -- how do you regress?).</p>

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<p>There is probably some truth to that, but it's not entirely accurate.<br>
Going to grad school is more common now, and the job market is more competitive. For many jobs it is necessary or at least helpful to have graduate degrees.
But not for all jobs. Nurses and engineers earn good salaries with just bachelor degrees. I have a friend who has a B.S. in civil engineering, and he earns between $25 and $30 per hour.<br>
Then again, I also knew someone who had a Master's degree in Spanish and worked at Burger King...
I guess it depends on several factors, such as one's major and experience, the job market, whom you know, etc.</p>

<p>Going to grad school isn't always recommended. For example, if you're not sure what you want to study, it might not be wise to go (yet). It's different from being an undergrad in that respect. You need to know exactly what you want to study.
Also, grad school is very intense and requires long hours of studying. You need to be serious about it, and preferably, have a passion for the field you're studying.
In some cases, it might also be a challenge for some students to get in for their field of choice. Clinical psychology, for example, is very selective. Someone with mediocre undergrad grades might have a hard time getting into grad school for psychology.</p>

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<p>Another reason why grad school is becoming more of a necessity is that you often need a graduate degree in order to be promoted to higher positions that involve more responsibility and higher pay. </p>

<p>For example, finding an entry-level job with an undergrad. degree in a business discipline isn't horribly hard, assuming that the economy isn't in a recession. But after a while, a person with just a bachelor's degree will be passed up for promotion to upper management positions if there are candidates who have an MBA or any other relevant graduate degrees. </p>

<p>A master's degree has increasingly become a big factor in obtaining promotion in many professions. A Ph.D is far more geared towards people who want to really learn about and research a certain subject. Almost all Ph.D programs are designed to prepare people for future jobs in academia, such as teaching or researching.</p>

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<p>i guess that the career you would like to pursue is an important factor. if you don't know what passions you want to pursue, then paying for additional schooling doesn't have the same appeal. on the other hand, an M.A. can be useful if you intend to go into a competitive job market.</p>

<p>so, if not knowing what field i'm going into and not liking the whole "working in an office cubicle 9-5, maybe one day getting a promotion" thing indicates anything, i probably won't be going to graduate school. ..things change, plans change, of course, but this is just what i'm currently thinking.</p>

<p>thanks for the responses..!</p>

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<p>Put simply, a lot more people are going to college now than went say, 10 or 20 years ago. So you don't stand out nearly as much as a college grad when applying for a job, you now need a grad degree to stand otu.</p>

<p>Also, the average salary for grad degrees is much higher. You practically start at $80,000 if you have an M.B.A. (provided you stay in the for-profit sector)</p>

<p>I guess I was taught by the (by whom?) people undecided spoke of.</p>

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<p>It also depends on your field. ChemEs can get a nice job right out of college. Psychology majors, bio majors, chem majors, and physics majors, usually can't. They need something extra. For bio that would be pre-med but for others grad school is almost a necessity.</p>

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<p>the more people who get a 4-year college degree the less that is going to mean in top-level jobs therefore more and more people will need the extra degree</p>

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<p>Graduate school isn't as prevalent as you might think. Right now, out of the population 25 and up, 17.7% have a college degree, 6.3% have a masters, 1.2% have a doctorate, and 1.5% have a professional degree, which means that only 26.7% of the adult population have at least a college degree. A grad degree will definitely give you more options as well as a higher salary, though.</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
I'm a bit surprised. I thought the same as you about doctors and all. I honestly wouldn't go with that advice. My dad didn't even go to college and he is well off. Millions of people haven't gone to grad school and seem to be doing alright with themselves.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What is well-off? I wish I had the kind of money Paris Hilton has. That has to be fun. I wanted to be on TV when I was like 9 or 10. I packed my toys up but never made it past the porch because I didn't know how to get to California. ;P</p>

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<p>I think there are far too many variables involved to make a flat statement that "graduate school is a necessity." IMHO, OP's "friend" sounds more than a little closed-minded to make such a pronouncement.</p>

<p>As previous posters have pointed out, the "need" for an advanced degree depends a lot on the particular field (for example, a master's in engineering is probably more valuable than a master's in political science) and your own career goals (for example, do you want to teach at the college level?)</p>

<p>Graduate degrees are becoming more common -- particularly in certain fields -- but they do not necessarily bring you a higher salary or a better job. (It's always amazing to me how some potential employers might find you "overqualified" with an advanced degree!) The decision to go on to graduate school is very much a matter of individual choice.</p>

<p>Also, there are some definite advantages to postponing graduate school for a few years after receiving your bachelors to get some actual work experience in your field. It will help you focus on what you want to study or what thesis topic you want to pursue -- plus you'll have more money to pay for graduate school!</p>

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<p>a bachelor's will suffice and you can live a decent life off it. a graduate degree will give you a huge advantage though, and it's becoming increasing more valuable. depends on what you want to do in life... or if you're unsure, what your goals in life are and how you imagine your lifestyle. to really play it safe, find a major that can land you an entry job out of college, but is also applicable for graduate studies. something like econ would work. however, the best advice is to study what you love... then you'll know if you really want to go onto grad school for it, because it will be a huge commitment.</p>

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<p>friend says "If you don't know what you're going to do yet, she said, then you might as well play it safe and continue onto grad school." My take is your friend doesn't understand how people get hired out of college for jobs or how they get promoted. Ask her to explain the process to you, the way she thinks it works. </p>

<p>I think you'll find her story interesting. And I'll bet it will ignore the crucial role internships play in getting that first job. It will not talk about the importance of your interviewing skills. It will give no role to mentorship, to the role your boss plays, to your work habits and perception others hold of you, to the connections you make while working (eg. networking). It will not talk about the importance of a zeal for your work, how your attitude affects how others see you and whether people want you on their project teams. Heck, she won't even mention project teams, the roles junior and senior people play in them, the importance of delivering more than is expected. And so on.</p>

<p>For that matter, what grad degree does she have in mind? Does she think a MA, any MA, is ok? Does she know that the top business schools won't look at you without 3-5 years of good experience after college?</p>

<p>I'm not trying to slam your friend, BTW. Its just that many HS students are uninformed about how the career world works, about how you get into that first job and how you rise after it. For some jobs, sure, an MBA or MA is crucial. For others it helps, and for probably most it doesn't matter. </p>

<p>HS students live in a particular world, and like all of us they project their world onto the other worlds they see. (As an aside, this is one of the strongest reasons to learn a foreign language and study abroad -- you'll discover first-hand that the way we do things here in the USA, the things you take for granted and don't even think of as choices, are often decided differently elsewhere. Everyone who studies abroad describes it as eye-opening). In the HS world everything is driven by credentials. Your teachers have one to get a job. You get to a higher grade by passing the lower one, and you get into college based largely on your gpa and scores (and with a HS diploma). </p>

<p>In the HS world almost everything is based on credentials, so its easy to jump to the conclusion that's the way the rest of the world works, and the key to career advancement is to have better credentials than the other people. After all, thats what gets you into a top college, so its natural to project it farther along. Farther along, unfortunately, than it is valid.</p>

<p>So when she tells you there is "basically no other route to take" she is revealing her ignorance of life in the working world, of what it takes to get hired and promoted. Follow this advice at your peril!</p>

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<p>mikemac- my friend didn't mention those details, but thinking back on what you said.. i think it makes a lot of sense to see that education isn't the only important factor.</p>

<p>with all this in mind, i think i'll wait a few years before i start thinking about whether or not to go. =P i'll probably have a better idea what my interests for a career are then. </p>

<p>and while i do think that internships (and the experience that comes with it) are important, it might be hard to return to school once you launch yourself into the job market though.</p>

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<p>certain jobs pay for you to go back to school in order to become more qualified, of course you are required to work for them for a certain amount of time afterwards</p>

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<p>since I gave some advice of what not to do (blindly get a grad degree), let me post what I think you SHOULD do.</p>

<p>First off, when picking a college investigate out how helpful the career center will be. Sure, every college has one, but at some all they have is a few dusty brochures and a clerk who gives you a Monstertrack password. The better ones have an active on-campus interview program and internship program, and can put you in touch with volunteer alums to explore careers. So find out who recruits on campus, how many people got jobs that way, how many students get internships, and so on.</p>

<p>Next, don't put off preparing for a career until your senior year of college. Students in vocational majors have a leg up (eg. nursing, engineering, accounting, etc) but there is plenty liberal-arts majors can do. Start by finding your interests and beginning to explore careers. This means that within a month of showing up frosh year you should be visiting the career center and taking advantage of the resources. Talk to counselors, attend the talks, the career fairs, take the interest tests, and so on. Think of all this as another class that only has one final, and its senior year of college. Its a low-intensity class if you do work all along, but its going to be tough and you'll get a lousy grade if you keep postponing it.</p>

<p>As you uncover your interests, you'll want to begin exploring careers. Talking with alums is a great way to do this, and many colleges have lists of alums in all kinds of fields that would be happy to talk to students. </p>

<p>As you become more set on some areas, the next thing to do is internships. These are absolutely KEY to getting a job. Employers love them because it shows you know the field and aren't going to quit in 6 months because it didn't turn out to be the type of work you imagined. From a students point of view, its better to take a peek at what its like in a law firm/accounting/marketing/etc. rather than start your career and find out you don't like it. And even if an internship is in field A you will encounter people at work doing B or C, things you maybe didn't even know about, and find you like them even more. Internships help open a student's eyes to all the possibities that are out there in a way that grabbing a handful of brochures from the career center can never do. There is a great book for college students called "Major in Success" by Combs that explains this whole process and has lots of examples of real students and what they did.</p>

<p>The good news, BTW, is that nothing is set in concrete. Its common for people to start in one area, work there for a year or two, then change to something else. But you're better off trying to make that first job a good match to the extent you can.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Next, don't put off preparing for a career until your senior year of college.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Oops. :x I still have no clue what I want to do.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
This means that within a month of showing up frosh year you should be visiting the career center and taking advantage of the resources. Talk to counselors, attend the talks, the career fairs, take the interest tests, and so on. Think of all this as another class that only has one final, and its senior year of college. Its a low-intensity class if you do work all along, but its going to be tough and you'll get a lousy grade if you keep postponing it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Oops again. Oh well, I'll just remain lost since I really haven't got a clue.</p>

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<p>i'm going to keep that advice about college career centers and internships in mind. there are always so many things one should know upon entering college, but often do not learn until senior year of college -when all the "i should have's" start surfacing. so, thanks for all the help!</p>