I am having a lot of difficulty choosing a grad program and am wondering if anyone else shared this struggle? I am entering my senior year, but am technically eligible to graduate right now. For ages I wanted to go for law, but then found I really liked psyc and now am considering a PhD or masters. I am a psyc major econ minor for undergrad. Although, I also have considered a MBA or even some degree/joint degree in marketing or psyc and marketing. I currently have a YouTube channel making 6-figures and I really enjoy doing my own thing/having my own business.
This creates this weird situation where it feels like depending on the week I want to go for a PhD/MS in psyc, JD, or MBA. I had a few professors recommend looking at current jobs and then working my way back on how to get there. The problem being my current job is the one I have or some form of it (not precisely YouTube, but my own business). I don’t have to decide right now. I plan to take a year off after I graduate to do YouTube for at least a year, but I am always super stressed and researching different programs to [seemingly] no avail. Just seeking someone who had some advice on how to come to a conclusion.
Stop planning to take one year off and then go to grad school. You will need to be spending too much time during that year on the grad school applications and any exams needed. Plan now for two years off, and at the end of the first year, re-consider making it three or four or even more. Since you will eventually need LORs from professors, chat with your professors and advisors now, and find out the best way to stay in touch with them for when you do need those LORs.
Go out into the world, make money. Enjoy that business of yours! When you truly are ready for some kind of grad program, you will know it.
If you don’t know what degree you want, the best thing to do is go work first and figure it out.
Since a graduate degree is a tool for entering a specific career, you have to decide first what kind of career you want to have before getting one. You’d only get a JD, for example, if you wanted to be a lawyer. You’d get a PhD in psychology if you wanted to be a clinician/therapist or a researcher in the field, but otherwise, you don’t need one.
Obsessively investigating programs won’t help you because you don’t know what you want to do - so many programs may seem appealing to you because you’re interested in a lot of things, which is normal. That’s why researching different programs seems like it’s to no avail now - it really isn’t. Give the researching a rest and instead spend some time thinking about what you want to do - you wanna do YouTube! Think about growing your YT business and deciding your next steps from there.