<p>Most of my friends, graduating and not graduating this year are planning on going to grad school. They have very different majors too: psychology, linguistics, math, chemistry, biology, etc. I googled the same question and I read an article saying that grad school only will raise one's salary slightly and that most people shouldn't consider going if their area of study isn't highly demanded. I've also asked my friends why they're going to grad school and they have responded that it would increase their job prospects. This might be true, but it doesn't seem like the higher costs of graduate studies offsets the increased job prospects.</p>
<p>In this day and age, is grad school required for most people in order to be competitive in the job market?</p>
<p>(I'm asking about majors not in engineering because I'm that's my major and I'm more knowledgeable about it.)</p>
<p>Many people enter college with lofty career aspirations (physician, lawyer, academic, etc.). By the time they get to senior year of college, many have dropped such aspirations and are ready to go into the workforce and earn some money to pay off student loans. In many cases, it means dropping the aspirations of working in one’s college major, since major-specific jobs in many majors are not as numerous as graduates in those majors are.</p>
<p>Note that, in terms of cost of post-graduate study, professional schools (e.g. for MD or JD) tend to be expensive, but PhD programs usually come with a tuition waiver and living expense stipend, with the student as a research assistant or teaching assistant.</p>
<p>In my field of study (engineering), you are considered more valuable if you have a graduate degree. At my internship at a federal defense contractor for the last two summers, it was made clear that you are promoted and receive higher pay if you have a master’s or PhD. In addition, if you want to pursue a graduate degree while you are working, the company will pay for it. These are very lucrative reasons why a person would want a graduate degree.</p>
<p>In addition, there are some professions that require graduate degrees. If you want to teach at a university for instance (PhD).</p>
<p>On a personal note, I love learning and continuing my education through grad school has intrinsic value to me.</p>
<p>Everyone is different. Grad school may not be for everyone.</p>
<p>I think many people go to grad school because the job market is really competitive. You’d want to be the person with the most educational background and experience when you’re looking for a job in your field. Also sometimes when you’re looking for a specific job you have to have a master’s degree. For example, I’m trying to be a criminal profiler and my advisor said that after I graduate in 2 years it would be wise to get a master’s degree.</p>
<p>People go to graduate school for a variety of reasons, depending on the field and their desired career path. In my experience, though, most people who go to graduate school go because:</p>
<p>(1) They need a specific graduate or professional degree to pursue their career of interest.</p>
<p>(2) They need an advanced degree for advancement in their profession or for some other specific professional or career goal.</p>
<p>(3) Or they don’t know what to do and/or are having trouble getting a satisfying job so they go to graduate school to “figure it out” or because they “heard” it will help them in some vague way.</p>
<p>In my opinion, #3 is the weakest reason to go to graduate school, but I know a fair number of people who are pursuing that path. Everyone has different reasons for going to grad school, however, and in some programs (particularly PhD programs in certain fields), you can get funded for graduate studies. If they’ve thought it over and consulted professors or other contacts in their field, then it’s likely the right choice for them. I don’t think it’s necessarily required, but it depends on what you want to do.</p>
<p>The majors you listed psychology, linguistics, math, chemistry, and biology have very weak job markets for people with only an undergradute degree…in fact they don’t even have that great a market with a masters or phd either… People aren’t getting jobs so they go back to school thinking it will be better or at least it’s better than being unemployed or underemployed.</p>
<p>Most of the people you ask will end up not going or will end up going for a year then leaving. When I was in undergrad a majority of people up until the final semester I was there were talking about grad school. Almost none of them went. If they are taking a year off you can make the assumption that they are never going back (very few people take a year off then go unless their work is paying for it). </p>
<p>As for the salary thing. Yes in some fields the salary doesn’t differ much (Computer Science is one) however the benefits of a post-bachelor degree are not only in terms of money. As someone else mentioned there are positions only someone with a Masters/PhD can obtain (one example is R&D). Also not mentioned as often is job security and mobility. A Masters/PhD can offer slightly higher job security in some fields (especially in those that require specialized work).</p>
<p>I don’t think that majoring in math has a weak job market. As an applied math/stats major though I am considering graduate school as my backup plan in case I want to do physics or engineering.</p>
<p>I think there are plenty of opportunities for a math major with CS, physics, or finance coursework. I’m going for an actuary job. You don’t need a master’s to make a good salary in that profession.</p>
<p>I think some people want to complete all of their education up front… before beginning a career. If you already know what you want to do, then just keep going to school and work in the summer or p/t during the school year to keep building the resume. </p>
<p>It is also beneficial getting the schooling out of the way before starting a family as that can be a time consuming life investment.</p>
<p>Many universities are offering 5 year joint bachelors-masters in many fields. That can greatly reduce the total cost of getting a masters, and can also avoid missing out on a full year of income. If your current college is reasonably priced, you often will not be able to complete a masters cheaper than through a 5 year program. (There are some exceptions --if you are in a field where employers heavily subsidize graduate education and/or are in a field where online grad degrees make sense and are respected). </p>
<p>Also, some people go right to grad school to delay having to pay off their federal loans. That only works of course, if your current loans plus your new loans are affordable.</p>
<p>Graduate Plus loan interest rates have been lowered for this school year. In future years, they will be indexed for inflation. Almost all economists expect inflation to increase over the next few years, so it may never be cheaper than now to borrow money for grad school.</p>
<p>I am going to grad school because I want to be a professor. I don’t have an option. Money wise…well, I did add quite a lot of money to my student loan debt as a Master’s student, but my PhD is fully funded, so I consider myself to be quite lucky. Not that it matters, but my Bachelor’s degree is in Philosophy while my Master’s (and PhD although I am only in my first semester) is in English Lit.</p>
<p>Mean income for those 25 and older with a BA is $43,143; it’s $52,000 for a master’s, $82,473 for a professional degree (MD, JD, MPP, MBA, etc.) and $70,853 for a doctoral degree. So graduate school doesn’t raise your salary only “slightly” unless you consider $10,000+ to be “slightly.”</p>
<p>That said, most people don’t go to graduate school. Only 8% of the U.S. population has a master’s degree, and only 3% has a professional or doctoral degree. It appears that about 20% of BA holders go on to get a master’s or above across fields, although of course this varies from field to field. Given that the unemployment rate isn’t 80%, it appears that a graduate degree isn’t required for the vast majority of jobs. Also, more education isn’t necessarily desirable for jobs - many employers and fields would rather someone who spent that 2-3 years getting work experience rather than a graduate degree. For example, no one wants to hire an MBA without work experience.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, you should only get a graduate degree if you need one for a specific job or career advancement. For example, I want to be a public health researcher, so I’m getting my PhD in that field. If you want to be a manager at a business or a long-term consultant, an MBA is appropriate; a policy analyst would need an MPP or MPA. Like others have said, a lot of your friends probably are saying they want to go to graduate school now but will change their minds by the time they get to senior year and decide to work first.</p>
<p>As a side note, it’s also not true that those majors have “very weak” job markets for people with undergraduate degrees - this is a common misconception. Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute reports that the unemployment rate for the recent graduates in humanities and liberal arts is about 9.4%, in the social sciences is 8.9%, in psychology is 7.3%, and for the life sciences is about 7.7%. Those are not significantly higher than the unemployment rate for engineering (7.5%) or computers and mathematics (8.2%). The difference gets even smaller when you look at experienced graduates. And this data was collected right after the recession hit (2009-2010).</p>
<p>In our modern day, the B.A. is the new high school diploma.</p>
<p>For any job requiring significant analysis/professional skills, beyond the direct vocational fields (engineering, finance, nursing, accounting, etc - there you get the certifications/licenses to prove your advanced knowledge before being permitted to be employed in those capacities, and even then it’ll be tough), a graduate degree is required nowadays (unless you’re uncle or something can help them overlook that requirement).</p>
<p>A B.A. on its own in many fields (basically all fields excluding the previous ones mentioned) qualifies you to do secretarial/administrative work (whether that be as a Staff Assistant to a Congressman where you carry his papers and escort him around, or a Receptionist/Executive Assistant at a non-profit, or a paralegal where you file papers, etc.). I’ve seen many people however once they get their MPA, MA, etc then be able to jump from those jobs to jobs that actually use their degree to the full extent. And of course this isn’t even talking about the advanced vocational programs such as medical school and law school.</p>