Duke It Out: Grad School?

January 8, 2010     Posted in Reality

Grad school or no grad school - that is the question.

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like taking him home for the holidays!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]


By Lauren H

The New Year is here, and for those of you graduating in May, it’s time to start thinking about the future (insert groan here). Probably the biggest question you face down as graduation approaches is, what next? You could go out and get a job, bum around your parents’ place for a while, or you could keep the education train rolling with grad school. Applications to Masters programs have gone way up in the last few years (and they’re starting soon) - should you be joining them?

On the “pro” side of the argument, there are a lot of reasons it could be worth it to go to grad. There’s a lot more freedom in graduate study than in undergrad, which means that you get to make your own rules a bit more and you can really immerse yourself in one area of interest instead of taking all those required classes you’re never going to use again. Also, the job market still pretty much sucks (depending on your field, of course) and studies have shown that people who start jobs now (at lower pay) will continue to be paid lower even 10 years down the road – WTF? So in that respect, grad school is a really good way to buy yourself a little time and maybe a better pay check in the future. And ultimately, the truth is that a Masters degree is going to become increasingly the standard for our generation and the ones following us. For our grandparents it was a high school diploma, for our parents, a college degree and for our generation, where soooo many go to college, standing out is going to mean a Masters at least. Consider it an investment in your future.

But there are some distinct “cons” here too. To start with, you finally managed to graduate, the day you’ve been working toward since you were five, and now you’ve got to go in for at least 2 more years?! And while many grad schools are less expensive than undergrad, it’s still not exactly cheap. If you already have student loans or debt piling up, grad school may not be such a helping hand, particularly since there aren’t nearly as many scholarships or grants for grad. And while you don’t have to take those crappy required classes, grad school doesn’t allow for a lot of blow off courses either, which means an awful lot of stress. Speaking of stress, let’s not forget that most grad programs require you to take the GREs - yep, it’s like the SATs all over again. Joy! Oh, and BTW, when I mentioned up there that applications to grad school were way up, some schools have seen jumps of over 30%, so just getting in could be an issue.

Do you see yourself in grad school? Or would you rather eat your backpack than add on more school years? Will you be applying? Have you? Or do you think the whole idea of a Masters degree is just silly? Duke it out!

20 Comments on "Duke It Out: Grad School?"

  1. Ani says:
    Fri, 8th Jan 20106:35 am 

    I couldn't imagine myself without a doctorate, I've known I want to do research from before I knew exactly what I wanted to do research in. However, I can see it being a little pointless to do a masters just to ride out a bad year for jobs. Unless you're actually getting some sort of applicable skill that's important for what you want to do in the future, a year of volunteer work might be a better idea.

    I'll probably stay in Europe to do a PhD, because I get the impression that grad school in the US is like a two-year extension on your undergrad, i.e. there are lots of classes, followed by the opportunity to do research. I'm already antsy to get started on research, I couldn't bear taking classes for much longer. Postgrad studies here in Ireland are either a year-long taught or research masters, or else doctorate studies are 3-4 years of research as part of a proper research group, with maybe only ten mandatory seminars in first year. Am I totally mistaken about grad school?

  2. Jenny says:
    Fri, 8th Jan 20107:04 am 

    Ani, nope, you're not mistaken. I'm in my second year of grad school (my program is three years total) and for my first two years, I have to take classes, same as in undergrad. The workload is much more intense, partially because of my major choice (I'm going for graphic design) and partially because masters students get extra assignments to do in each class. My third year will be entirely devoted to my thesis, but thesis students are still required to attend classes weekly in order to meet with their advisers and receive feedback on their work so far.

    I am so glad that I decided to go for my masters degree. I actually had planned to go for my PhD in psychology, but at the 11th hour, I realized that I would rather become a graphic designer, so I searched for masters programs in that field instead. As brutal as grad school has been for me, I know it will pay off in the end. :)

  3. Lauren - University says:
    Fri, 8th Jan 20108:21 am 

    I think it really depends on your field. Some places would rather pay their young employees less, so they prefer people without a masters. I think the best bet is to work for a year or two to make sure you know what you want to get a masters in (and if its even necessary); you dont want to waste that money on a degree that you'll end up hating.

  4. Emily says:
    Fri, 8th Jan 20108:49 am 

    I plan on going overseas to get my masters in contemporary art. I can do it in a year (instead of three) and since my bachelors is in teaching I'm more likely to get a choice of what level I want to teach, or could teach at the college level. So for me another $30,000 on a life changing experience with a degree to boot, sounds worth it to me!

  5. Charlotte says:
    Fri, 8th Jan 201010:18 am 

    Ani, it really depends on your field. I'm in Canada and although there were a few science programs that are course based, the vast majority of masters are research. For my masters I only had to take one course and one seminar, the rest of the time was devoted to research.

    You should also know that if you want to come to north america, european PhD's are generally considered equivalent (or a little bit harder) in difficulty to a research masters,and north american PhD's are much more intensive. This is just for molecular bio, though, so it really might not apply in other fields

  6. E. says:
    Fri, 8th Jan 201012:18 pm 

    Engineering chiming in here… It really depends. It's true that you have to take classes for the first year or two here – however, a lot of folks get started on research either right away or within the first year.

  7. Liz says:
    Fri, 8th Jan 20105:16 pm 

    If you don't know exactly why you would go to graduate school, don't. A lot of career options are actually more limited after graduate school, and salary is often actually worse. If you're in the hard sciences, definitely go for it. But if you're in social sciences, or even worse the humanities, you'll pretty much just be paying a lot of money to be overqualified.

    No one should be expecting to be able to teach at the college level. There are, on average, hundreds of applications for tenure-track positions.

    This is a cruel, but beneficial article to read: http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-t…

    That being said, I still want my doctorate. But I think I'm kind of just being a baby about that.

  8. Megan says:
    Sat, 9th Jan 20102:52 pm 

    I'm graduating this spring with my B.A. in psychology and I REALLY wish I was going straight to graduate school in the fall. However, I still haven't figured out what I'd like to go to graduate school for! There are so many different areas within psychology & sociology that I'm interested in – I can't seem to narrow it down to one type of program. That being said, I'm planning on working for awhile in order to get some experience in those fields that interest me and then hopefully start applying to graduate schools.

  9. Tamara says:
    Sun, 10th Jan 20107:20 am 

    Well, I'm from South America, so things are probably very different here; there are even less jobs, less schools, less scholarships…however, in my field, I couldn't get around without a PhD (I'm a Philosophy major, with a huge interest in research and teaching high level education). So the thing is: if I can get a scholarship here in Argentina, I'll stay here and finish my studies here; if I can not, I'll have to start looking outside my country (England is the best place for my intereset): I hear there a lot of schools that have some special programs for people living in developing countries like my own. Is that true? Do you girls in Europe and the States know any students from Latin America, Africa and the like in that sort of programs?

  10. bella says:
    Mon, 11th Jan 20103:56 pm 

    I'm studying in a small private american uni here in Europe as a psychology major, Im graduating this may, and am looking into PHD programs in clinical psychology in north America, I find that the system there caters to their students more, and more usually more advanced in their education methods -talking from personal experience-

    Apparently i still have to do my GRE and other stuff, so I decided to take a year off to get things sorted.

    Question, I am looking to study in California or Florida, any suggestions from all you readers studying in the states?

    Thanks and goodluck to you all x

  11. Symiara says:
    Wed, 13th Jan 20106:45 am 

    depending on your major is how u decide what is the perfect option is for you . some doesnt make sense not to have . i wil be going to grad school to further my career in journalism/broadcast . it all depends on what u think

  12. Nikki says:
    Sat, 16th Jan 201010:57 am 

    (Very important for anyone planning to get their PhD/PsyD!)

    I'm a junior in college in Orlando, Fl, majoring in Neuropsychology and minoring in Biology. I'm taking the GRE this summer and am currently doing undergrad research at my university, but will probably take at least 6 months to a year off after I graduate to work or do more research. By then I will have obviously applied for different grad schools, but **it's very important that you make sure you are going to want to stay and practice in the state you get your PhD in!** Unlike an MD, where you can basically move wherever you want and have a job, PhD program requirements differ each state and aren't transferable (at least for the US). Good Luck!

  13. moe says:
    Mon, 18th Jan 20109:25 am 

    Definitely make sure you know what you want to do before applying to grad school! I cannot stress this enough.. as someone who was doing a masters in medical science and then realized I did not belong there!! Now I'm planning to go back to grad school but in a totally different field (writing) and am taking the required courses. I can't imagine the time I would have saved if I took time off from school to work (and pay off student loans) and figure things out after undergrad.

    side note: i found in my program (in Canada), you had a lot of school work to do (classes) as well as research.. i.e. in the lab from at least 9 AM- 6PM when you weren't in class.. not to mention lab work on the weekend.. enjoy!! (if you really love and are interested in something, it will be worth it… but either way it will be stressful, so don't fool yourself)

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