Should You Go to Graduate School?
Questions to ask before entering a PhD or master's program
Oct 18, 2006 Naomi Rockler-Gladen
Is graduate school right for you? Here are some serious questions to consider before you make this commitment.
Graduate school: should you go? Will getting a master's degree or doctoral degree be rewarding, both personally and professionally? Or are you making a commitment that you will find painfully difficult and dull? Graduate school is a serious commitment. It can be an amazing experience, but it most certainly is not for everyone. If you are considering it, here are some important questions to ask yourself.
- Do you love to read, write, and do research? If you can’t answer yes to this question, you should seriously reconsider. These activities will occupy an enormous amount of your time if you become a graduate student, so if these aren’t things you enjoy very much, your experience is going to be dreadful.
- Are you willing and able to make graduate school one of the top priorities in your life? Graduate school will require more time and energy than many full time jobs. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a life outside graduate school, but it does mean there will be times your studies will have to come before other things that are important to you.
- Are you willing to work much harder than you did as an undergraduate? If you did well effortlessly as an undergrad, graduate school will be a shock.
- Can you afford graduate school? Ask yourself honest questions about how much this is going to cost and how much debt it will require. Spend time investigating funding sources, such as teaching or research assistantships.
- Are you willing to be poor for awhile? Some graduate programs, especially those in the sciences, can come with well-paid assistantships and stipends. But many, many programs do not. If you’re not willing to live with second hand furniture, roommates, and a bus pass for the next few years, you might want to consider other options.
- Do you meet the requirements for admission to graduate programs? Be honest with yourself. If the programs you are interested in require a 3.0 minimum GPA and you only have a 2.6, this might not be a realistic option.
- Do you have a tangible reason for wanting to go to graduate school? There are many good reasons to want to go to graduate school. Perhaps the degree will help you advance in your career, or open more options. Perhaps you are considering an academic career and want to get a master’s degree to see what that might be like. Perhaps it’s as simple as just loving education and wanting to get more. Just make sure you have a good reason for wanting to make this commitment.
- Are you doing this because you don’t know what else to do? If that’s the case, visit your school’s career center and seriously investigate other options. Graduate school is not the easy way out.
Do you have any suggestions, thoughts, or questions? Please join the discussion!
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The copyright of the article Should You Go to Graduate School? in Universities is owned by Naomi Rockler-Gladen. Permission to republish Should You Go to Graduate School? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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