We hear enough about reasons why it might be good to do a graduate degree.  Heck, we don’t even need to hear the reasons anymore because they are so ingrained in the discourse of college and early career-building phases themselves.

But how often do you see meetings, books, or announcements about the reasons you should not do a grad degree?  About the fact that it’s not for everyone and knocks the wind right out of many?

Thinking about whether grad school is right for you?

I think we can all agree there are definite bubbles in the law and MBA degree markets.  In fact, there are even already too many people graduating with bachelor’s degrees (the actual number of jobs which really need a BA or BSc for reasons of actual skills or specific knowledge is much lower than the number of grads.  Competition is what has boosted graduate rates.  Setting aside all the arguments for how great a liberal education is (arguments that I agree with, by the way).

Does this really mean you should go do a grad degree in order to stand out?  My conclusion: unless you’re going to a specific program with a specific educational or career goal in mind (and I do mean specific: you already know it, and you know this is the only program that can give it to you), then you are probably going to be disappointed.  You need a lot of passion to make it through and finish your degree.  Just “showing up” or doing the work won’t do the trick anymore.

So here are a few things I think people should know.  Please add your own below, I am sure this doesn’t cover them all.  Before you think of applying, consider these.

Things They Don’t Always Tell You About Grad School

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1. It might take you longer than you think.  Maybe a lot longer. For all kinds of reasons.  Yeah, the Master’s says it’s a one-year program, but there can be all kinds of delays, including – gasp! – you might not be able to write fast enough, conduct your research soon enough, analyze data in time – or correctly – you might have to redo it; you might have to wait on a supervisor.  In short, you were accepted because you’re so smart and amazing a scholar or budding scientist, but you still might not make it out “on time.”

2. It might cost more than you think.  Partly due to #1, but also for all the unseen costs involved.  You won’t find these listed on your favorite department’s website: conference costs; research costs related to courses; costs of buying books and paying late fees; costs of photocopying, ordering in rare or unique materials; fieldwork costs.  And more.  Yes, there are always “travel grants” to offset some of these, but don’t expect you automatically get one.  You have to apply, and even if you get one, it’s not going to cover everything.  Just sayin’.

How Much It Costs To Apply To Grad School
Reasons You Will Need Extra Cash For Your Master’s or PhD Thesis

3.  It might depress the hell out of you.  Seriously; studies have shown higher proportions of anxiety among graduate students than in the rest of the population.  Sure, it will be nice to have another degree on your wall or cv, an outward sign of all your hard work and accomplishments – to say nothing of your brilliance – but you might have to go through personal hell and high water just to get there.  See reasons #1, and #2, but also read: imbalance, health problems, isolation, failed relationships, a disappearing social life, evil supervisors and all sorts of messes can conspire to make your time that much more troubling.   More on this below, of course.

4.  You might not even be able to do the research you are really interested in.  I’m not joking.  Depending on your faculty and their foibles, depending on who’s around and the chemistry you have with them, don’t assume you’ll be writing or working on that amazing thesis topic you imagined in the final year of undergrad, when you knew everything there was to know about your field.  Most thesis topics change anyway, even if you’re still trying to work on your undergrad idea.  But beyond that, your topic might still even have to change halfway through the process.  You’ll have to get used to this.  Adaptation is the key to success.

5.  The feeling (and reality!) of falling behind your age/peer group.  While you spend years in the library basement with no fresh air or sunlight, tethered to your laptop and files of innumerable research notes, this will be the time when your friends start getting raises, bonuses, buying new cars, homes, and taking swell vacations.  If you’re married or engaged, you might be able to offset some of this if your spouse is in such a position, but if you’re single it can be hard.  Also, watch out for those younger siblings who will now jump ahead of you in earnings power and general ability to do-what-you-want-in-life.  It’s never good to keep up with the Joneses, but it’s also a very disturbing feeling to see your earnings power decline as you age with no immediate payoffs.  It makes you constantly question if you’re doing the right thing.

6.  Lack of social support for what you’re going through.  Most people have a basic idea of why people go to law school or business school, but if you’re doing further academic work, don’t expect to get the same level of understanding you had as an undergrad.  Everyone and their dog goes to college now, and it’s a social ritual that ignites the best in seasonal advertising and media hype around the bliss of your “college days.”  But once you start pursuing your Master’s or PhD, you’ve basically gone off the deep end.  Not only will most people not have a clue about the general field you’re working in (unless, say, it’s history or “psychology” – everyone thinks they know what that is), but they will not be able to relate to you about your own area of research, so this can make it even harder to talk about what presumably matters most to you at this point.

7.  Politics and hierarchy.  You might carry around some ideal version of higher education in your head that you feel will be actualized by your spending another two or three or seven years in school “learning what you love.”  One tip: get rid of that idealistic idea as soon as you can and make it easier for yourself.  Too often idealism is highly correlated with perfectionism, wanting to do a good job with your research, and adopting standards of academic integrity.  While I’m not saying these ideals have to be broken – and I’d never condone doing anything academically dishonest – adhering to lofty standards is only going to slow you down and lengthen your time to degree.  More specifically, though: you will encounter a degree of hierarchy that you didn’t know existed in your undergrad and you’ll also come face-to-face with serious disciplinary politics, which you may also not have had a chance to see much of in undergrad.

8. You’ve already got a great job offer.  Who knows – maybe you did an internship or a friend’s friend got you hired, but it’s a job you’d love to do or think would give you great experience.  Take it!  That doesn’t happen everyday.  There will always be grad programs waiting to take your money.  Think of it as a healthy break from academic work (not that it’s unrelated to academic work, but it will have a different pace and involve different tasks).  It’s a good idea to vary up one’s experiences, anyway.  And having done some work will help differentiate you from other grad school candidates later on.  My advice here: work hard, save a lot of that money and you can use that for grad school.  Having worked will also help give you some sense of self-worth when you’re feeling stuck in psychological quicksand later on.

9. You Might Be Able To Learn or Achieve What You Want Without It.  Don’t waste two, three, eight years if you can do it more efficiently yourself.  Unless you’re really aspiring to become a university professor, you can probably get close to what you need to do without the extra degree.

10. You’re Suffering From Grass Is Greener Syndrome. Maybe your friends got accepted, or your parents went to grad school and you’ve got ideas about what you should be doing there, too.  If this is a primary motivator, please stop now.  It’s not the right time for you.  Think harder about what you want to do.  If that’s too difficult, it may mean you need more experience.

Advice On Grad School From My Twitter Followers: “Show Me the Money!”

Cost Considerations

@SimpleLlama - Reasons not to go? Massive, crushing debt, if you don’t have the cash on hand to pay for it. That’s a biggie.  And the degree may not pay for itself. Not all of them do.  How about missed opportunity? 2-4 yrs in grad school are 2-4 yrs u don’t earn $, get experience, meet business contacts.

@studenomics – You want to start making some damn money!

@MyMoneyMinute – the sheer debt amount. Schools promise the world, but raise tuition and admit more students = surplus of grads, lack of jobs.

@EverydayFinance – If you’re paying for it yourself and it’s not ivy league, the ROI is horrendous. 2) Time commitment is often not worth results.

@SuburbanDollar – It is bloody expensive and depending on your profession could be virtually worthless compared to experience.

Career Considerations

@mbhunter – Payoff may not be there at the end. You sacrifice a few years, earn less (or go into debt) and get a late start on retirement.

@MyLifeROI – Do not go as a last resort, and do not go if you have limited (relevant) work experience.

@Matt_SF – Going to grad school just to delay your entrance into the ‘Real World’ is a mistake. But if you must, make it a high ROI degree.

@amabaie - It really depends on the career you are heading for. Some careers require advanced certification, others don’t.

@wisermiser – I’d say unless it was for something you needed an advanced degree for (like law, or being a professor) or that would greatly increase your earning power, not worth it. it seems almost never to get you more money otherwise and it is so expensive, unless, of course, your employer is paying for it. then I say go crazy!

@extremejacob – in grad school you may end up as a glorified technician. Like a regular job, but paid worse.

@arohan – Grad school teaches you to avoid risk. You are less likely to become an entrepreneur & add great value to society (or your wealth).

Clare’s note: Just to qualify a few of these points: it’s not necessarily true that you can’t also network, meet business contacts, develop entrepreneurially at the same time as doing a Masters/MBA/PhD, but it can be more difficult.  The point about conformity that @arohan brings up is a good one.  By its nature, academia is a conservative place (methodologically and professionally: not politically).  Professors even encourage students sometimes to not work on the topic you really love until after you’ve got tenure; and you might feel inhibited within your own department as to what sorts of areas/angles you can work on.

All that being said, you can see there is still a surprising degree of concurrence in the advice I got from others: make sure you’re focusing on ROI: Return On Investment.  If a grad degree is nothing else, it is definitely an investment. It has to be a good one.

Don’t let any of these points hold you back from applying if you really feel you have a case for why you should go – but at the same time, please don’t ignore these points, either.

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