Why graduate school?
The answer to the question of "Why graduate school?" is a personal one for each applicant. Nevertheless, it is important to consider your motives carefully. Graduate school involves additional time out of the employment market, a high degree of critical evaluation, significant autonomy as you pursue your studies, and considerable financial expenditure. For some students in doctoral programs, there may be additional life choice issues, such as relationships, marriage, and parenthood that may present real challenges while in a program of study.
You would be well advised to consider the following questions as you think about your decision to continue your studies, Are You Postponing Some Tough Decisions by Going to School? Graduate school is not a place to go to avoid life's problems. There is intense competition for graduate school slots and for the fellowships, scholarships, and financial aid available. This competition means extensive interviewing, resume submission, and essay writing that rivals corporate recruitment. Likewise, the graduate school process is a mentored one in which faculty stay aware of and involved in the academic progress of their students and continually challenge the quality of their work. Many graduate students are called upon to participate in teaching and professional writing and research as well.
In other words, this is no place to hide from the spotlight. Graduate students work very hard and much is demanded of them individually. If you elect to go to graduate school to avoid the stresses and strains of the "real world," you will find no safe place in higher academics. Vivid accounts, both fiction and nonfiction, have depicted quite accurately the personal and professional demands of graduate school work.
The selection of graduate studies as a career option should be a positive choice-something you want to do. It shouldn't be selected as an escape from other, less attractive or more challenging options, nor should it be selected as the option of last resort ("I can't do anything else; To better just staying school"). If you're in some doubt about the strength of your reasoning about continuing in school, discuss the issues with a career counselor. Together you can clarify your reasoning, and you'll get some sound feedback on what you are about to undertake.
On the other hand, staying on in graduate school because of a particularly poor employment market and a lack of jobs at entry level positions has proven to be an effective "stalling" strategy. If you can afford it, pursuing graduate degree immediately after your undergraduate education gives you year or two to "wait out" a difficult economic climate while at the same time acquiring a potentially valuable credential.
Have You Done Some "Hands On" Reality Testing?
There are experiential options available to give some reality to your decision making process about graduate school. Internships or work in the field can give you a good idea about employment demands, conditions, and atmosphere. Do You Need an Advanced Degree to Work in Your Field?
Certainly there are fields such as law, psychiatry, medicine, and college teaching that demand advanced degrees. Is the field of employment you' reconsidering one that also puts a premium on an advanced degree? You may be surprised. Read the want ads in a number of major Sunday newspapers for positions you would enjoy. How many of those require an advanced degree?
Retailing, for example, has always put a premium on what people can do, rather than how much education they have had. Successful people in retail in come from all academic preparations. A Ph. D in English may bring only prestige to the individual employed as a magazine researcher. It may not bring more senior position or better pay. In fact, it may disqualify you for some jobs because an employer might believe you will be unhappy to be overqualified for a particular position. Or your motives in applying for the work may be misconstrued, and the employer might think you will only be working at this level until something better comes along. None of this may be true for you, but it comes about because you are working outside of the usual territory for that degree level.
When economic times are especially difficult, we tend to see stories featured about individuals with advanced degrees doing what is considered unsuitable work, such as the Ph. D in English driving a cab or the Ph. D in chemistry waiting tables. Actually, this is not particularly surprising when you consider that as your degree level advances, the job market narrows appreciably. At any one time, regardless of economic circumstances, there are only so many jobs for your particular level of expertise. If you cannot find employment for your advanced degree level, chances are you will be considered suspect for many other kinds of employment and may be forced into temporary work far removed from your original intention.
Will there be jobs when you graduate? Where will they be? What will they pay? How competitive will the market be at that time, based on current predictions?
If you're uncertain about the degree requirements for the fields you're interested in, you should check a publication such as the U.S. Department of Labour Occupational Outlook Handbook. Each entry has a section on training and other qualifications that will indicate clearly what the minimum educational requirement is for employment, what degree is the standard, and what employment may be possible without the required credential.
For example, for physicists and astronomers, a doctoral degree in physics or a closely related field is essential. Certainly this is the degree of choice in academic institutions. However, the Occupational Outlook Handbook also indicates what kinds of employment may be available to individuals holding masters or even a bachelor's degree in physics.
