everythingfinanceblog.com http://everythingfinanceblog.com/decide-whether-go-back-grad-school.html How to Decide Whether You Should Go Back to Grad School Last year, I did something I promised myself I would never do: I went back to graduate school. It’s not that I think grad school is a bad investment, but I was glad to be done with college, and the idea of going to school and dealing with homework, prof essors, and reading assignments was just not what I had in mind f or my late 20s. Af ter college, I seemed to f loat around in my career. I was working as a reporter f or a medium-sized metro newspaper, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do long-term. I had typical post-college questions: What should my career be? Am I on the right path? What should I do with my life? And like most recent college grads who don’t know what they want to do, I decided that graduate school would be perf ect f or me. So I applied. Every year. For several years. Because every time I was accepted into grad school, I kept changing my mind about whether I actually wanted to go, and whether that was what I really wanted to do. The f irst year, I applied to journalism school. Not much of a reach, since I was already working as a reporter. Considering I was making $30k a year as a rookie reporter, the $90k USC journalism program quickly became out of f inancial reach. Then I applied to a public relations grad program. Which made sense, since my career now shif ted into the PR world. Again, I postponed enrollment. The year af ter that, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. Surprise, surprise, I was doing PR f or a law f irm. Af ter studying f or the LSAT and not understanding a single thing, I put that “dream” to rest real quick. All this time that I was spending trying to decide what to do with my career, I was actually working on my career. It wasn’t until I f inally f elt settled in what I wanted to do, and that I f ound out that my company would pay 75% of my degree, that I f inally took the plunge and went back to school f or my master’s in public administration. Here are my dos and don’ts when it comes to deciding on whether or not to go to graduate school: Don’t go back to school just because you don’t know what to do. Trust me, it’s not going to feel too great spending at least two years of your lif e and $20k on a degree you’re not even entirely sure about. Do go back to school if you are 99% sure an advanced degree will help your career.

How to Decide Whether You Should Go Back to Grad School

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It’s not that I think grad school is a bad investment, but I was glad to be done with college, and the idea of going to school and dealing with homework, professors, and reading assignments was just not what I had in mind for my late 20s.

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everyt hingf inanceblo g.co m http://everythingfinanceblog.com/decide-whether-go-back-grad-schoo l.html

How to Decide Whether You Should Go Back to Grad School

Last year, I did something I promised myself I would never do: I went back tograduate school.

It ’s not that I think grad school is a bad investment, but I was glad to be donewith college, and the idea of going to school and dealing with homework,prof essors, and reading assignments was just not what I had in mind f or mylate 20s.

Af ter college, I seemed to f loat around in my career. I was working as areporter f or a medium-sized metro newspaper, but I didn’t really know what Iwanted to do long-term.

I had typical post-college questions:

What should my career be?

Am I on the right path?

What should I do with my life?

And like most recent college grads who don’t know what they want to do, I decided that graduate school wouldbe perf ect f or me.

So I applied. Every year. For several years.

Because every time I was accepted into grad school, I kept changing my mind about whether I actually wantedto go, and whether that was what I really wanted to do.

The f irst year, I applied to journalism school. Not much of a reach, since I was already working as a reporter.Considering I was making $30k a year as a rookie reporter, the $90k USC journalism program quickly becameout of f inancial reach.

Then I applied to a public relations grad program. Which made sense, since my career now shif ted into the PRworld. Again, I postponed enrollment.

The year af ter that, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. Surprise, surprise, I was doing PR f or a law f irm. Af terstudying f or the LSAT and not understanding a single thing, I put that “dream” to rest real quick.

All this t ime that I was spending trying to decide what to do with my career, I was actually working on my career.

It wasn’t until I f inally f elt settled in what I wanted to do, and that I f ound out that my company would pay 75%of my degree, that I f inally took the plunge and went back to school f or my master ’s in public administration.

Here are my dos and don’ts when it comes to deciding on whether or not to go to graduate school:

Don’t go back to school just because you don’t know what to do. Trust me, it ’s not going to f eel too greatspending at least two years of your lif e and $20k on a degree you’re not even entirely sure about.

Do go back to school if you are 99% sure an advanced degree will help your career.

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Page 2: How to Decide Whether You Should Go Back to Grad School

Don’t go back to school because all your f riends are doing it.

Do go back to school if your company will pay at least a portion of your degree.

Don’t go back to school if you’re trying to switch career f ields and think a degree will help you make the switch—employers will almost always pref er work experience to a degree, so go f ind an internship or entry levelposit ion in that f ield f irst bef ore going back to school. Besides—you haven’t even worked in that f ield yet, whatif you hate it and now you’re stuck with a graduate degree in it?

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