Should YOU Go Back to School After Graduating College?
January 24, 2008 at 11:44 am | In Career Development, Interview, Personal Branding | 15 Comments
Here is a conversation that I had with Ryan Healy about the need for attending graduate schools.
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Me: I really should go back to school…are you going to?
Ryan: Not a chance. I just don’t think the investment is worth it. It’s so much easier to learn by doing.
Me: But what if it’s ivy league?
Ryan: Well that may be worth it. Actually it probably is, but again its about what you want to do.
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I speak with Ryan Healy all the time. Ryan blogs at employeeevolution.com, which is a site about millennials at work by millennials at work. Ryan Paugh is another one of my friends who blogs there as well. Ryan and I are both gen-y bloggers and have endless thoughts on the future of work, our careers and of course personal branding. Our latest discussion is about graduate school. We were trying to figure out if it’s a “millennial essential” to go to graduate school at some point in your career. After some debate, I think we both decided that choosing to go back to school is a situational decision. I’ve been thinking of going to graduate school for a while now, but am still deep in thought as to when and if I need to.
- Con: If you don’t have an MBA or similar degree, you suffer a competitive disadvantage and can’t rise to the top of the corporate ladder because other’s have one.
- Con: If the school you’re admitted to is a tier 2 or below caliber school (reputation, credibility, etc) then the degree may not help you.
- Pro: An ivy league school brand name attached to your resume, whether in college or graduate school, will stay with you for life. The network that experience comes with will open up enough doors that you will be successful (if you put the effort in and leverage it).
- Pro: Graduate school will help you catch up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques that will prove more valuable to you as the workplace evolves.
- Con: Graduates schools can cost over $100,000 and can leave you in the poor house if you’re not wealthy or don’t have a company subsidizing it. The red “con” represents the hit you’ll take.
- Pro: The economy has been in recession so the job market isn’t doing so well. It may be good timing to go back to school.
- Con: If you already have a high paying and enjoyable job, pulling away from that opportunity may hurt your career, self-esteem and momentum.
From the community:
- Pro: “Grad schools give you an opportunity to network with a wide variety of people and to truly get to know them. It would seem like an opportune time to really start building your personal brand when you can begin to show it to 70 or more people at once. Spending a year or more with these people will pay off more in the future than you think(Credit: Corey Norman).”
- Pro: “The peice of paper seems to mean something. I’ve gotten three jobs in a row because I had it, even though most of my learning is from outside sources(Credit: Scott McWilliams).”
Can you learn just as much in graduate school by reading blogs, networking with experts and discovering and managing your personal brand?
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While I have not attended graduate school yet, in my opinion it will be essential to in the future. More and more younger students are going straight from university into grad school meaning that they do have a step up already. One point you have not given enough credence is networking ability. Grad schools give you an opportunity to network with a wide variety of people and to truly get to know them. It would seem like an opportune time to really start building your personal brand when you can begin to show it to 70 or more people at once. Spending a year or more with these people will pay off more in the future than you think. Depending on your school, and I have seen monetary charts published about this, show in some cases a 35-50% pay bump upon leaving school. It is an investment, but rarely a bad one.
Choosing a school based on just ivy status is not the best way of choosing a school. Many MBA’s are now becoming focused and choosing one should be based on your interests. Doing so means you will be meeting a whole program of potential people that want to go into the same field as you. You also don’t always have to leave your job. Depending on where you live you can take a program in the morning before work, at night after work, or even through distance education.
These are just some of the flip arguments to yours. I don’t think you are particularly wrong, but I do think that there is more to it than you present.
Comment by Corey Norman — January 24, 2008 #
Corey thanks for playing devils advocate. The real key to graduate school isn’t the teachings but the people who are in your classes.
Comment by Dan Schawbel — January 24, 2008 #
I have an MBA. Some thoughts:
1.) My company paid and I went to night school. This seems to me to be the best way – less cost for you and you get real business experience at the same time.
2.) I went a few years after my bachelors – again, real business experience before I went
3.) For entrepreneurs, I don’t see it as useful – like Ryan said, on the job learning.
4.) if you’re corporate, it opens doors – few corps recognize blog reading and book reading. The peice of paper seems to mean something. I’ve gotten three jobs in a row because I had it, even though most of my learning is from outside sources.
Just my thoughts. YMMV
Scott
Comment by Scott — January 24, 2008 #
Paper = credibility
Thanks Scott, we needed a comment from someone who has already gone through the process.
Comment by Dan Schawbel — January 24, 2008 #
One more thought –
Unless you’re shooting for a consultant position with, say, McKinsey or DeLoitte, and MAYBE if you’re trying for a top ten firm, it really doesn’t seem to matter where your MBA is from.
Scott
Comment by Scott — January 24, 2008 #
Here’s my opinion on the whole grad school dilemma:
It’s a great investment for someone who needs the guidance to take themselves above and beyond, and learn new things. It’s also good for someone who is trying to climb the corporate ladder and make it big as a VP or Exec (nothing wrong with that).
If I wasn’t in a position to be learning a plethora of new things right out of college, I’d consider it an option. But the position I’m in provides me with unlimited learning experiences, a mentor to learn from and something pretty impressive to add to my resume.
To sum it up, I think grad school is a choice made based on your personality type. If you need the structure of classes and professors to learn new things and take you to a new level than by all means, that’s what it’s there for. But some people just find that real world experiences are more suited to them and that’s perfectly okay too.
Comment by Ryan Paugh — January 24, 2008 #
It’s based on your personality type AND how far along you are in your career, the economy and the value attributed to the degree.
Comment by Dan Schawbel — January 24, 2008 #
I think there are a couple of ways to look at it.
1. An undergraduate degree is no longer a leg up. To get a leg up you need to get a graduate degree.
2. An undergraduate degree is no longer a leg up. So scrape through college to get experience, connections and learn social skills, then pursue whatever you want.
Basically, option 1 is for people who want to go corporate and option 2 is for people who want to make it on their own or be entrepreneurs. It all depends on what you want to do.
Also, the point about making connection in sgrad chool is valid. However, if you put yourself out there (like Dan has) through social media and go above and beyond to network, you don’t need to pay $100,000 to get some great connections.
Comment by Ryan Healy — January 24, 2008 #
Ok, I think Ryan has nailed it, after listening (reading comments and the post and our original talk) and here is the conclusion:
Grad School – people who don’t have strong networks and want to pursue a career through corporate hierarchies
No Grad School – entrepreneurs, especially those who are heavily networked online/offline
Comment by Dan Schawbel — January 24, 2008 #
Some career fields require a Master’s degree, or some type of higher education beyond a BS/BS. Lawyers and Doctors are obvious, but to be a librarian you must have an MLS. To work in Education, anything beyond instructor/teacher, it is expected you that you will have your Master’s.
I’m in grad school because my company is helping to foot the bill. The stuff I am learning is directly related to the work I do, but is related more to the management end of the business vs the individual contributor level. Maybe grad school gives you insight into parts of the business that it would have otherwise taken you years of experience to see.
Comment by g — January 25, 2008 #
I have no interest in graduate school, but I’m also a web developer. It is a lot easier to learn from the big time blogging designers and great webdev publications out there. I used to work with dozens of Ph.Ds. They were psychologists and scientists, so they really needed grad school. Like business, I think the fields are broad enough that undergrad is for getting feet wet and grad school is for specialization. That is something I didn’t need. Plus I just have an entrepreneurial way about me.
Comment by Adam Darowski — January 25, 2008 #
Dan – I’m definitely biased because I’m in grad school right now.
With that disclosed, no, you can’t learn the same stuff by reading blogs and networking. Grad school teaches you fundamentals far beyond what you learned for your undergraduate degree. If you go to an ivy league school, you will also get access to tons of prominent figures in business and politics and develop a strong network of future all-stars that attend school with you.
Think of it like undergrad – did you really need an undergraduate degree to do your job now? No, but the experience made you a better person mature enough to cope with life and work after school. The experience was worth the cost, despite the subject relevancy to your job.
Let me know if you are serious about an ivy league MBA – it’s what I’m doing now, so maybe I can help. Good luck!
Comment by Monica O'Brien at Twenty Set — January 27, 2008 #
I’m a big supporter of “learn by doing.” My “area” is e-marketing. I got an Undergraduate degree in Advertising. Not 100% the same thing, but similar. 90% of what I do now, I’ve learned on my own.
That said, I’m considering going to Grad school. Not because I don’t think I can learn by going to seminars, reading up on things online and in books, etc, because that’s actually what I would prefer to do.
It’s because I want to teach a few college courses, and to do that at the institution of my choice, I need a Master’s. I’d like to teach because of my experience as an undergrad…universities are behind in teaching students the newer concepts, such as e-marketing.
I’m debating how to go back to school. As Scott said, I believe the best way is to have your company pay for it and go to night school. However, I’m currently a consultant, and am hesitant on giving up that creative freedom to become somebody’s employee for four years.
Also, I live in Erie, PA…a medium sized city with not a lot of e-marketing employee opportunities in a company large enough to be willing to pay for my master’s degree.
Because it’s not necessary for me to go back to school, I’m wondering if the investment would be worth the opportunity to teach college aged students about the new world of marketing.
Any opinions?
Comment by Erica DeWolf — January 28, 2008 #
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