Do you really want to go to graduate school?

[Kozmik]

Goal: I want to work full-time and teach philosophy part-time.
After reading in the newspaper, I modified my answer a bit. I’ll go to a commuter college with a graduate program.

See, I was thinking about how much stress would involve going *right into * a graduate program after college. But what would be best for me? While working, I need to find the right field of work (that could take ten to fifteen years) … in the meantime, I could work my way towards a Ph.D.
So I’ll be working full-time (in a career I might love/might hate) and I will be teaching part-time (in a subject I love and hate, but would enjoy doing even if they didn’t pay me)

[bump]

@even sven

Why? I can think of no job that couldn’t be better learned spending that two years on the job instead of in a classroom. I’ve learned more in the past two years of my life than I could have in a dozen years of grad school. Furthermore, the real world is exciting, open and exhilerating in the way the structured life of school could never be. Who knew I could learn functional French in ten weeks instead of in years of classroom work? Who knows more about Africa, Bob the African studies major or me the girl who lives in Cameroon?

I disagree completely, speaking as someone who worked about 5 years after undergraduate, and then went back to graduate school.

Sure, you learn all sorts of good, practical, nitty-gritty type stuff out in the real world, but in many cases, you learn only what you need for your particular job. In my field (IT/software development), that means that you learn all sorts of tips and tricks and the “right” ways to do things.

What you don’t learn on the job, or at least don’t learn in the first few years, is the body of knowledge that doesn’t directly involve your job - i.e. finance, accounting, the role of IT in the enterprise, how to calculate ROI on IT projects, etc… At best, you’ll learn these things if you’re lucky enough to be promoted, and lucky enough to be in a company that cares that their lower-level management knows these things.

If the company doesn’t, it’s likely that they’re hiring graduate school people (MBAs and MS types) who already know this to fill positions that require them, instead of teaching them to you by rule of thumb.

The fact of the matter is, unless you’re starting your own company, or getting in on the ground floor with one, you’ll pretty much need a graduate degree if you aspire to the higher echelons of responsibility.

[ultrafilter]

@bump

What you don’t learn on the job, or at least don’t learn in the first few years, is the body of knowledge that doesn’t directly involve your job - i.e. finance, accounting, the role of IT in the enterprise, how to calculate ROI on IT projects, etc… At best, you’ll learn these things if you’re lucky enough to be promoted, and lucky enough to be in a company that cares that their lower-level management knows these things.

That sounds a lot like an MBA program, which is a professional degree, an entirely different animal from what even sven is opposed to. And she’s right: graduate school is not for anyone who doesn’t really want to be there. I do, and so I am.

[Siam_Sam]

@bump

I disagree completely, speaking as someone who worked about 5 years after undergraduate, and then went back to graduate school.

Sure, you learn all sorts of good, practical, nitty-gritty type stuff out in the real world, but in many cases, you learn only what you need for your particular job. In my field (IT/software development), that means that you learn all sorts of tips and tricks and the “right” ways to do things.

What you don’t learn on the job, or at least don’t learn in the first few years, is the body of knowledge that doesn’t directly involve your job - i.e. finance, accounting, the role of IT in the enterprise, how to calculate ROI on IT projects, etc… At best, you’ll learn these things if you’re lucky enough to be promoted, and lucky enough to be in a company that cares that their lower-level management knows these things.

I agree with you, although my master’s is not business-related. While studying for it, I took the opportunity to brush up on and acquire new knowledge of a lot Asia-related topics. Courses on Southeast Asian history and other topics. (The U of Hawaii is very good for this sort of thing.) A lot of stuff that I consider made me better-equipped for living over here but nothing that I would have been trained for in any job. Sure, I could have knocked around and learned much of it on my own, but I enjoy a focused classroom setting; otherwise, I’m often too lazy to be bothered with it.

[greatshakes]

Can you teach *anything * in Michigan with only a BA? Most states that I know of require at least 18 hours of Masters level work, unless it’s a BA in *X * education. If you can advise me, I"LL be right behind you on the teaching trail. My BA in History has only made me the butt of fine jokes around here!

[Smeghead]

Six years working in the real world…heading back to get a PhD this fall…

I wish I’d done it earlier. Except I met my wife out here in the real world, so that made it all worthwhile. Other than that, getting it out of the way early would have been smart.

[thelurkinghorror]

God I hope so, or else I’m wasting my time. No, it beats working so far, and I actually don’t dread leaving the house as much as I used to.

[Kyla]

@even sven

Now personally, I am willing to go to grad school if I know what I want to do and understand how a grad degree will help me do it. But there is no way in hell I am going just because it’s the thing to do nowdays.

I agree with this, and I am happy to say that YES I know what I want to do now! I spent several years farting around in jobs that I didn’t like because I couldn’t figure out what I would really rather be doing. When I was twenty-five, I made a decision. I’ve spent the last couple years working on it (it took awhile to gain momentum) and I’m starting grad school in the fall (to do a Masters in Public Policy). I have worked very hard to get to this point, and I am THRILLED that my plans are coming together.