# Dopers who went past their bachelor degree. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 27, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440 "2005-03-27T04:59:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/1 "2005-03-27T04:59:32Z")
Was it all worth it? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/2 "2005-03-27T05:02:57Z")
Yes. But don’t do it for the sake of staying in school longer or giving yourself more time to make up your mind what you want to do. Doing research really sucks unless you are genuinely interested in your topic. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/3 "2005-03-27T05:10:54Z")
Yes! I am loving every minute of grad school!Plus, the pay increase for grad hours and a grad degree is nice. I love school, though, so I may not be the best source of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/4 "2005-03-27T05:50:51Z")
Well, my library science masters’ has gotten me mostly underemployed. Depends on your area of study. ---
**Author:** ![sishoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@sishoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sishoch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/5 "2005-03-27T06:17:49Z")
I’m a little embarrased when someone calls me doctor (I have a PhD). It gets me much undeserved respect from people who don’t know me and some who think they do. My most surreal moment was running through campus during our red dress hash. It was dark, so surely no one would recongnize me. One of my students happened to walk by and said “Good evening, Dr Sishoch” But, to answer the OP, I wouldn’t trade my grad school days for anything. The experience gave me a career that I love. I just wish I had finished in a timely manner. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/6 "2005-03-27T06:32:36Z")
I’ll tell you in two years when I graduate from grad school. Wooo! Grad school! Woooo! Sorry. I’ll behave now. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/7 "2005-03-27T07:18:54Z")
Keep talking, people. I get my Bachelor’s in May and am thinking of going for my Master’s in a year or so. Mostly for money, but also because I’m a geek that will never leave school. “Dr. Carmichael” sounds kinda cool, though, and I think I could withstand 7 years of research and writing. I know a retired professor who whips out the “Dr.” title when they need to take care of business and it usually gets the job done. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/8 "2005-03-27T07:40:02Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Doing research really sucks unless you are genuinely interested in your topic. I’ll second that. My degrees (BA, MA) are in English. I’m glad I went to grad school, but there are a few regrets: 1. I regret that I went straight from the BA to the MA without working and/or traveling in between. What was my hurry? 2. I regret that I went straight from the MA to the PhD (unfinished) without working and/or traveling in between. 3. I regret that my BA and MA are in the same subject. If I had it to do over again, I’d still get a humanities BA but then I’d continue with something more professional or scientific. ---
**Author:** ![aurelian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/9 "2005-03-27T08:04:29Z")
[QUOTE=E. Thorp] I’ll second that. My degrees (BA, MA) are in English. I’m glad I went to grad school, but there are a few regrets: 1. I regret that I went straight from the BA to the MA without working and/or traveling in between. What was my hurry? And I second that. 🙂 I was in a hurry because…well, I’m not totally sure. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but school (and I had known I wanted to continue for a while), but to be honest, I think I was trying to fulfill my own expectations of being the ‘overachiever’ - which, from this side of the fence, is a pretty dumb reason. I got my MA in Spanish in 2002 (BA in Spanish and English in 2000), and I’m still a few years away from the PhD - probably three. I want to be a professor, and I don’t regret graduate school in the least. But, if I had it to do all over again, I would definitely try to travel/ teach or work abroad for a while before I started the MA. I’ve been in school for a _really_ long time, and even I’m getting tired of it (and I’m a great big book geek). I also wish I had understood (but it’s probably one of those ‘you don’t know until you do it’ things) just how much work graduate school is. It sounds facile, I know, but undergraduate was really pretty easy, and I think I thought myself a little smarter than I really was. Especially combined with teaching, it is an excercise in focus and time management. If you have the opportunity to teach, do so, at least once. Obviously I’m biased, since I want to teach, but I really feel that it changed how I look at myself and others - it’s a fascinating study in communication and group dynamics. It’s a great way to see how you are perceived, and how you communicate (which is not always what you intend). ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/10 "2005-03-27T08:28:08Z")
It was worth it in my case. Grad school for me was incredibly hard. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. At one point I was thinking about giving up but I decided that I wasn’t going to leave unless the department asked me to leave. They never asked me and I earned a doctorate. I invested my 20’s studying, investing in a career path that opened up tons of doors for me. I love my job, love my research and have no regrets about going through grad school except for the zero socialization that I did during those years. Many other people my age spent their 20’s dating and putting down roots, whereas I feel like I’m about a decade behind in my social development but have more stability and options career-wise. And like **sishoch** , I get uncomfortable sometimes when people, who work just as hard (if not harder) than me, call me “doctor”. Other times I like having the letters behind my name because it’s a testament to how hard I worked and how I achieved a goal that was important to me. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/11 "2005-03-27T08:50:47Z")
I have an MBA. It’s been useful but if I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone for it and would be equal or better career wise. I made some good friends and am part of a global alumni network, but it has not been a stellar return on investment. The one good thing it did was get me out of a rut. I could have gotten out of the rut in other ways, but I did it via MBA ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/12 "2005-03-27T08:53:20Z")
> [@bleach](#): > > And like **sishoch** , I get uncomfortable sometimes when people, who work just as hard (if not harder) than me, call me “doctor”. Other times I like having the letters behind my name because it’s a testament to how hard I worked and how I achieved a goal that was important to me. I think if I worked that hard to get a Ph.D. I’d make my own kids call me “Doctor.” 😃 Kidding … ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/13 "2005-03-27T09:00:12Z")
I went straight from undergraduate to a Masters. I’m now ‘on a break’ (ie paying off debts 😉 ), and want to return to continue towards a PhD. My advice? Do it if you enjoy it, and if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. Whatever benefits it may bring you in life are not worth years of drudgery in something you don’t really take pleasure from. And I didn’t (and won’t) do it for the benefits but for the pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/14 "2005-03-27T09:13:31Z")
I desperately want an MFA in creative writing and MA in literature (Romantics, specifically). Looks like I’ll be taking a year off whether I want to or not. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/15 "2005-03-27T09:30:59Z")
BA in English, MA in English. No, the MA was not worth it. I did it all on scholarships, and it _still_ wasn’t worth it; I’d like to have my two years back, please. Now, seven years after the MA, I’m in law school. So far, so good. ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/16 "2005-03-27T11:11:01Z")
Oh yeah, it was worth it for me. I might even say that grad school and laser eye surgery are the only purely good decisions I’ve ever made. But I suppose you need to consider your reasons. I’m not sure grad school has paid off in terms of money, though I think it has. For me it was an important stage in my life, and very rewarding personally. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/17 "2005-03-27T12:36:47Z")
“Worth it” in what sense? I couldn’t find a tenure-track job, so after doing four years of temporary (but full-time) teaching gigs, I left the biz. My current job has zero to do with my educational accomplishments, and I don’t see my future career going in any “relevant” direction either. If the question is, do I regret having done it? No. I spent five years thinking about some incredibly interesting stuff, and it’s not something I undertook with any kind of specific career trajectory in mind. twicks, Ph.D., sociology of religion ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/18 "2005-03-27T13:46:19Z")
For people in engineering or computer science, I recommend stopping at a Master’s degree… that is, unless you REALLY want your doctorate. An MS degree is optimal in terms of both employability and paychecks, and getting a Ph.D. can severely reduce your options. Mind you, I’m absolutely glad that I got my doctorate. I don’t regret it for a minute. Still, it has been disadvantageous at times. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/19 "2005-03-27T15:24:45Z")
My master’s in counseling has already been worth it, although I won’t graduate until this summer. I earned a bachelor’s in psychology, so I needed to earn a postgraduate degree of some kind to do what I wanted to do. In grad school, I realized that I really want to work in career services. ---
**Author:** ![Basandre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@Basandre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Basandre)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440/20 "2005-03-27T16:00:36Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, my library science masters’ has gotten me mostly underemployed. Depends on your area of study. Nooooooo… Basandre, who starts a library science program tomorrow [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-went-past-their-bachelor-degree/296440.md?page=2)