As the end of the school year approaches, graduates across Canada will be asking themselves, “What next?” For the keenest bunch who’ve had their eye on the prize since day one, they’ll be getting ready to accept spots in professional degree programs like law school, medical school or some sort of “professional” advanced degree.
Many others, however, will have no clear idea what they want to do now that they’ve completed their undergraduate studies. In this group we inevitably find the next cohort of people considering grad school. Unlike the career trajectory offered by professional programs, these graduate programs fall into the category of academia proper, the my-research-focuses-on-the-intersections-of-this-and-that variety of grad school.
Read more: Career Column: In Flux? You’re Not Alone
Those unsure of what they want to do next but sure they’re done with school will enter the legitimately terrifying world of entry level jobs, which will build the foundation of their resumes and skills for the more advanced careers they’ll hold down the road. On the other hand, graduate students will begin the next phase of their academic tenure, lasting anywhere from one to ten years. Given the potential stakes of a decade, this leads to the inevitable question: is grad school worth it?
In a sense, yes. Continued education will always be a good thing. As we’ve recently reported elsewhere in the Toronto Standard, the current generation of just-graduated, entry-level workers face lower wages than people at similar levels in the recent past. All employers, without exception, value education; it shows ambition, a desire to delve deeper into problems and issues you may have glossed over in undergrad, and the ability to work independently or with teams to produce original insights in a chosen field.
Given the increasingly competitive nature of the workforce, more education can help you build an edge over the competition and possibly–with a big stress on possibly–earn more pay throughout the duration of your career.
Each of these considerations will be important in all stages of your career, regardless of where you land. And at the same time, each of these reasons for pursuing graduate studies are positive motivators, strategically connecting to a larger career goal and bigger picture on the road to employment.
One of the major problems with grad school, however, is that motivation often stem from less strategic concerns. For many, grad school is a way to avoid the leap into the working world. Given the chance to continue a relatively care-free student existence, winning further praise from authority figures and actually getting a salary to attend school (if the promise of $15,000 a year, minus $6,000 tuition fees can actually count as a lure), some people will chose advanced studies because it’s the easier option.
Another serious issue with grad school is the lack of attention to the world after grad school. Professional development for life beyond academia is virtually non-existent on graduate curricula. This isn’t really an issue if, at the age of 21 (or so), you’re committing one to two years to a Master’s degree; there will be plenty of time to catch up and build your professional skills. But if you’re looking at 5-10 years for a Master’s plus a PhD, starting to explore the realities of employment at the age of 30 can be difficult.
Close to this is the issue of time itself, and what you’ve done with it. If you’re wrapping up a PhD at the age of 30, it’s unlikely your expertise in a very small area of study will match the skills your non-PhD’d colleagues have already acquired navigating the organizational, political and personal world of corporate work. In short, you’ll have a lot of knowledge that people may respect, but not necessarily the kind people will pay for. As other publications have already noted, this decade-long investment during a person’s formative professional years rarely pays off today.
As an alternative to academic graduate school, many students and professionals looking for a career change are turning to post-graduate vocational programs. These programs are generally cost effective, limited to eight months or a year in length and incorporate important professionalization components, such as internships and networking seminars. Colleges like Humber, George Brown, Seneca and many others are increasingly offering these kinds of options for recent grads or working professionals.
Take Georgia Clarke, for example. Today she is a Development Officer at WWF Canada, but after finishing an MA in English, she held a few less than ideal retail, secretarial and adult education jobs.
Even though her graduate work didn’t directly lead to a job, Clarke says she still thinks grad school was the right decision. “Although I had trouble finding a career with a Masters in English, I still think grad school was worth it,” she says. “For one thing, I truly enjoyed the work–most of the time–and feel that I learned a lot and grew as a person. And I met a lot of good friends in my program.”
Like so many others, grad school was a decision that came after exploring other options and weighing the benefits: “I unsuccessfully applied to law schools and graduate programs after graduating, which was a disheartening process. Finally, I did a teaching certificate at Woodsworth College, which helped me land a job teaching English at U of T. Then, while teaching, I applied to the program at OISE and made it in.”
Like so many things, arguments in favour or against pursuing graduate work aren’t black and white. Sciences and engineering offer a different graduate experience than the social sciences and humanities. Someone with a Master’s degree in biochemistry may see a career advantage that wouldn’t apply to someone pursuing an MA in philosophy.
So, is grad school worth it? The answer, of course, is yes for some people, some of the time, and no for others. Continuing education is always important to grow as a professional and, from an employer’s perspective, it shows that you’re somebody with interests, even if they’re well outside your actual job.
That being said, institutionalized education isn’t the end of the road for learning new skills or pursuing new interests. It’s probably best to first identify a career goal and work towards it. If you’re not quite sure what you want to do directly out of school, well, enjoy the freedom of having your entire future in front of you.
____
Kiel Hume writes for Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter at @kielculture.
For more, follow us on Twitter at @torontostandard and subscribe to our Newsletter.
