Grad school...or nah?

I’ve been asked more than a few times if I thought grad school was worth it.  More recently, I had a friend ask me if I felt like the experience and what I learned has been beneficial to me now, so I decided to share my thoughts on the subject.

The conversation about grad school has changed, along with the economy.  Even while a bachelor’s degree is becoming the new high school diploma, the decision to attend graduate school should not be taken lightly.

I was fortunate enough to be hired at Northern Arizona University for my first job out of college and with that came tuition benefits.  I was able to complete my master’s degree in a little over a year (not recommended if you appreciate your sanity) and I was able to pay for it out of pocket.  Tuition for employees was a mere $25 per semester, plus fees, so on average, I paid about $100 per semester for classes.

I think back on my experience and realize that it was not typical.  During two semesters of  my semesters of school, I was a full-time employee, as well as a full-time student (taking nine credits), in addition to advising a student organization.  I was able to complete my degree in a fairly quickly because of the availability of online and in-person classes.  A majority of my classes were completed online, but professors still worked to make them interactive through platforms such as BlackBoard.

I also didn’t have the cohort experience, meaning I basically completed my program alone.  I saw a few familiar faces in classes, but I think it would have been helpful to have a set of classmates to share the experience with. However, because price was the driving factor for me, I am content with not having this part of the graduate student experience.

The two jobs I’ve had since completing my master’s degree have not required a graduate degree, but in many ways, I think it is was helpful in establishing credibility when recruiting law students and among my colleagues in the field of higher education. 

I encourage anyone contemplating graduate school to think about how the degree will impact them personally.  Depending on the field, attending graduate school directly after undergrad might be necessary or be the difference between going or losing the motivation to do so.  For the most part, I recommend work experience first or at least during graduate school.  I benefited from having real life examples to draw from for class assignments. 

The biggest issue with graduate (and professional school) is how to finance it.  Nothing about it is cheap! As I mentioned before, I was blessed with tuition benefits.  I know other people who have earned assistantships that covered the cost of tuition and provided stipends.  I know others that have tuition assistance through their employers and are allowed to spend a maximum amount towards tuition each year.  Most of the time it balances out to a class or two per semester, depending on the cost of tuition, but anything helps!

As always, do what works for you, but be sure to do your research.  Weigh all of your options and decide what you want and need out of a graduate school.  If you are planning to attend graduate school to recapture the your college experience, that is all the reason why you shouldn’t go.  It is not the same on so many levels – trust me!  If you’re really interested in furthering your education, but aren’t ready to make the commitment, consider taking graduate courses as a non-degree seeking student or check into community education courses at your local institution. 

Master's Degree by the age of 25? Why not!

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Education has always been apart of my life.  My mother has made her career in the field, I started Montessori school at the age of 3 and now, I work on a college campus.  When I look around, education (or the lack thereof) has a major impact on people’s lives.  Statistically, college graduates make a million dollars more in their lifetime than a person with a high school diploma.  (This makes me feel much better about my expensive, yet very useful undergraduate education!)

When I was a student at Drake, I loved it so much and learned that I never had to leave the college environment and could actually make a career out of working there.  I attended the BIG XII Conference on Black Student Government in February 2007 and learned about the field of higher education and that I could even earn a master’s degree.  From then on, I knew that I would look to make a career in student affairs/higher education. 

Fast forward to May 2010 and I’ve graduated from Drake, ready for the “real world.” I’m pretty sure I applied for at least 100 jobs and by September, I was hired by Northern Arizona University to work as the Parent and Family Services Coordinator.  Working on a college campus has its benefits, the major one being a discount on tuition.  I contemplated attending graduate school straight out of undergrad, but wanted to avoid paying out of pocket for another degree if I could. 

I took my first graduate course in Spring 2011 and started contemplating the graduate program that I wanted to take on.  Finally, I decided on Human Relations and ambitiously, I will graduate in December 2012.  I made a personal goal to have an advanced degree by the age of 25.  By taking two classes each term, including summer and also taking a course during the winter term, I can make this happen.  I did run into a slight problem this summer already.  I signed up for a statistics course, knowing that this was not my strongest subject, but it is a required course for my program.  I started doing the work and after a short vacation, lost a little bit of motivation and fell behind in the coursework.  I ended up dropping the course and will look to take it in person instead of online.  I recognize my strengths and statistics is not one of them!  To stay on track, I had to pick up an additional class over the summer, so for the past 5 weeks, I have been on an academic grind.  Finally, the courses were over on August 9 and ended up with a 3.5 GPA (go me!) 

I find that education has benefited me in many ways, opened up a lot of doors and I’m ready for the future, true to the words of Malcolm X.