"Should I Go to Graduate School?"
A Professor’s Advice on Whether You Should Go To Grad School
Michael D. Breidenbach
Going to graduate school was one of the best decisions of my life. My years as a graduate student were essential to my intellectual, social, and spiritual formation, and I was blessed to have met my wife as a doctoral student. For those who have the intellectual disposition and an ardent interest in pursuing graduate education, the adventure and benefits can be worth it. However, I have also seen the pitfalls of graduate school, the mistakes grad students can make, and the unintended consequences of pursuing an advanced degree. I have written these considerations for those who are already seriously thinking about a master’s degree or Ph.D. in the arts or sciences. (Many of these considerations will also be relevant to those interested in law school, medical school, or other professional degrees.) I have assumed that you already have the desire and ability to study in your intended subject at the graduate level; my intention is to ensure that you now think about some practical considerations before you make this important decision.
Don’t go into debt to pay for graduate school. The one exception to this advice is if you’re pursuing a professional degree such as law or medicine, but even then you should weigh the costs with the income prospects of your profession in your intended location.
Be brutally honest about the opportunity costs. Earning a doctorate can take anywhere from four to eight years. The average salary of a recent college graduate is about $55,000; a rough estimate of graduate stipends is $25,000. Over seven years, you could have made almost a quarter of a million dollars more if you hadn’t gone to graduate school. Are you prepared to forego these potential earnings? It will be very difficult to recover these potential earning losses with a Ph.D.
Take seriously what your professors say about academic job competition. Their stories about hundreds of job candidates for one open assistant professorship are true.
Think about whether there are other opportunities that you would like to do. If you could see yourself being more or less equally happy doing things other than graduate school, then strongly consider pursuing those things instead.
If you are still weighing whether to go to graduate school, consider deferring your graduate school applications or acceptances for a year in order to work in a professional field that is similar to your proposed academic work. This will allow you to save some money, improve your applications, network in your academic field, solidify your research purpose, and reevaluate your graduate school plans.
Some disciplines offer terminal master’s degrees (e.g., MFAs), but for most arts and sciences, the final degree is a Ph.D. Don’t do a master’s degree-only program simply to test whether you want to pursue a Ph.D. If you end up wanting to go for a Ph.D., then you will have to apply all over again, spending more time and resources, and then go through even more master’s level work in a Ph.D. program. Instead, simply get into a Ph.D. program. If the Ph.D. doesn’t work out, you can hopefully leave with a master’s degree anyway.
When choosing where to apply, work backwards: first, which professors do you want to work with? Second, which departments are the best in your desired subfield? Third, which departments are the best generally? Ideally, these three questions will all point to the same universities. Sometimes professors move to other universities, so you need to be sure that you have other reasons to be at the university if you aren’t able to move with your doctoral supervisor.
Start your applications in the summer at least before your senior year and don’t submit them until they’re spotless. Ace the standardized test, revise your best paper from an upper-level class in your chosen field to use as a writing sample, articulate a clear statement of your research purpose, and obtain letters of recommendation from senior professors who know you well and who can speak to why you’re a good fit for the particular program to which you’re applying. For advice on how to ask for a letter of recommendation, read this.
When choosing where to attend, again work backwards: top programs generally hire only from other top programs; mid-tier programs generally hire from mostly top programs and also mid-tier programs; and lower-tier programs hire from top, mid-, and sometimes lower-tier programs. Generally speaking, the better the graduate program, the more job prospects you’ll have.
Consider the cultures of the university and its city, state, and country. Would you want to spend most of your 20s there?
Talk with graduate students in the programs you are interested in. What does daily life look like? Is there adequate academic, financial, and social support?
After the excitement of a “yes” admissions letter has worn off, continue reading: Don’t go into debt to pay for a master’s degree or Ph.D. in the arts or sciences. If your offer does not come with a multi-year scholarship of full tuition and a living stipend that will cover basic expenses, don’t accept the offer. Try again or consider another path.
Before you enroll, ask yourself: are you prepared to move (and move your family or possible future family) after graduate school to take several postdocs (jobs to find a job) across the county until you finally land a long-term professorship that may pay about as much as an elite high school? If you can honestly answer yes, you may be ready to enjoy the many benefits of graduate school and the academic life.