You’re a college junior or senior and you’re mulling whether to go to grad school immediately after graduating or put it off until you find employment and work for a bit. Or perhaps you want to get a little travel in, and just take time to catch your breath. After all, you will have deserved it. You’re putting in the time and effort and will be rewarded with a well-earned degree. But to keep the momentum going – perhaps you fear getting rusty – maybe you want to go to grad school right away.
Should you go to graduate school right after college? Read on for some insight.
The Issue
In the last two decades, the number of students getting a college degree doubled internationally. It follows, then, that the number of grad students in the U.S. has tripled since the 1970s. What’s more, some 27% of organizations now require a master’s degree for positions that previously just called for an undergrad degree. Still, is it necessary to attend graduate school immediately after college?
Who Makes a Good Graduate School Candidate?
Whether you go right after graduation, first take a break, or first gain some field experience, you should have a clear career goal. Unlike in undergrad, when you took all those disparate prerequisites, grad school drills down into your subject matter.
You also should have realistic expectations of what you can achieve while in school. Remember, because you’ve already been to college, more is expected from you, both in quality and quantity. You also need to look at affordability, perhaps in terms of private undergraduate student loans. Juno can get you the lowest interest rate possible.
Will Graduate School Help You Achieve Your Goals?
Of course, there are some careers, such as attorney, that require an advanced degree. Many times, just an undergrad degree is needed. There also are times when job experience is more important than a grad degree. On the flip side, if you’re looking to make a major career change, hey, grad school may be the move for you.
Do Your Homework
And not that kind of homework. Rather, you’ll need to check into, say, what the employment openings in your field are at any given time. You may also want to see, for example, what someone with a master’s or doctorate in your field can make, as opposed to someone with an undergrad degree. Check out this related article on grad school Reddit.
Be Smart About It
If you know of some places where some day you’d like to work, check their website for job availabilities. If you see the position you want, find current staffers on LinkedIn to learn whether they had down time between their undergrad and graduate studies, and if they did take time off, what did they do with it? Try to see whether any of the people you looked up are amenable to being interviewed. You want to hear from them how they went from where you are now to where they are now. Most people don’t mind helping.
As you can see, the question of whether you should go to graduate school right after college is fraught. Maybe you feel like you’ll be more into it if you first took some time off. But maybe you feel like, since you most assuredly will attend at some point anyway, that you should get it out of the way. If that’s the case, we suggest going with Juno for the best grad school loan interest rates.
