Whether you’re still in your first year or about to head into your 4B term, you may be thinking about taking your education further by pursuing graduate studies.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from UW in April 2013 and transitioned into the masters program in September. Personally, I only came to the realization that I wanted to pursue graduate school during my 4B term – I had already had a full-time job lined up with a previous co-op employer and thought I was going to soon be out in the “real world.”
Regardless, here are a few pros and cons of pursuing graduate school from my point of view. These points are more catered to students considering a masters degree (MEng, MASc) but planning on returning to the work force rather than continuing in academia.
Pros
It’s just like work: At the end of the day, pursuing a research-based degree is very similar to working a full-time job – think of a masters degree as career experience in academia. As one of my friends recently put it, your research supervisor is equivalent to your work supervisor, your funding sources are equivalent to your clients, and you’re getting paid. Although you won’t be getting paid an full-time engineer job salary as a graduate student, you should be able to make enough money to make ends meet – and continue living like a student.
Technical credibility: In general, in your full-time position, you develop and gain technical credibility as you go through your career; you gain your colleagues’ respect and you become the office’s or company’s expert in a certain field. Graduate school allows you to fast-track your “technical credibility.” Once you finish your masters degree, you are more likely to pursue a career in your area of study. At that point, you’ve already had ~2 years working primarily in one area: reading other people’s work, identifying problems, and creating solutions. Once you join the workforce, you’re already considered an expert to your colleagues – at this point all you need to do is to acclimate to the workplace and start impressing your supervisors.
Personal Satisfaction: I think an important reason to pursue graduate school is personal satisfaction. You have to have the conviction to actually want to continue spending part of your life becoming more educated. Learning new things, exploring new ideas, and developing creative solutions should all be things that intrinsically make you happy.
Cons
Time & Money: Not only will you be spending more time in school but will also be making less money than you would working a full-time job. Once you finish your undergrad, you’ll feel like you’re ready to take on the world and start finally earning money after paying for 5 years of school. It becomes quite difficult to see graduate school as a valid step in your career and a convincing return on investment for your future when you have to spend two years working for a humble salary.
Return on Investment: Although this may seem as a benefit of graduate school, the return on investment is not necessarily guaranteed. If you are not careful and you do not appropriately leverage your graduate studies, you may end up in a position similar to one that you could have gotten right out of undergrad. Now you may say: “even if I still start at an entry-level position, I’ll move up faster in my career.” But again, there are no guarantees. You have to be self-driven and self-motivated to leverage your graduate degree and make sure that you are able to market and sell yourself appropriately. Don’t only rely on the graduate degree to boost your career.
You have to want to do it: Regardless of the pros and cons, each person considering graduate school has to have the conviction to want pursue graduate school. There’s a personal, internal consciousness that has to be present. Otherwise, if you enter the program not entirely convinced, you may lose sight of why you are there – and that should be because you want to be there.
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