So, I've graduated from college. I've been to Korea, I've been to Japan. I have an amazing boyfriend. I have an adorable rabbit. I feel like at 21, I've already reached all the goals that I wanted as a kid. I'm applying to Grad School because it seems like the next thing to do...but in the long run, do you guys think Graduate School really matters? Does it depend on the major (I'm International Relations)?

Well, personally it depends on the job.
I mean business wise since your doing international relations having a BA is enough and you can improve your resume by getting actual experience.
Most companies that I've met with have all stated that although education is important a masters and no experience is lesser than an BA with experience.
However, this is your own decision and your own life, and if you feel that you are willing to spend four more years to improve your craft then feel free to do so.

p.s. just wondering, where did you graduate from for international relations?

Graduate school doesn't matter unless it's a requirement for your job. I'm on the higher end of my career path, but if I want to go a step higher, I'll need my graduate degree and a few other specialty programs.

If it's not a requirement, then I don't see the point of it.

I would say it's better to go back to grad school after you've been off from college. Going straight through gets very tiring, if you're not motivated (or don't really need the degree) it could be boring or make you burnt out or be a waste of time.
It does seem like the next step after all those things (have been there), but reconsider if it's really something you want to study. It's a lot of work and pretty intense (although that would depend more on the program I guess). I dropped out because I realized that doesn't always have to be done and I've found something else I'd rather do.

Depends. If you get a useless graduate degree, no. Useless meaning you're out looking for a job in academia or you're in academia and literally begging money via grants.

If you go for something more profitable, then yes.

To respect useless grad degree recipients, I will not name them.
Instead, I will name some that you may consider to be worth it: Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Law (specialize in something), Podiatry, some sciences (something with application and not theoretical)

I'm not sure if you mean grad school or professional school, but most professional schools are useful.

I'm doing postgrad courses because hell, I enjoy studying lol. In that sense it's worth it to me. I don't care about money. I enjoy learning and writing about my experiences. I'm more than happy to die a poor, highly educated man lol.

yabasta

getting an advanced degree is an accomplishment in of itself

Depends if there are jobs available that fits, if the employment / job market is bad, be best to go to Grad School and wait till things calm down.

to be blunt....not worth it for your major. go out there and network

What would you do, get a masters? I'm not sure what that would do for you. Whether "grad school" matters really depends on what kind of program you're talking about.

If its required to advance in the career you wish to continue in, it is worth it.

If you want to change careers or you want it to open up your career choices you have to consider some things. First, in the time it takes you to get your masters, you would have probably been promoted. Second in that time you would have made money for all the years you were in school rather than working. Finally, in the end of it, you'll spend so much on grad school that it may not entirely be worth it to goto grad school.

I used to be so gungho about getting my masters. It was an asian thing that a B.A,B.S was not enough. I HAD to get my masters. But after researching my industry enough, I realized its probably not worth it.

Get a job first then get your company to pay for your tuition.
That's what I did.

In my case, as a Pharmacist with a bachelor's degree, despite my average at the board exam, my title per se is insufficient and faces prejudice amongst countries that only honor those who've graduated with an industrial pharmacy degree which has more units than the bachelor course.

I desperately need a masters and in amplification a Ph.D. in pharmacy. That's why I'm considering taking up Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in hopes this would boost my chances for qualifying in countries that honor those with a higher educational attainment. Of course it would be costly, that's why I'm currently working while waiting for the issuance of my license in order to achieve this. Damn tuition fees . Dessicating me of financial sources that are needed with other neccessities.

Grad school is only worth it depending on the type of job you're aiming for. If a job description says it's mandatory then tough luck, it'll be needed. It's hard competing against those who have masters and Ph.Ds despite one's obvious capability and diligence. It's prejudice and it's rampant.

Education sheesh.




-johdirockette

are you satisfied with your job?

personally i think grad school is worth it, especially since we're in a recession right now, it's better to be in school since it's harder to find jobs.

There's this too. But man, I would not want to do grad school and full time work. It's possible but I don't want to have to do it, haha. It's not quite an option in many companies though.



This kind of only hurts you in a recession, haha. So rather than save money or get any job, we should spend money on grad school! I do get what you mean though. There has been an increase in grad school applications to at least business schools. Business people have worked a couple years so they have money saved up to go to school in this downturn economy.

Grad school is a requirement for my field so I had to get it plus I have a pretty useless undergrad so I prolly would have wound up having to go back to school even I went in a different career direction.

Btw, New York Times had an article about a month ago where they actually broke down, by gender and by education who it was that was being affected by unemployment in the U.S. and unemployment went down as education went up so....

that being said I think there are certain fields you don't need it. I have a few family members who are engineers (2 electrical/1 civil) and none of them have grad degrees and are doing fine.

Many liberal arts majors at least in the humanities and social sciences need a master's for a decent paying job and a PhD if they want a well paying one like teaching at a university. Unfortunate fact of life...

International Relations does need graduate degree for career advancement.

Just to echo what many are already saying... It depends on your field.

For me, I'm getting my undergraduate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a minor in Design Studies. I'm planning on entering an Industrial Design Graduate School. Because of my long-term goal to start an eco-focused design firm, the education I've chosen should ideally help me with achieving those goals.

Think about what you want to do in the long term, see what kind of education can enhance your future, then decide from there =)

like many others said it depends on your field. im a business major possibly taking on another option in marketing (my other is finance) from what ive heard from many others that for the business field its experience>degree. my plan for now after i graduate is to just work and build up a few years of experience then maybe ill go back and get my masters or something. but if it helps you advance in your career then go for it

It's worth it. It'll give you more advantage in the work force.

No, it really depends on so many factors. Your industry, your major, your interests, your personal goals, etc.

I wondered the same thing. But I realized that I don't have the luxury to go back to grad school because I don't have the means to go there. In the past, I thought it was important to have graduate degree but after working FT for 6 years now, I've been promoted and enjoy my job most of the time. I get paid for the work I enjoy doing while making a difference within the community. I don't want to leave this job just to get a MA degree, and there's NO guarantee that the paycheck will go higher, especially in this economy. I'm just glad to have a job and continuously employed and being debt free (I have no student loans at all and my undergrad was paid for). However, if you want to become a professional aka doctor, lawyer, clinical psychologist, engineer, scientist, and the like, graduate school may be the best next step. If you just want to get a MA in humanities then it'll cost you because you'll be saddled with the debt and may not find a job right away because you're too overqualified or jobs are simply scarce.

i think it depends on what career you wanna go into in the long run. for me, i wanna do psych but with a BA there's virtually nothing (except a cheap research assistant) out there, so it's pretty much imperative that i go to grad school (i'm applying right now). i'm not too familiar with the business/finance scene, but from hearing about it from friends, i'd say get some work experience first in your field for at least a year or 2, then decide if you need to get a degree like MBA. i believe it is true that no higher degree + experience > higher degree + no experience. i almost never hear about people going straight to grad school in business right after college, but a lot of people working for a few yrs, and then going back to school. plus, your work experience might change your mind about which career/degree you wanna get (it did for me). good luck!

At the ripe age of 21, you should probably consider going out into the work force (who's to say you'll actually like IR related jobs?) and getting experience before going to grad school. My friends and I all went to (or are currently in) grad school because jobs require it or we wanted to make a career switch. This was after putting 2-3 years into our careers.

Sure, having MBA or something similar written on your resume will get you a second look by HR, but when they note that you've got 0 real world experience they'll probably skip over you in favor of the person with a BS and experience.

Personally, I'm glad I'm in law school and not in grad school for English.

Hey! I'm an International Studies too and I've been wondering the same thing although my GPA is a little too low for grad school. But I'm not sure if I should still try to apply because I'm not sure I'm gonna do after graduation. I'm graduating next quarter too.

Does anyone here have a Masters in psychology or social work?

Can you say a little bit more about what exactly you are studying? I'm doing a Master's in International Studies right now, specifically Sino-American Relations (International Politics) and a lot of people that I am going to school with worked for a few years first before applying to grad school. There are a lot of law and economics concentrators at my school that want to get a leg up in the job market here. But I went straight from undergrad to grad because I really wanted to keep doing research in my area and job market sucks now anyways. My gpa was not great to be honest because I did not have good grades my freshmen year, but I still got into a few decent schools.

If money isn't a super major issue and you feel like you have a specific are you are interested in academically, I don't think it would be a bad idea to apply so you have more options.

In terms of applying for grad school for International Studies/East Asian Studies(can't say for other fields):

recs>essay>grades>tests

If you have a useless major (art/business/psych/international relations/music) or want to become a doctor or something like that I would definitely go to grad school.

If you major in something like Mech Eng, I would be careful about it, because you can actually
become overeducated, and companies won't want to hire you.

I went straight to grad school after university, so it kinda bummed me out that my uni's just offering three units a term. I can't stand taking just one class, so I'm thinking of transferring schools, or now, just go to language school.

omg!!!!! me toooooooo!!!!!

i finished my BA when i was 21 too, im also IR!!!!
well, my degree was International Studies, but it's similiar. *squeals*

i think for a degree in IR, it's hard to get a gooood solid job without a MA.
i havent applie to grad school yet but i want to do Intl Development or Intl Relations MA.

im excited to hear that there are other IS/IR students in here.
i think that grad school is worth it.
the degree will give you lotts of doorway and opportunities i think.

aaahhhh!

I'm an IS major with an emphasis on East Asia. The thing is when I say I have a low GPA, I mean below 3.0 (around 2.7-2.8) which is the minimum requirement to apply for grad school. So I don't know if I even have a chance. Should I even apply at all?

It depends, if your gpa is "low" because you didn't have good grades during your freshmen year and you got really good grades in classes that have to do with your major junior and senior year, I would say go for it. My overall gpa didn't hit 3.0 until I got my grades in from my last semester at the place I did my undergrad and I still got into some extremely good schools for my field. That said, make sure you have teachers that can write really good recs(I had really awesome teachers writing my recs) for you because those are basically the most important thing in your whole application.

You'll also need to take the GRE, so you might want to register for it soon if you decide to apply for grad school. The test doesn't count for anything though, it's mostly a formality. How do I know this? One of the schools(school that ranks top 5 for IR master's degree, not mentioning names) that I applied to told me after I got in that they never got my scores for some reason or another. Obviously I sent my scores in, but what I'm trying to say is don't worry too much about standardized tests.

Would it help if I'm double majoring? Because I'm actually double majoring in history and IS. Would they take that into consideration and be more lenient about my GPA? Btw, thanks for all this useful information.

^Some programs also place more emphasis on your Major GPA (i.e. the GPA you have specifically in classes related to your major) if that's what you're applying to go on for your Master's in. So if you have a low GPA in Gen. Ed. courses, but a reasonably good GPA in classes related to your major, the fact that your general GPA isn't all the good won't hurt you quite as much at those programs as it will at others.

I don't know if they would be more lenient but I can say something about how you can make use of the fact that you're doubling:

IS/IR are inherently interdisciplinary so doubling in the appropriate areas can really be a big boost. I was also a double major, East Asian Studies and International Relations, and there's no question that both of those go well together. I think it helps if you can show in your essay and other parts of the applications that both your majors contribute to what you're interested in. The more specific you can be about your interests the better.

I'm in the same place as you except I'm three years older. Been living in Korea for 2+ years, stable job, good enough money, fiance, etc...but I need to come back home and sort stuff out eventually. For me, I've made the decision to only go to grad school if I can get into Harvard, Yale, NYU, or Columbia for their creative writing programs. If not...I'm just going to find a job.

-ginger