“Is it Worth Doing a Master’s Degree?” A Different Approach to The Common Question
Making the decision to pursue graduate studies is daunting and puzzling. While a quick Google search will provide you plenty of arguments for and against it, they’re often insufficient.
To answer this question, I won’t lecture you on how much time and money you’ll waste, nor will I tell you to chase your dreams. Instead, I propose a different approach, ask yourself this:
“Do I have the personality for graduate studies?”
By asking yourself this, I’m not proposing you do twenty Miggs Bryer Quizzes and career search guides. It’s much simpler than that.
In my experience there are two traits required for a successful and enjoyable graduate degree: passion for the art of self-study and confidence in your decisions.
Passion For Self-Study
You shouldn’t do a master’s or PhD if you don’t like learning how to learn.
Doing an advanced degree involves mastering many abilities, but they all rely on a core skill: the ability to become your own teacher. Most assignments, papers, and presentations will revolve around this skill of constant self-optimization. That is why the person that enjoys cultivating the art of self-teaching will naturally thrive in graduate school.
John was a professional in the field of retail marketing. He was in his mid-thirties and had a wife and child. John applied to a program in East Asian Studies thinking it could help his career. As a plus, he had the opportunity to focus on learning Korean. Sadly, he began to feel bogged down by the long lectures and the reading assignments.
It’s not that he disliked reading, the problem was that he didn’t enjoy being told what to read and what sort of questions to ask. Moreover, he disliked it when professors would ask him to reconsider his research methodology.
John completed the degree, but spent the majority of the program complaining and feeling frustrated. By the end, he didn’t feel like he got what he wanted.
On the other hand, some of us are born with an innate ability to research and learn without feeling the need or desire to be helped. These people can pick up general reference books and feel confident about a subject in a couple of months. Their rationale is that if you can learn it from a book, why take a course?
If this sounds like you, you wouldn’t really benefit from going to grad school. You have your own way of obtaining knowledge and that’s great, take advantage of it. I’ve had classmates that were constantly frustrated throughout their degree because they didn’t see the point of going to class. Don’t be this person, use your time in a way that benefits your personality type the most.
Not Prone to Regret
If you’re prone to constantly question your decisions, don’t do an MA or a PhD.
In all likelihood, getting a diploma in an advanced degree is not going to guarantee you a job and it’s not a promise for happiness. It’s highly likely that you’ll feel lost after graduation because of a problem with higher education as a whole: students are not being taught readily transferable job skills.
Add to this dilemma the intensity and difficulty of these programs and it becomes a real problem. Especially if you tend to constantly doubt the decisions you make.
Jane was a student of religious studies. Her passion for Chinese religious practices was deep and she always wanted to learn more about it. She was the sort of student that knew what she was passionate about.
Unfortunately, Jane was also prone to worry and self-doubt. Instead of enjoying the opportunity to focus on her research, she spent most of her time worrying about the future. She wondered if she made the right choice, and started to feel like she was trapped in her degree. She would often think that stopping would be giving up, but any steps forward would be in vain. Jane eventually finished her degree, but she felt like she didn’t focus on her research as much as she hoped. Why? Because she was too distracted during her studies. She regrets not taking advantage of it more.
It’s guaranteed that when you graduate you’re going to feel some level of regret, and that’s normal. The problem is going your whole degree regretting your decision and feeling trapped. If you doubt yourself a lot, refrain from applying to programs and consider tackling this problem first.
The Personality Fit
As you can see, deciding if you want to go to grad school or not is not just about money, time, job opportunities, and lifelong dreams. These are all important, but personality and disposition are equally important.
I did two master’s degrees. The first one was an interdisciplinary degree in Asian Studies. During this time, I focused a lot of my research in Japanese language and culture. After I finished, I felt like my language and research skills were still lacking, so I decided to do a second master’s in Japanese literature and media studies. Throughout the program I achieved my goals and was even able to study abroad for a year. By the end, I felt content and satisfied.
My original plan was to do a PhD but I decided not to. Why? I began to feel tired of being told how to study. I felt like I became a good self-learner and was beginning to feel irritated by my professors. I started to doubt my intentions instead of looking forward to the future. I decided not to pursue a PhD. Instead, I focused on trying out different jobs. Two years later, I still think I made the right choice.
Many people that struggle in graduate school could save themselves a lot of energy and frustration if they dared to learn more about themselves and their personality. Wanting to learn is an admirable trait. It’s important to nurture such a desire, but nurture it in a way that’s authentic to you. Don’t force it. When making the decision to do a master’s or a PhD, take inventory of your strengths and weaknesses, ask yourself:
“Is my personality compatible with graduate school?”
If the answer is yes, then proceed to answer questions like time and money. No amount of time and money will make it enjoyable and worthwhile if you don’t have the right personality for it.
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