What Is The Point of Graduate School?
Based on my own observation and thoroughly unscientific surveys, most people go to graduate school for one of two reasons.
- To get a better job and/or because of job requirements (the ROI argument)
- To learn more about an academically interesting subject (the passion argument)
Obviously these reasons are not mutually exclusive, and we could argue that they should not be. Ideally, you’d be both interested in a subject and end up with an excellent job after studying that subject at the graduate level. However, that ideal scenario doesn’t seem to reflect the current reality. While I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t fully understand academia, I do understand that jobs were a challenge to find pre-COVID and are now nearly impossible to find for graduates in many fields.
So I’m particularly interested in whether or not these reasons to go to graduate school can stand as independently justifiable, separately.
The ROI Argument
Is it justifiable to go to graduate school just to get a better job?
As a business major, I generally understand people who go to graduate school to get a better job and/or because of job requirements… even at the expense of academic interest or passion. I understand the idea that a better job justifies the level of debt and the amount of time away from work that is required to attend graduate school. If you get a significantly higher-paying job after graduation, you can pay off your debt then pocket the difference between your existing salary and that post-grad salary for the rest of your life.
At least that is how return on investment (ROI) is supposed to work.
While we could argue that a student may not do as well in classes they aren’t passionate about, there are plenty of students that prioritize job prospects over passion and succeed. Generally, this standalone reason to go to graduate school (financial ROI without passion) is easier for me to understand than the other standalone reason presented in this post (passion without financial ROI). After all, I made decisions about what to study at the undergraduate level based almost entirely on ROI. I won’t say that plan was perfect, but I was able to graduate and find a job post-graduation.
But what if I don’t want to do that again?
What if I want to go to graduate school in a specific subject simply because I like it?
How would I justify that?
The Passion Argument
Is it justifiable to go to graduate school just because you are passionate about a specific subject?
Although I’ve always wanted to go back to school on some fundamental level, this is one of the questions that has held me back. Because I don’t know the answer to this question.
As mentioned briefly above, the return on investment (ROI) argument for graduate school may not work as intended even in cases where people go to graduate school specifically to advance their career. For a variety of reasons, the gamble that the debt will result in a large enough salary increase to justify it doesn’t always work out in the graduate student’s favor.
However, I’m particularly interested in people that choose to go to graduate school without any prospective financial ROI from their degree. While there are certainly some people that go to graduate school and just hope it works out, I want to exclude that group and give everyone the benefit of the doubt here. For argument’s sake, let’s assume that even if someone went to graduate school because they were passionate about a subject, they had a logical, justifiable reason why financial ROI didn’t matter to them.
One working theory…
Maybe they didn’t need their graduate degree to pay their bills.
This potential explanation could work in a variety of scenarios.
Maybe this hypothetical graduate student earned enough money before graduate school to pay cash for the degree, so she doesn’t need to worry about debt repayment: she has no debt. Since there are a lot of people that go to graduate school prior to turning 40 (and even prior to turning 30), I’m not sure how this argument works unless everyone going to graduate school is an investment banker.
Maybe our hypothetical graduate student has trust funds or family money?
Maybe she has other sources of income?
Maybe she has scholarships?
Maybe she took out a student loan but plans to work for a nonprofit, the government, or in some other role that would allow her to have her student debt forgiven?
Maybe she plans to go back to work doing whatever she was doing prior to graduate school? Although this potential explanation doesn’t work for people who go to graduate school directly after graduating from an undergraduate program, it could work for many others with work experience post-undergrad… present company included.
Which leads me back to the question which is the title of this post.
In that scenario, what is the point of graduate school?
What is the point of taking time off work and taking on debt for a master’s or PhD program in a subject you are passionate about, then resuming the exact same type of work you were doing prior to graduate school?
One could argue you would be smarter, and studying what you love for somewhere between one and five years would be fun… but would it be justifiable?
Even if the process of obtaining the degree was amazing, it wouldn’t serve any practical purpose. It wouldn’t pay the bills, you wouldn’t be making any type of impact in the field (or even working in it), and you wouldn’t have anything tangible to show for it.
Unless we believe that learning for the sake of learning is justifiable.
Maybe learning for the sake of learning, with no discernible practical purpose or financial ROI whatsoever, is worthwhile?
Maybe there are other ways to make an impact besides working, researching, or teaching in one’s field of graduate study that we need to explore?
Maybe, learning more is always the right decision, despite costs, resulting employment prospects, or other practical constraints?
Maybe there is some level of cost/practical constraint that outweighs the value of learning for the sake of learning?
And if so, what is that?
Generally, how do we justify learning for the sake of learning in a graduate degree program if we could simply go find a graduate syllabus online and read everything included on it? Or take more affordable online courses in the subject? Or write about it and connect with people on Medium? Or do all of the above?
I’m very interested in whether or not learning for the sake of learning is an inherently justifiable pursuit, because that is simply not an idea that I grew up around. So if you believe there is a value in learning for the sake of learning (at the graduate level, in a formal graduate degree program), I would love to hear what that is. I’d also like to read more on this topic, so if you know what I should read, please send it my way.
What field of research would have a discussion about this question? Educational philosophy? Is the philosophy of learning a distinct discipline?
As always, thank you for your thoughts and ideas.
