Pros & cons of graduate school
According to Forbes magazine, paying private undergraduate tuition (currently $100k-$175k) anywhere except at the top 10 to 20 colleges is a poor investment. Historically, a college degree has boosted long-term earning potential, but what about graduate school?
The real purpose of an education is to enhance your earning potential. If getting a specific graduate degree boosts both your employment chances and your long-term earning potential, then I am all for it. If you want to work in a licensed profession (doctor, lawyer, architect, nurse) then there is no alternative. But what about the rest of us?
I spent my twenties struggling with the concept of business school. Do I or don’t I?
My concerns were:
- Opportunity cost (missed earning years)
- Tuition & cost of living expenditures
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Work experience
Ultimately, I decided against getting an MBA because I felt my work experience outweighed the degree. Just like learning a language, immersion is a much better teacher than a classroom. I have superb computer skills because of a combination of an intense work environment along with on-the-job training (I got identified in college as a likely candidate for a Lehman Brothers management training program).
The other factor to keep in mind is # of earning years. Getting a graduate degree in your twenties is going to have a much bigger impact on your lifetime earnings than getting one in your thirties. A good friend once told me that by your early thirties, you need to have that one solid 5-7 year employment experience on your resume to really stand out and go up the career ladder.
Generally speaking, most people are broke in their twenties, and have more income in their thirties and forties. Past that age, they face the specters of their children’s college tuition and retirement, with limited earning years remaining. So you need to make the most of your thirties and forties to sock away as much capital as possible as a hedge against the future.
