148: Five Wrong Reasons to Attend Graduate School

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hola, everyone. This is Dra. Yvette and you are listening to the Grad School Femtoring podcast. For today's episode, episode 148, we have five wrong reasons to attend graduate school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now for those of you that have been listening to my podcast for a while, you know that I'm currently co-authoring a book titled the Grad School Femtoring Guide, that's all about how to successfully navigate the graduate school admissions process. In the book right now, we're primarily focusing on the first part, and we'll be starting the second and third part of the book soon. For the first part, we're introducing a lot of different concepts. We define what graduate school is, reasons to go to graduate school, and reasons not to go to graduate school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And I thought I would offer a reminder, especially for those of you that aren't in graduate school yet and are considering, if you're debating whether or not graduate school is the right next step for you. It might be helpful to consider the wrong reasons to attend graduate school, because there are some reasons that are not great reasons to go.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I admit that in my case, I attended graduate school because I didn't quite know my options. I felt that pressure of wanting to make sure that I had a source of income, that I knew what I was going to do after graduating. Had I known what I know now, perhaps I would have taken a gap year. Perhaps I would have worked a couple of years. I had not realized that I had a skill set that would allow me to still get a job without a Masters and a PhD.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I don't think that I would have not gone to graduate school. There's certainly a big part of that experience that I would have longed for. But it's just good. It's good to think about this, to see if this is the right time. Even if you know you want to go to graduate school, is this the right time?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And to do that, let's review some of the wrong reasons. The first wrong reason that comes up a lot is this one. You tell yourself, I'm struggling to secure a job. So you decide, I'm going to go to graduate school, because I'm not going to get a job or because I am not getting any jobs. In this case, the individual is putting off going on the job market.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The reason why this is the wrong reason to go to graduate school is because attending graduate school will not guarantee that you will get a job, that you will advance in your career. It's not a guarantee, because it really depends on the field that you're in. In some fields, if it's required to have a certain degree to advance, to move up, to get into a certain field or industry, then yes, go ahead and pursue a graduate program.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But if it's not necessary, and you think, oh, I'm gonna get this degree, and this is going to help me get a job. No, you might be better served by doing some networking, by reaching out, conducting informational interviews, or asking for help. Maybe even working with a career coach, working on your application materials, working on your interviewing skills, working on improving your skill set as a whole in whatever field you're going into- getting internships. There are a lot of other things that you could do aside from a graduate program. But again, I want to remind you, if you're struggling to get a job, that is not reason enough to go to graduate school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Reason number two, that's a wrong reason, in my opinion - in our opinion, because these are actually some of the reasons we plan to include in the book. So reason number two is my best friend who recently completed a Master's program recommended that I go too. Or I'm going to add a few more scenarios- my faculty mentor recommended that I go to graduate school. Here's another one- my family members are pressuring me to go.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What do these all have in common? This is all external pressure. And for some of us, it's a bit of people pleasing. You're pursuing graduate school as next step, because of the influence that others have on you. In some cases, it's the right decision. And some individuals see- like, wow, you are very skilled and talented and can pursue this further in graduate school. And it makes sense for you in your career and your interests, etc.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But for other folks, they know that they're ready to move on to something else after they complete and earn their college degree. And that pressure alone might convince them otherwise. So again, the reason to attend graduate school shouldn't solely be because of external pressures. It should be coming from you, from your own desires, from your own career and life goals.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The third one is I'm bored, and I don't know what to do. This is another example of using graduate school as a means of giving yourself time, as a placeholder for the time that you need to figure your life out. We don't recommend that you attend graduate school because you're bored, because you don't know what to do next, or because you believe you have no other options. Yes, graduate school will certainly help time pass by. It's going to keep you busy. But it's not going to guarantee that you're going to figure out what you want to do. It's not going to guarantee that you're going to know for sure what your career path is after you're done with the program. And it's not guaranteed that graduate school is going to fulfill all of your needs.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Again, delaying the inevitable is not a good reason to go to graduate school. You need to take the time. It doesn't necessarily need to include graduate school for you to process and reflect and assess, to figure out what the next step is for you. Being bored is not a good reason. Not knowing what to do is not a good reason, especially because sometimes folks commit to taking on a lot of debt for graduate programs. I wouldn't want someone taking on debt because they're bored, or because they're unsure of what to do next.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, reason four. And I'll admit, I think I fell prey to this myth, or I was under this false impression early on in my undergraduate days. But the wrong reason is thinking, oh, I want to lead the life of an intellectual. It looks so glamorous. I recall looking up to my professors, and thinking wow. How amazing is it that they get to study whatever they want, and they get to teach at any hours of the day? Then they get to go home or work in their office and they get to take summers off and they get to read and write for a living. How amazing is that?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It sounded really nice. But to my detriment, very few professors were 100% honest and upfront about what a day in the life was for them, about all of the different commitments that they had as a professor, about the tenure track process, about what it takes to apply and earn tenure. Had I known everything that was involved in the professoriate career, I definitely would have thought twice about it. So no, we don't recommend going into graduate school because of a romanticized view about becoming a professor.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

There are very good reasons to want to become a professor if you have a passion for research, and if you also have a passion for teaching at the college level. Those are good reasons and that can keep you going, and fulfill you for up until you retire for some folks. But also, a lot of professors have to deal with working long hours. Some of them work in isolation. Some of them have to face dealing with demanding students or even colleagues.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And for good amount of professors, they're taking on employment that is not the most competitive salary. For some folks they are taking on low paying jobs. These are things to consider when you are debating whether or not you want to pursue graduate school to become a professor. If you think it's romanticized, if you think that is glamorous, that is not the full picture.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, now, the fifth reason. I am mentioning this because I have heard and witnessed a lot of folks who have done that. Similar to what I mentioned earlier about prolonging the inevitable, about delaying facing some harsh realities, this one has to do with I want to continue deferring my student loans. Some students decide to continue with their schooling as a means to delay facing their student loan debt. They figure that if they go to graduate school, they can continue deferring their loans. It'll give them some time to figure things out financially.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But I want to remind you that if you don't make it a point to learn about financial literacy now, there's a small chance that you're going to do it in graduate school because you'll have even more commitments and in some cases, less time than an undergrad. So why take on more debt only to defer your undergraduate loans? It's not worth it if you're not certain about graduate school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

That's it. Those are the five reasons, wrong reasons to attend graduate school. Let me know what you think, and I hope you found that helpful. I'll talk to you all next time.