81. Is Grad School Worth It? How to Decide If It’s Right for You
Episode 81
Grad school is an incredible way to gain knowledge, career advancement and a financial bump. But it’s also expensive, time-consuming, and not always necessary.
In this episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I share a unique framework (the WNC Framework) for deciding whether graduate school is the right option for you.
What You'll Learn
The benefits of graduate programs
The drawbacks of graduate programs
What the WNC Framework is and how to use it to decide if grad school is worth it
Real-life scenarios and examples of people who went to grad school and a) loved it, and b) regretted it
Alternatives to grad school that still get you what you want
🔗 Resources + Episodes Mentioned:
▶ Episode website (with transcript)
▶ SchoolHabits University (Parents, go here)
▶ SchoolHabits University (Students, go here)
▶ Episode 71: Task Management and Grad School Overwhelm
▶ Episode 57: 20 Tips for Balancing School and a Part-Time Job
▶ ✏️Get my FREE parent training: How to Help Your Student Handle School Like a Pro — Without Study Frustration, Assignment Overwhelm, or All the Drama (If you’re the parent of a high school or college student, this training is for you.)
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The following transcript was autogenerated and may contain some interesting and silly errors. But in the name of efficiency and productivity, I am choosing not to spend my time fixing them 😉
Is Grad School Worth It?===
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to episode 81 of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast. I think we've got a cool show today because we are talking about graduate school. More specifically, is grad school worth it?
And I think it's important to have this conversation in this career and academic climate where colleges and universities are getting unbelievably expensive and people rightfully so, are nervous about job security and because I also have so many clients who are college students and students [00:00:30] inside school Habits university, who are nearing the end of their college experience and they are asking more than ever about graduate school.
I've been in education for nearly 20 years, and I have never had more conversations about grad school than I've been having in the past 18 months. Also, let me share a few statistics with you to help ground today's conversation. These statistics come from the latest annual reports from CGS, which is the Council of Graduate School.
I'm gonna include all the links in the show notes, [00:01:00] but this is from their website. Okay? I'm gonna read it. Acade uh, applications for Admission to Graduate School between Fall 2022 and fall 2023 increased for the second year in a row with an increase of 5.6%. This increase was fueled by a 15.8% increase at the master's granting institutions and a 17.4% increase at R2 doctoral institutions. Okay, so that's one statistic. [00:01:30] Um, and here's another one from the same website. First time graduate student enrollment rose by 3.1% overall between fall 2022 and fall 2023 with nearly every institution type reporting increases. And then I have another statistics from another source.
Um, it's from A-A-C-S-B, which is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. And they report that total Master's enrollment has grown 13% over the [00:02:00] past six years. No, what is all of this saying? I mean, these statistics are reflecting the exact kinds of conversations that I'm having with students and adults I work with.
There is a growing interest in pursuing master's degrees. All right, so back to the question, is grad school worth it? And the short answer is if you just wanna like tap into this episode, get an answer and walk out, wait for it. It depends. And I [00:02:30] know that that is the least helpful answer, but if I'm being totally honest, it really does depend.
Now, even as someone who does school for a living and is super pro education, there is no scenario in which I would categorically say that more institution based education is better. There are so many jobs and situations where grad school is completely unnecessary, and it would be, at the end of the day, a waste of time or a waste of money.
So that would be really terrible [00:03:00] advice. But with that said, I know many, many people who pursued graduate degrees when it was not necessary at all. It was a personal choice, and they're so happy today that they did, myself included. We're gonna get into all of this today, including some criteria that you might wanna consider if you are debating graduate school.
Specifically, I'm gonna share a unique framework. I call it the WNC framework. You can use it to [00:03:30] think about the decision. Now we're gonna talk about some scenarios where it would make sense, and then some scenarios where maybe it won't make sense. And then how to make a decision about grad school based on your own unique factors.
So if you're thinking about grad school or someone in your life is thinking about grad school, this episode is definitely for you. Or if it's for someone else, I encourage you to share this episode with them. As always, the links to everything I mentioned today in a full transcript are available at [00:04:00] Learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/81 because this is episode 81.
That's wild. All right, let's begin.
[00:04:30]
All right. Before we get into that framework to help you decide whether grad school is right for you, I wanna walk through some of the common benefits of grad school 'cause obviously, you know, there's some legitimate reasons why continuing ed might be the right move, and that is probably at the core of why you're even thinking about it in the first place of why you even clicked on this episode in the first place.
Now, first there is the obvious one. Career advancement. Now, for certain [00:05:00] fields, a graduate degree is not just helpful. It's actually super required. And think about roles like education, counseling, healthcare law, or even academia. In those cases, you hit a ceiling without the degree. So if you're trying to move up a ladder or maybe even qualify for a specific licensure, grad school might be your only option.
And then there's career switching. So let's say you're transitioning to a completely different field, maybe from marketing to like [00:05:30] occupational therapy or engineer to law, right? A grad degree can provide both the credentials and the knowledge base that you need to get started. Like sometimes you might wanna change your industry, but you can't even break into that industry because you don't have the knowledge required for that industry.
And the only way to do that is a work experience, or B, a graduate degree. And sometimes you can't get the work experience without the graduate degree. You know what I mean?
Now, another benefit that's often overlooked is personal fulfillment. Some [00:06:00] people go to grad school because they just genuinely love the subject. They're maybe craving an intellectual challenge, right? Or they're just straight up just want to like, they just want to. Those are all valid reasons, if it's backed by a realistic plan.
And then finally. The financial return, this is the obvious one, right? Yes. Grad school can be exp. It is expensive, but in certain industries it can lead to higher earning potential in the long run. I'm not saying it always [00:06:30] does and we're gonna get into that, but it can if you're entering a field with a strong return on your investment.
All right, so here is a fun statistic from Investopedia. Again, this is gonna be linked below, but this is a quote. Um, let me read it. I don't have this memorized. Um. The median weekly earnings for those with a bachelor's degree were $1,248 versus $1,497 for those with a master's degree. So [00:07:00] I did the math and that adds up to $250 a week or $13,000 a year, or $130,000 over 10 years.
So we are not talking pennies here, you know what I mean? This can be a significant financial bump. Now we do though, need to balance that out by looking at the drawbacks because grad school is not all shiny degrees and higher paychecks. In fact, I know plenty of stories in which it didn't lead to a paycheck at all.
So let's start with [00:07:30] the big one. The cost. Grad school is expensive. You have tuition. Well, you have the cost of the program, right? The tuition, books, fees, also lost income if you have to cut back on work hours to attend a class. And all of that does add up fast. And unfortunately not every degree comes with that salary bump that makes up for that investment.
You have to do your research.
And then there's the issue of opportunity cost, because every dollar an hour spent on grad school is an [00:08:00] hour and a dollar spent not doing other things. Whether that's gaining real world experience, which is super valuable for career capital, maybe building a business, even just getting better at your current job.
Now, also, grad school is intense. It demands a ton of time, energy, and mental space. And if you're already juggling another job, a family, or other responsibilities, you're gonna need a realistic plan for how you're gonna manage the workload. This is not to be underestimated.[00:08:30]
And then finally, a hard truth is that an advanced degree doesn't guarantee anything. I've said this like several times because it's really important you might not land your dream job the moment you graduate. You might find that your field is saturated or that employers care more about experience and portfolios.
You know, and, and like products, like evidence that you know what you're doing and they care about that more than degrees. In fact, depending on your field, uh, certificates, um, apprenticeships, [00:09:00] portfolio work, or even just a few well chosen one-off courses, even at like a community college might get you actually further faster.
Without the time and cost of a full degree. So that's something you need to consider. Like if you're looking for a certificate or just right, like do you need, do you need a full master's degree or can you just get a certificate? Do you need a full master's program in order to gain knowledge, like to improve your knowledge base?
Or can you take a couple courses? [00:09:30] Right? So if you're expecting the degree alone to change everything, it's really worth checking those expectations. Something to ask yourself as you work through that decision. It's, would you be okay with a degree not leading to your dream job or some wild financial boost?
Are you chasing the degree and the knowledge that comes with it, or are you chasing what's on the other side of a door you hope that degree unlocks? That's a really important question to ask yourself. [00:10:00] All right, so at this point, we've looked at both sides. The real benefits of going to grad school and then the very real costs.
All right, and I know I just listed them pretty quickly, but I don't want you to think about these quickly. Like I want you to dedicate time to this. Even just one of these costs can be a limiting factor in whether it's a good idea to pursue a grad degree or not, and a lot of that is personal.
Okay. That brings us to the decision making framework that I wanna share with you.
This is a decision making framework that I frequently use in non graduate school [00:10:30] areas of my life. And I guess honestly, I never really considered it a framework until my probably hundredth time using it. And then I thought there is a pattern here. At any time I recognize a pattern. I wanna give it a name.
So I call it the want Need can framework. WNC. Look how crafty I am. It is a simple but strategic way to evaluate whether grad school makes sense for you based on your actual life and goals. Not whether it makes sense because your [00:11:00] parents have that expectation of you, or you have that expectation of you or your friends are going to grad school, or you think it's gonna give you clout of some way.
That is not what we're doing here. All right. So like I said, it can be a helpful framework for making other decisions in your life too. But obviously today we're gonna walk through how to use this framework, um, to run the decision of grad school through the framework. Does that make sense? Okay. So here's how it works.
There's three parts. Want, need, can, and we're gonna start with want. You want to go to grad school. [00:11:30] Maybe you are deeply curious about a topic. Maybe going back to school has always been a personal goal of yours. Or maybe you're just feeling really bored and you're craving something new. This is your internal motivation, your desire.
No one's making you do it. It's not required. It's something that you just want for yourself, and that is very legitimate.
Now let's talk about need. This is the second part of the WNC framework. You need to go to grad school. [00:12:00] This means the degree is necessary for your next step, like some roles require it for licensure or even just to apply to the position in the first place.
And then if that is your situation, you have a need. Think about therapists, social workers, doctors, nurses, dentists, and even in some places, educators. For example, I live in Massachusetts, and in order to teach in public school in Massachusetts, you need a master's degree. In a little bit i'm gonna share my experience getting my master's degree and how I used this decision making framework to make [00:12:30] my own decision when I did, which was at an interesting time, but we'll get to that.
Maybe you've hit a ceiling and you can't move forward without a degree, like maybe you had to move to a more expensive city and your living costs are now outrageous. And the only way for you to get a comparable bump in your salary is you know, if you get some graduate degree, well then that for you might be considered a need.
Right? This is the non-negotiable, non-negotiable external [00:13:00] factor. And then the final piece of the framework is, can. You can go to grad school, you are able to go to grad school, and this is about feasibility. Do you have the time, the energy, the finances, and the bandwidth? Can you take on the workload while managing your other responsibilities?
Do you have the executive functions and systems in place to handle it? Now, here's the punchline. Here's how we can use this framework to [00:13:30] assess whether or not going to grad school is a good idea. If you check two of these three boxes, you probably have a strong case for going two of the three want, need, and can boxes.
All right, that's it right there. Let's break this down with a couple scenarios. All right. If you want to go and you need to go. So that's two of the three, but you're not sure if you can go just [00:14:00] yet. Maybe financially or logistically or whatever you might start making a plan to get there. Maybe that means saving money, talking to your employer about some more flexible scheduling or getting systems in place before you commit.
Maybe you adjust your timeline for starting your degree and push it back until whatever it is that's currently preventing you from being able to go is no longer a roadblock. I have an adult client who a few years ago, well, she was an adult client a few years ago, who also a few years ago was in the [00:14:30] middle of a divorce.
She got a job that essentially required an advanced degree. It's a long story about how she got the job without it, but whatever. She had kids, she had so much going on, and she was coming to me for executive function coaching because she wanted to optimize her systems and methods, which is why we do coaching, right?
The last, the absolute last thing that she needed or could handle was going back to school. So for her, she like wanted to, she needed to, but she could not. [00:15:00] In her current life, her current systems and life situation were prohibitive at that moment, and this was a real hard reality for her to see. But once she really thought about how she would actually try to make it happen, like with the kids and the schedule, and it was nearly impossible, right?
With the timing and, and she actually felt relief taking this off of her plate. She worked it through with her employer to essentially keep working as she was, you know, working without the degree for a little while longer. [00:15:30] And then she actually ended up getting a different job at a different company altogether.
So it, it all worked out. She's like, well, good thing I didn't go get that master's degree and spend the money. Right. That's something that you wouldn't like. Hindsight's always 2020. Right. But in that moment she could not, and she said, but I have to. But you know, a conversation with her employer took the pressure off.
I mean, she's got another job anyway, but that's beside the point, right? Let's look at another scenario. Let's say you want to go and you can go, but you don't really need to. So you have want and you [00:16:00] have can two of the three. So this might be a personal or an intellectual pursuit, and that is totally valid.
It's likely then that getting that degree is gonna lead to personal and intellectual fulfillment, and you are gonna be really proud of yourself after. I have many students enrolled in School Habits University in this exact scenario. It's funny because I built that study skills course for high school, college, and grad students, but after my first year of running that course, I realized [00:16:30] that so many adult students were enrolled, adults going back to grad school later in their career for the sole purpose of they just wanted to.
So if that's you, if you have a desire to get an advanced degree for whatever reason is in your heart and you have the means and the capacity to go, then you go. You have a solid case for going.
Okay. Lastly, if you need to go and you can go, but you don't really [00:17:00] want to. All right, well, so that's a tougher one, and in this scenario you might not be excited about it, but you recognize that it is the next move for your goals.
Or as we talked about before, maybe it is required for your industry. Like you can't be a nurse without an advanced degree, like, you know what I mean? So in this scenario, you have two choices. You can find a way to change how you're thinking about it. So this is mindset. Adjust your mindset so it doesn't feel like such a negative experience.
If you're [00:17:30] dreading a certain part of grad school, see if you can find a way to just tweak that part of it to take the pain out. Right. So for example, if your program is online and the idea of sitting in front of a computer for an additional few hours a day or a week is just unbearable to you, 'cause that's what you do all day anyway for your job, then find a way to make that part of the experience better.
Can you find a cool location to set up your computer? Can you change your environment? Can you, you know, prop your computer up on a stationary bike and get some movement at the [00:18:00] same time. That's what I did all the time. My grad school program was like in person, but whenever I have to do like some online licensure thing or whatever, like you bet, that's propped up on some kind of exercise equipment.
Anyway, there are always ways to improve our environment and our mindset about what we're doing.
But here's where this framework, the WNC framework, really helps. If only one of these little WNC things, whatever is true, if you only want to go or [00:18:30] you only need to go, or you only can go, it's probably not the right timing. Let me say that again. If only one of these is true and you only want to go, or you only need to go, or you only can go, it's probably not the right time.
And I know you might be thinking Katie, but like, what if I need to go, I don't want to and I really can't afford it, but my job says I have to. Well then you're gonna have a really tough experience in grad school when you don't wanna be there, and it's some [00:19:00] herculean effort to either pay for it or work it into your life and around your current obligations.
So then my question to you becomes, okay, do you really need to go. Is your employer requiring it? Well, okay then, and is there a way that you could ask your employer to contribute to going so that you can get that second piece of the framework, the can piece if you need to go, but you don't wanna go and you can't go because you know you're already so busy in your schedule as wild or whatever, then can you change your schedule so that you can get to grad school?[00:19:30]
Right. My point is that if you only have one of these in place, it's probably not the right decision at the right time in the whole experience, it's gonna be made that much more difficult for you. Let me give you another example. One of my best friends, bestest friends, has a master's degree in public policy.
Now, not that long ago, about a year ago, maybe like 18 months or so, she was thinking about getting a second master's degree in social work to become a social worker. In fact, she enrolled in a program and she was already taking courses. That master's degree was [00:20:00] required for a social worker program. So she needed, like, if you wanna be a social worker, you needed the Master's.
So she needed to go. But the other parts of that framework weren't there. She thought she wanted to go, but in reality she just wanted a career change. She didn't want to go back to grad school per se, but she, you know, just wanted to do something different. She also had two young kids at home, a full-time job, and is a single mom.
And so it was nearly logistically impossible for her to make it happen. [00:20:30] And as much as I love this woman like a sister. And I am so proud of all of her work and how smart she is. I'm actually most proud of her for dropping outta that grad program. I don't think she listens to this podcast, so I am totally fine sharing that story.
I literally don't think she listens to my podcast at all. That's okay. I love my friends. It just, you know, wasn't the right decision for her at that time.
Now I'm gonna share my own experience with getting my master's degree. I use this framework, although, to be honest, like I didn't really know what it was doing until afterwards, you know?
And then I [00:21:00] was like, I'm gonna give this a name, but whatever. So I actually got my master's degree 10 years after I graduated from my undergrad. I always knew in my heart of hearts that I would get my master's degree, like I had that want. But when I graduated from college, I walked straight into a job. I know I am fortunate.
The job was an editorial and a tech company, and I did not need a master's degree. And then after that I became the vice president of a private tutoring company designing curriculum. And I did not need a master's degree for that 'cause it was private. Now, [00:21:30] all this time, I still knew that I wanted one, but I didn't need one.
And also, I didn't know what I would get it in. Did I get it in English? Did I get it in teaching? Did I get it in business? 'cause I always had it in the back of my mind that I was gonna do something entrepreneurial. And so an MBA made sense to me, at a certain point in my life I was like, well, I wanna do my own business, so I should get an MBA.
Do I get it in psychology? 'cause that would help me be a better teacher, right? Master's in psychology would help you be better at anything like, wow, what's not psychology. But I [00:22:00] didn't know specifically, and so I held off on my decision. I'm so glad. Fast forward 10 years later when I launched my business schoolhabits in 2016, and did I need a master's degree to run my own business?
I did not. At all. In fact, I learned more about business by creating a business than an MBA would ever, ever teach me. I know that for sure at this point. But at that point I also thought to myself, Hey, this would be a really cool time to get that master's that I always wanted. And [00:22:30] I did have some direction in terms of like what I would get it in, because I was well into my business as an executive function and study skills coach.
So I was like, well, getting a master's degree in special education made sense. And also at that time, I knew that getting a master's in special education would require student teaching in a school system. I had two young kids at the time. And I knew that I absolutely could not find time in my schedule with a full-blown business to do that kind of unpaid work.
If we're being honest. I'm being totally honest. So I [00:23:00] thought to myself, well, if I become a high school special education teacher, maybe I can do my student teaching as I am the actual teacher. Again, where I live, a master's degree is required for teaching in public school, but they give you a grace period.
And I had already been so like you can work as a teacher as long as you're working toward your master's. And I had already been teaching for 10 years at that point. So 10, yeah, 10 years at that point. So I got taught a job teaching in a high school at the exact same month that I enrolled in my graduate program.
[00:23:30] And I was running my business until 10 o'clock at night. It was absolutely bananas.
But I knew very well that I could satisfy my student teaching requirement for the Master's program at the same time that I was working and still making money and getting health insurance
at the same time I was running my business. It was absolutely bananas. But I had the want and I had the can. I didn't have the need. Now, if I were to stayed at public school teacher, which honestly I didn't have any [00:24:00] intention of doing, I would've had the need. But I stayed as a high school special education, teach special education teacher, just long enough to satisfy my master's degree requirements, plus a couple years, and then I left. And I wouldn't have done it any other way.
If I had pursued a master's degree right after college, it would've been in the wrong thing. Probably like Shakespeare or something. Totally useless. Just kidding. I love him. But back to the W one C framework. This framework creates clarity.
It helps us pause before enrolling just because, you know, [00:24:30] we, we are unsure what else to do or because other people think we should. There's always a huge should when we're having the conversation about grad school. Or maybe because you're just trying to outrun your current discomfort in the job you're in now, one thing I do wanna mention is that many undergraduate programs offer a four plus one path to an undergrad, undergraduate degree, and a master's degree in a total of five years.
And for many students who are intending to get a master's degree anyway, and they know exactly what program they want to get it in, this can be a time and cost effective way to complete grad [00:25:00] school. Grad school is not. Necessarily cheaper when you do a four plus one program, but sometimes it is. But again, this is something that I would really only recommend for college students who know beyond a shadow of doubt what career they're interested in, and a master's degree is required for that industry or advanced knowledge in that industry is required for any kind of success in a first year job.
All right, so as we wrap up, I want to leave you with [00:25:30] this. Grad school can be an incredible investment or a really expensive detour. It really just depends on like your why, your what, and of course your when. And that's why the want need can framework is so helpful.
It doesn't make the decision for you only you can do that, but it gives you clarity around it. It also sometimes forces you to face reality, which none of us like to do, but we gotta do. If you want to revisit the stats I mentioned, check out some of the links, or maybe read the full transcript of today's episode, you can [00:26:00] head over to learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/ 81.
Also come over and find me on Instagram. I'm @SchoolHabits. I love connecting over there. Um, send me a dm, say hi, say that you found me on the Learn and Work Smarter podcast. Like literally nothing makes my day more. And if you know someone who's thinking about grad school right now, maybe a friend, a coworker, maybe even your own kid, of course, you. Right?
Send them this episode. This framework might be exactly what they need to make an informed decision for their next step. Thank [00:26:30] you for hanging out with me today. And remember, never stop
