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Grad school is a huge investment. You will spend many years and many paychecks paying for a few years of education. Before you even consider doing grad school, take the time to look at the pros and cons of going to grad school. In this article, I want to share with you many of the pros and cons that come with going through the grad school experience. Keep in mind that they are my personal pros and cons list, but yours may look very similar or the same.

Why Go to Grad School

There are various reasons why you should consider grad school. Financial gain, higher learning, getting away from the corporate life, the list goes on and on. Really take the time to think of why you are considering grad school and how it will benefit you, personally. For me, I knew from an early age that grad school was for me. I knew that I wanted to get a doctorate and that was enough to send me right back into school, even after spending 5 years in engineering school. If you are like me, you’ll have a very good reason to go back to grad school. Though, sometimes it may not be worth the time or effort. This is why, when considering grad school, make a very thorough pros and cons list. It will make your decision so much easier.

Why You Shouldn’t Go to Grad School

There might be a thousands reasons to go to grad school and a thousand and one reasons not to. Remember, it is a commitment. It is not an easy journey as well. Many programs in grad school are significantly harder than undergrad programs and require an extensive amount of knowledge and time. Other programs are cake-walks. I don’t want to call those out because I will have to deal with the hate mail lol.

You are the one to decide all of the reasons not to go to grad school. Remember, this is totally and absolutely your decision. If you find significant reasons not to go then please don’t feel pressured into doing grad school. It really might not be beneficial, depending on your goals.

Let’s look at the Pros and Cons of Grad School

So, let’s take a few moments to go over what I think are the pros and cons of going to grad school. It seems like more and more people are considering grad school these days. I think it is because jobs are getting way too competitive.

People just jump into grad school without weighing their options first. So here is a list of some pros and cons of grad school that you need to consider before applying.

Pros

1. You will get to focus on an area that interests you. In fact, if you do a PhD, you get to only focus on one thing that interests you!!
2. You will stand out among your peers after graduation. Jobs will higher you before someone with a bachelors (in most cases).
3. If you are in research, you will most likely be working on a cool project that not many people even know about.
4. This may cause a pretty decent advancement in your career.
5. You have higher earning potential.
6. After graduation, you’ll be an expert in your field.
7. You get to meet some amazing and brilliant people
8. You have access to all of the cool software and hardware that the college provides.
9. You’re creativity will increase significantly.
10. You’ll be able to make career changes a lot easier.

Cons

1. Grad school is expensive.
2. You will be spending even more time in school with people much younger than you.
3. Grad School is mentally taxing.
4. Grad school is extremely difficult.
5. You will most likely have a loss of income. You are exchanging 2 to 4 years worth of income for this degree.
6. When you graduate, you may not have as much work experience as someone who has been working
7. You may be in school for 8 more years.
8. There’s no guarantee that you will get a good job after graduation.
9. You may be turned down from jobs because of “over qualification” but, I’ve never met a person that was applying to jobs below their qualification.
10. You will see friends come and go while you are still working away at school.

Final Thoughts

These are a few of the most important pros and cons that you need to consider. If you are still on the fence about going, I suggest looking into more blogs about whether it is the right decision for you. A good article to read is “When is Grad School Worth It?”(link here). Also take a look at all of my blog posts about mindfulness as well as education. Those posts can help you determine whether grad school is right for you or not.

Whether you are in high school, undergrad, or working full time and considering grad school, creating a pros and cons list, based on your life, is essential. Grad school is such a commitment and takes time to really decide whether it is best for you. I know many individuals who have gone to grad school and ended up doing the same thing as before. I know people that are extremely successful and didn’t go to grad school because it didn’t benefit them in any way. If it is something that you need to reach your goal, then I feel like a pros and cons list probably isn’t needed. If it’s something that might help you, bust out the whiteboard, write pros on one side and cons on the other and get to work. Figure out what you want in life and write until you can’t think anymore.

For those of you that are considering grad school and just need a little extra boost, please don’t hesitate to reach out to be at benswaringen.com. I have had a number of individuals come to me for advice and I absolutely love helping. Also, the advice is free, unlike some of these other people lol. As always, I hope you have a wonderful day, week, year, life, and I will see you all in the next one. Peace!