Slashdot Mirror
Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World?
An anonymous reader wonders: "gradschoolstory.com has an entry on the Top 10 Reasons to go to Graduate School in the Modern World. Why did Slashdot readers go to graduate school and what did they get out of it?"
That was my #1 reason. I wasn't really happy doing general business consulting after my undergrad, so I quit to get a Master's degree and get myself into the entertainment industry. I moved myself across the U.S. to do so, and I've got to say I haven't regretted doing so.
I have a year left in my program, but I'm confident that I'm going to get a job where I want. Programming video games is a little more specific than other industry changes, perhaps, but at least in this case I know that I'm getting some skills and practical experience doing things I haven't ever done before. A lot of people said to me, "Don't go back to school, just program some games yourself!" That's hard to do when you've got a full-time job and a commute, so I decided going back to school was the best thing to do in my case.
School is expensive, but having a job that you love doing is worth any amount of money.
Well, the door was open...
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Especially for Piled high and Deeps, the destination is never guaranteed, so you'd better enjoy the journey.
Sounds like you never went for an MBA...
No, and I probably never will.
I wasn't actually attacking on MBAs in general; I was just pointing out that our President has an MBA.
Here's the thing about people that go to grad school to get an MBA. A very small percentage are interesting people who want to do interesting things in life, and they see their path as owning or running a business. The vast majority of people earning or who have earned an MBA do it because it will lead to more money. These people are uninteresting. Boring. Status quo. It's hard to blame any of them individually for the world's ills, but it's awfully hard to posit that they're part of the solution.
Maybe you're part of the one or two percent that will go on to do something interesting. If so, my hat's off to you. However, don't go over-inflating the worth of an MBA beyond its earning power.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
I think Credability is the key word here. Right or wrong, that piece of paper does confer some level of credability. Without it, you are jsut some guy with ideas. They may be right, they may be wrong, it doesn't matter because for people who don't know you there is little credibility to back that up. With the piece of paper, you still might be wrong, but it is easier to convince people that your ideas are worth looking into to start with.
Yes, we know. And 78.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Do you honestly believe this?
In my classes, we've talked about this. It's the first question the professors ask: "Why are you here?" People are brutally honest. A few say they're in it for the money. A few say they like the idea of adding initials to their name. Some never went to college, so they're trying to wrap up undergrad and graduate school at the same time.
The vast majority, however (and no, I'm not going to quote statistics -- because I don't have any) say they're tired and bored with their jobs. They like where they work more or less, but their particular tasks are repetitive and dull. System admins, programmers, etc. They want to move up to a position where their decisions matter.
Years ago, you could climb the corporate ladder to become a manager/director/CTO/CIO. You can't do this anymore. Many positions are revolving doors, and it's almost impossible to make your mark in companies that are always in flux. Just like more decent businesses won't accept you unless you have a college degree (bare minimum), most businesses won't accept managers who haven't got an MBA. It's the current reality of business and you'll just have to get used to it.
Also, I would like to comment on the "interesting things in life, and they see their path as owning or running a business" bit. I don't see owning a business as a particularly interesting thing (at least not "more interesting" than managing in an established company). I know plenty of people with crappy small businesses that will never get off the ground -- I'm not sure how they could be interesting. Personally, I wouldn't even attach the word "interesting" to one's career choice -- what you do outside of work is really what defines you.
However, don't go over-inflating the worth of an MBA beyond its earning power.
And don't go listening to stereotypes. They're usually wrong.
Looking up doctor pay scales, the pay for those two was only about 30-40% higher than the average for people in those specialities. Again, a quick scan shows a bunch of the people on that list make less than the average for their speciality- for example, Charles Clark pulls in $350k as a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery- the average in his field is $381k, and I'll put money that he's far above average in talent.
Paid well? Yep. Overpaid? I'd argue not- don't you want the best possible doctors at teaching hospitals? Cut the pay to some level far below what you'll find in private practice and you'll lose the good people.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"