After earning your undergraduate degree (or degrees), it can be hard to decide what will come next. Should you start your first job after you graduate, or continue with your schooling? Maybe you just finished high school and are not sure if you should take a year off to explore. Or maybe you finally received your Masters. Should you go further and start your doctorate?
I decided to both start my career and continue with school. I took one semester off and then started back up with my MBA. My decision was easy, I knew that with my career choice, a Finance MBA was needed. My employer specifically told me that it would be greatly beneficial with the field that I am in.
Reasons for Staying or Starting a New Position:
- Experience is valuable for your chosen career path.
- The ability to apply things you learn to your work-life, or being able to bring your work to the classroom and being able to contribute more.
- Your employer might pay for furthering your education after a minimum amount of time in your position.
Reasons for Focusing on a Full-Time Education:
- Maybe you’re afraid that if you take a break from school that you will never get back into “school mode.”
- You need a certain degree in order to obtain the job you want/need.
- To finish quicker and start your career quickly after.
There are also many factors to think about when deciding whether or not more schooling is for you. These factors can include the value/goals, cost and time. You don’t want to finish your masters to only find out you are short on cash and need to go to www.pandapaydayloans.co.uk. That would defeat the whole purpose of going back to school.
Values and Goals
What is your career goal? Take time to analyze why you really want to further your education. Yes, it might take awhile to decide, but it’d be better to spend a little extra time now, then waste your time and money later on something that you might not be sure about. With me, an MBA is needed and this is how I found value with me earning my MBA.
Will there be a payoff with earning your masters or furthering your education? Of course this doesn’t always need to be a monetary payoff, maybe you’re just striving for a job that you’re passionate about, where furthering your education will put you ahead of the other applicants.
Cost
How much does your school cost? This goes hand in hand with the value factor above. You also need to think about the overall cost. How much will textbooks, materials, tuition, housing, car costs and everything else be? Tuition is a big percentage of education costs, but everything else can add up very quickly as well.
Time
Time is definitely a big factor when deciding whether or not to further your education. Depending on what you’re striving for, it can be anywhere from an intense 1 year, or maybe even 10. How many classes will you take? How many do you think you are ABLE to take without feeling too overwhelmed?
I definitely rushed my MBA. However, it all worked out well for me in the end. I enjoy the time that I have now (even though I only graduated 2 weeks ago, it is still nice).
Have you thought about furthering your education?
Why or why not?
This post was written by
Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a personal finance and lifestyle blog about budgeting, traveling, life, and student loans. Read further on her story and life, and you can also connect with her on twitter.
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I went back to get my masters because I wanted to further my education. However, cost was a big concern to me, and I only did it because my employer offered to reimburse me for my expenses. I think it worked out well in the end.
Glad it worked out well in the end. I’ll be getting a substantial pay raise which will nearly cover my cost in just one year.
I did my Master’s full time. I only took 4 years to complete my master’s and bachelor’s. I am going back now to finish my MBA (finish in May). Total time to do all three is 5 years.
I had a scholarship that covered 4 years, and my company is paying for the last year. Is it needed? Yup!
We’re a lot alike (as if we didn’t know)! I decided to take my masters and bachelors full-time as well, and I had a full-time job. It all worked out well!
[...] Multiple Incomes writes Should You Get Your Masters? - There are also many factors to think about when deciding whether or not more schooling is for [...]