As I look into graduate degree programs, a couple of voices are bouncing around in my head.

One belongs to Cal Newport, who regularly advises knowledge workers not to get graduate degrees with two exceptions:

1. You want an academic career and are therefore required to have a doctorate
2. The specific job you’re trying to obtain requires a certain degree or a graduate degree (e.g., engineering, law, medicine, other professional fields, etc.)

Then there’s the advice from my late mentor Dan Miller:

If you are going to get a degree so you can get a better job – you’re likely to be disappointed. If you are going for the personal development, the social connections, and the broadening of your options, you’ll always see yourself as more prepared and having more options.

What both of these thinkers agree on is that there must be clarity about your end goal.

If you’re going to school (or back to school, in my case) because you’re bored, miserable, burnt out, or feeling lost, it’s quite likely you’ll still be all those things after you get the degree. And if you aren’t careful, you’ll have a mountain of debt added to your list of problems.

Begin with the end in mind. Know what you’re trying to achieve and what’s required to get there. Have an idea for your life planned out before you make a major decision like this.

And if you aren’t sure what you need for the career you want or the lifestyle you have in mind, start asking people who are already doing it.

Subscribe to receive the blog directly in your inbox!