Senior year hits you with a lot. There’s no way to state that eloquently or with any kind of finesse. It’s just a lot. You’ve been doing this college thing for a while, you think you’ve kinda got the hang of it. Then life laughs at you for thinking you can predict anything college can throw at you, and suddenly the sole item on your Christmas list is to make it out of your undergraduate career alive.
You wouldn’t think that you could ever handle another second of a semester after this year, but that’s a pretty popular topic of conversation among my friends these days. That’s right—after the constant horror show that is the fourth and final year of obtaining your bachelor’s degree, people are voluntarily going back to school. For another degree.
Don’t get me wrong—I am constantly in awe of people with multiple degrees in climbing ranks. I’ve met many a professor, faculty member, and family with their bachelor's, masters, and PhD under their belts. I know it requires serious dedication; it wouldn’t be a prestigious honor if it didn’t.
That being said, many of my friends are set on graduate school. They’ve started their searches on schools, they’re preparing to schedule their GREs, and they’re deciding on what programs to study.
I, however, seem to be choosing the pass less traveled by. I don’t think I’m going to graduate school, at least not right away. And that’s okay.
I know that not everyone goes to graduate school. It’s not impossible to take your bachelor’s degree and build experience through the workforce, but it is an undeniable fact that having a master’s degree gives you a significant boost. I know all of this, but I’m taking the facts and just kind of throwing them to the wind.
Maybe you’re thinking, You’re definitely making a dumb choice here, but it’s not something I’ve decided simply on a whim or on the principle that I’ve grown tired of writing essays. Neither of these things are true. I gave it some serious thought and, if you’re wondering, I could happily keep writing essays for a long time coming. I don’t think this article would exist if I didn’t like to write, but I digress.
I decided to put grad school on the back burner of my grand life scheme because, honestly? I have no clue what I’d even want to study. I was one of the lucky ones who came into undergrad knowing exactly what major I wanted. I haven’t strayed very far from my path since, aside from changing up my concentrations and adding a minor, but I found what I’d like to build the foundation of my career on in the last four years.
Masters programs are a totally different ball game. There are so many fields of study, and I could very well just continue on with my field of study through a masters program, sure, but I’m not confident that’s exactly what I’d want. When it comes down to it, it’s a big commitment involving time, money, and dedication. A commitment too big to take on if I don’t know what I’m taking it on for. I feel like undergrad is much more forgiving in the sense that you can come in and sort of put some feelers out for a while. I’ve met people who’ve changed their major three times. It just seems to me like grad school isn’t necessarily the place to be doing that.
I could be wrong. There could be people out there who’ve changed programs a bunch of times. From what I’ve heard across the board, it’s pretty natural to question your field of study. Regardless, that’s just not how I want to approach this thing, if I approach it at all. I want to make the decision to go for my master’s degree solely on the fact that I’m 100% sure I want it, not because it’s what all of my friends are doing.
So maybe I’ll go to grad school; maybe I won’t. I’m not sure about it all, but I am sure that I’ll be fine no matter what I do. You will too.
