Importance of Grad School

Students Who View Graduate School as “Last Resort” Advised to “Just Skip It”

“Don’t waste the best years of your life,” undergraduate professor says.

By Alexandra Watt

February 11, 2013

Katherine Gilbert, fast approaching graduation, is on the third version of her resume.

“I’m scared I won’t get a job,” said Gilbert, a media arts senior at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “It’s like a war zone out there.”

Gilbert, whose impending graduation is in May, is looking to intern with publication houses in New York and Los Angeles, but fears that her “thin” resume isn’t enough.

            Though the New York Times reports that enrollment in secondary programs has declined by 1.7 percent in recent years, the interest in graduate school has yet to disappear. When facing the “real world” post-graduation, many people view their options like the Life board game: either hop in your car and cruise down the career path, or go on to higher and higher education – also known in today’s world as graduate school.

            “I’ve always felt it’s something you should do after college,” Gilbert said. “Like something that will help you get a job, or when you can’t find a job, you should just go to school.”

Professor Mark Cooney has burning answers for students' worried questions about whether or not to attend graduate school.

            Cooney has many degrees under his belt, ranging from his undergraduate law studies at the University of Dublin to graduate programs at Harvard and the University of Virginia. Though academic life is great for some people, Cooney cautions against students viewing graduate school as merely a place to “bide time” before the “real world.”

            “Don’t waste your time,” Cooney said.

Michael Fantaci, a Grady graduate from New Orleans agreed.

            “It isn’t worth it if you aren’t invested,” said Fantaci, who enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Georgia but after a year, decided to pursue law at Louisiana State University instead. “You get out what you put in and if you aren’t invested in it, then, frankly, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.”

            But what about those students who believe they need another line on their resume, some more vitality on their curriculum vitae?

            “I thought ‘Isn’t [another degree]what employers are looking for?’ More experience?’” said Robert Horne, who graduated in the fall with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and is sharing a room with his 15-year-old sister in his parents’ home in eastern North Carolina.  Horne has applied to many graduate schools hoping to study business, upon the realization that “I won’t get anywhere with what I have now.”

            “What people are looking for now is dedication, experience, not necessarily some…degree that you don’t care about,” Fantaci said. 

            So what are the little lost generation of boys and girls spilling out of undergraduate school with no direction to do?

            “Consider a master’s degree, perhaps, if you are interested,” Cooney says, who said his time in graduate school piqued his passion for his current field of work as a sociologist. “It’s only two years, it’s not sacrificing what are to be some of the best years of your life. Plus, less expenses overall[."

Edited by Anne Rutledge

UGA Grad School Website

New York Times on Dropping Enrollment Rates