Should I even bother?

[Guest]

Hello all,

I wonder if anyone has seriously given thought as to whether they should even go to graduate school. At the moment, even though I've been accepted to a phenomenal school that was one of my top choices, I find myself asking just this very question.

I've been accepted to Chicago's one-year Master's of Arts in the Humanities Program. If money were not an issue, I would go in a heartbeat and I am sure I would love every minute I was there.

But, as we all know, money is definitely a very big issue. Of course I am grateful and proud of the fact that I got into Chicago, but what sense does it make for me to add on $45000 to my already-existing undergraduate debt, when this degree won't lead to any assured job prospects? I'm going to love the next year, but what about the subsequent years it'll take to pay it off? I might not enjoy the year at all, with all that debt looming over my head.

With these prospects, I'd almost be smarter to enroll in McDonalds' Hamburger University in nearby Oak Brook...

I read student and alumni bios on the MAPH page and find a common theme: many people come to the MAPH not knowing what their next career step will be, and they expect that the year at Chicago will help them sort this out. What I don't understand is how Chicago expects such students to have this career uncertainty while shouldering all that debt. They offer tuition remission to only a handful of students. What are the rest supposed to depend upon?

All I know at this point is that I would like to embark on some sort of writing career. I know I have potential as a writer, as I've received encouragement from professors and friends who've read my work. And I have truly enjoyed the academic work I've done up to this point. I am just not sure what my next step should be. I am not sure if I want to keep writing for the more specialized audience of academia or for a wider audience as a sort of freelance journalist or critic. I wonder if it would be smarter to actually find a job at a magazine or publisher and do some field work before I go back to school.

Anyone else giving grad school a second thought?

[smithigans.wake]

Um, the above posting was mine...thought I logged in, but this website seems to "forget" that a lot...

[Guest Junostarr]

Okay I'm a bit late here but I totally understand where you are coming from and I question my own pursuit of (eventually obtaining) a graduate degree daily. I have not yet applied, but I have my list of schools and armloads of books, materials, information, etc. etc. Yet I still wonder daily if I am making the right decision to pursue a degree. I want to get an MA or MS in Technical Writing/Editing but I don't want to teach or get a PhD and therefore have no desire for a TA or any means to more money. So it looks like years of paying off grad school debt and giving up a job I currently have as a technical writer. I just don't know what I want to do...grad school is a lot more work and a lot more confusing than I thought it would be. I am terrified-what if spending two years studying, being broke, living in shoddy housing with a bad roommate, eating pb&J, and spending my nights working instead of enjoying my youth is going to depress me? And put me many grand in debt as well. I dunno...sorry I cannot offer any advice, only commiseration. Is there any way you could find scholarships/more funding/part-time work to help pay for it? My only bright spot right now is that in the future my work might pay for me to get a degree in Technical Writing (although that's free, my life would be just as miserable). Could you do the something similar?

[rising_star]

smithigan,

I thought about this. I think you should go to the grad school that is a "phenomenal choice". Debt is never worth it. Then again, I'm fiscally conservative and was unwilling to go into debt for undergrad...