Going Grad

Graduate school has become the new college. With the job market increasingly competitive and the direction of the economy unpredictable, more college graduates are applying to graduate school now than ever before. Graduate school has become a necessary path in many fields, and the increasing applicant rates, as well as the benefits of a higher salary, a lower unemployment rate, and increased specialization make higher education a popular choice.

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism alone had a 60% increase in applicants from 2009 to 2010. This significant change can be credited to the recession. Yet as more students choose to pursue graduate education rather than entering immediately the career force, the growing applicant pool makes the work force more competitive. What does this mean for college graduates?

For those students who attain a college degree, the advantage has shifted to the Master’s holders. Attending college has become a pre-requisite to starting many new careers, and full-time college enrollment has increased by 34% from 1997 to 2007.  With more college graduates, the career force is getting more competitive, and there is considerable consolidation of qualified candidates for any particular job opening. Competition is even increasing among graduate-school students, since, as the U.S. Census Bureau estimated in 2008, one in every ten people possessed a graduate degree. In such a job market, you need to have a comparative advantage, and that advantage–at least on paper–has become a Master’s degree.

Further education–in many cases–requires more time and money, but data show it will improve your career prospects. In 2009, the unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree holders was 5.2% compared with 3.9% for those holding a Master’s degree, and a 2.3% rate for holders of a professional degree. The difference in the unemployment rates indicates that job applicants with further education are less likely to be unemployed. Graduate school can also help you specialize in your career, give you more hands-on experience, and help you to earn a higher salary than you would have with only an undergraduate degree.

Earnings disparity is also significant. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Congress calculated from the payroll earnings of 1999 that those who earned a Master’s degree made $2.5 million over their lifetime compared to the $2.1 million made by Bachelor’s degree earners. The numbers have changed since the study, and the results of the new 2010 census will reveal the increases, but the idea remains the same. The case can be made that the benefits of attending graduate school outweigh the costs and are helping to make graduate school an increasingly popular choice among college undergraduates.

Of course, graduate school isn’t for everyone. “I think that graduate and professional school has never been more important. But it depends on what your long-term career path is,” says Trudy Steinfeld, the executive director of the NYU Wasserman Career Center. “If you’re a journalist, after your Bachelor’s degree, you’re going to get work based off how you write. Getting a Master’s degree would not be necessary for every employer.”

If you want to attend graduate school, but price is the issue, there is a solution. Getting into a company right after college will help you on the road to pursuing further education, and therefore earn you more money and more specialization in the future. Some companies–UPS, for example–will pay a large portion of graduate-school tuition while others will pay a smaller fraction of the costs. Fellowships also help to pay for graduate studies. An online resource, www.gradschools.com, is a great one-stop-shop for all your graduate fellowship needs.

As the business world places a greater emphasis on education, and as college and graduate applicant rates increase, the job market has shifted to fit the demographics. Graduate school is a way to improve your career marketability and develop a skill set and network that will enrich your life. After all, the fulfillment of gaining expertise and developing deep relationships in your field is inestimable; there is value in the intangible, too.