Comments on: Graduate School: (When) Should I Go?

By: 6 Expenses That We Judge The Most | Well Heeled Blog

6 Expenses That We Judge The Most | Well Heeled Blog — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:11:37 +0000

[...] they want to go back to school. This is close to my heart because I am applying to an MBA program. A graduate degree can lead to a career switch or great job opportunities, plus, there’s what I call the [...]

By: Dissertation Help

Dissertation Help — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:42:25 +0000

You should have career goals and interests before you join a particular college. You should also do proper research for the college and read reviews about it before making any final decision.

By: Graduate school: Necessary or Not?

Graduate school: Necessary or Not? — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:54:14 +0000

[...] More Graduate School: (When) Should I Go? Graduate school is a significant undertaking both in terms of time and money. During the last few [...]

By: Everyone Loves a Little Gossip! | Engineer Your Finances

Everyone Loves a Little Gossip! | Engineer Your Finances — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:15:14 +0000

[...] In my own defense, I was out-of-town last weekend. That was invigorating. Hung out with a bunch of college buddies – always helps to refuel the ambitions although too hard on the liver. Most exciting was catching up with a good friend who’ll be starting a Master’s program at Stanford. Made me think again about my own future, and may be doing a comparative review of MEM vs MBA vs MSE programs along the lines of Well-Heeled. [...]

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #252: Famous People With Tax Troubles Edition

Carnival of Personal Finance #252: Famous People With Tax Troubles Edition — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:35:47 +0000

[...] from Well Heeled Blog presents Graduate School: (When) Should I Go?. Graduate school requires a big financial and time commitment. Here I detail 3 questions to ask to [...]

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:23:28 +0000

I'd definitely be interested in reading about your grad school / career change decisions. Will you blog about it? And thanks for the congrats.

By: FinEngr

FinEngr — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:41:48 +0000

Well-Heeled:

You’ve written a string of good posts, but didn’t feature any in this week’s round-up so I could promote some other sites.

This one particularly peaked my interest since I’m in the same conundrum. Not only am I stuck wondering about the same questions, but this may end up being a total career change – which is a big scary X factor.

Congrats on the new job & best of luck with your schooling decision!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:19:33 +0000

Sure, feel free to email!

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:29:10 +0000

Congrats on the internship offer!! (if I'm correct, I think we spoke via email last year, right? Glad bschool has turned out to be such a great experience for you). Do you mind if I email you with my bschool questions when the time comes? I'll be 28 when I enter bschool and 30 when I graduate, which in an ideal world is a couple of years older than I'd like. But I'm really excited about my job opportunity right now, and I think it'll prepare me much better personally and professionally when I enter an MBA program. I think children (if any) are getting pushed further and further down the line… oops.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:55:46 +0000

I would just caution you away from being tooo cautious. I was very nervous to start my MBA program — I started a top-5 program after just three years of nonprofit work experience, and not much savings. But now that I am finishing up my first year I am confident it is worth it.

About 50% of my tuition/room and board is covered by grants and scholarships from my school, and I am not any exceptional candidate. So as of now I will graduate with 80K in debt when I am 27. However, prior to starting school my annual salary was in the low 60s, and the summer internship I have secured (90% of interns get full-time offers) offeres a starting full-time salary of $130 plus bonus.

I am not going into banking, but rather something I am really excited about and feel confident that I can limit to an average of 60 hours per week. For that amount of hours, I think the pay is excelled and I am glad I am going to be able to put in those hours for a few years before I want to have children.

Everyone has a different story and perspective, but I had the same fears you did and I am just saying, sometimes you just have to go for it!

By: theanalyst

theanalyst — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:00:52 +0000

It's hard to say, b/c they brought me to different levels of my career. MA & EdS with becoming a licensed counselor & the PhD will provide me with more opportunities (i.e. teaching at the university level, researcher, consulting, etc.). I can tell you though, getting a PhD is definitely the most challenging. Being a doctoral student is pretty much a full-time job. In the midst of writing 3 papers at once, you may hear me cursing and complaining that I should have just gone to med school instead.

By: Investing Newbie

Investing Newbie — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:59:13 +0000

Great post WH! I'm applying for Fall 2010 admission for a PT MBA program. I can't see myself giving up income and I also really like my current job, so the decision was pretty easy for me. I do think having additional work experience does help you take more advantage of the courses and the information they provide, but at the same time, spending too much time before going can allow LIFE to get in the way. I've heard of people going back in their 40s and making it work for them, maybe its just me. But I know that I have the passion now, so I'll try to work with it now!

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:40:26 +0000

Congratulations on the degree!

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:39:58 +0000

Best of luck on your applications.. I can't wait to read the good news on your blog. Are you done with the GMAT yet?

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:39:07 +0000

The vast majority of women in business school don't have kids.. although I have read an excellent, excellent blog by a lady at a top b-school who had TWO kids while she majored in finance.

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:36:53 +0000

Have you heard back from your schools? Do you know what the next step is?

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:35:07 +0000

I think undergraduate education has the dual role of vocational preparation and development of boarder, critical thinking skills. Graduate programs seem to me to prepare someone for a specific type of occupations. The trend of colleges toward specialization / career preparation is an excellent. I'm ruminating on a post about it, and I have to say I'm a bit conflicted on the issue. As a liberal arts graduate, I highly value the education that I got. I also know that that education came at considerable monetary sacrifice by my parents, money that they could've done something else with…

By: eric1985

eric1985 — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:21:50 +0000

I finished my MBA about two weeks ago. I got a raise just before I finished, and if I never get another compounding raise, the payback period will be about 13 years. However, I am sure I will get more raises, with my new salarly as the base for additional percentage increases, that will shorten that.

I waited a year before going back, and I worked full time concurrently with a full time course load. Needless to say, I was very busy. However, I have the MBA for life and I am sure it will always keep opening new doors.

My advice, get in there and get 'er done. I agree with young andthrifty, I am glad I did it before I had kids or a mortgage to worry about.