Thinking Of Going To Grad School?

Many liberal arts majors, such as myself, consider going to grad school at some point in their college career. The question for many, is it worth it?

My answer is not definitive. I believe that it truly depends on the person.

For the time being, I have chosen not to go to grad school. I have accepted a full-time position in my field, journalism. For all of you liberal arts majors concerned about getting a job after graduation, there is hope.

I haven’t even graduated yet, and I work part-time in a television newsroom as the weekend assignments editor. Upon graduation, I will assume full-time responsibilities at the station.

It’s all about preparedness and not giving up in the job hunt.

I chose not to go to grad school – for the time being. As a political science and journalism double major, I have every intention of going to law school after a year or two of working. I’ve carefully weighed my options because I’ve heard positive and negative things about entering grad school directly after graduating from undergraduate programs.

After considering my options, I decided grad school isn’t right for me … yet. After speaking with admissions counselors at Columbia and NYU, I learned that these schools prefer to see at least one year of “real world” working experience before applying to law school.

Though many people apply to law school directly after getting their undergrad degree or master’s, options are not as limiting when having some work experience under your belt.

I’ve learned through the graduation process that all of your options are very dependent on the type of person you are. Some people may be more adept to the work environment than they were to school, others may be more academics and not yet ready to leave the school environment.

For my situation, I was torn between the two. Ultimately, I decided to get out and work – and not because I didn’t want to continue my education. It came down to this: I wasn’t positive about what I wanted to study after my undergrad.

There are many different types of lawyers, different positions to fill with a law degree, etc. On top of that, I have my journalism degree, and I wanted to test out my abilities in the field, so to speak.

At this point, I’m graduating with my degrees at 20 years old, and I feel as if I have the whole world ahead of me (cue in a Disney song here). I want to explore my options for now and determine what life will bring me. I’m at a point where I have enough time to decide. If you are at that point, I recommend doing that as well. That being said, you have to follow your passions, interests and dreams – love what you do!