I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot lately, pondering whether or not to take the plunge and go back to school. It’s been more than a decade since I graduated, and the longer I stay out the less I want to go back. Isn’t that just the way?
I’ve never seen a need, before, to get a master’s degree. Don’t hate me for writing this, but I honestly didn’t see any immediate benefit in my career. I’ve always known I’m going to go back, but I wasn’t in any rush. It was just this vague “someday I’ll do that.”
I think the time is now… maybe.
Some of the reasons I’ve been thinking about going back to school are that I want to redirect the focus of my career, obtain new skills & strengthen skills that need help, and wade into other industries. But, will a graduate degree really help me do that? I’m not convinced either way.
It’s a good way to make myself more marketable, I’m told. But, still I sit on the fence.
I don’t want to be practical about it, don’t want to get an MBA or a graduate degree in communications, don’t want to study something potentially boring or that I won’t use. I want to do something different, like getting a graduate degree in Spanish or information architecture or something like that. Something that will help my everyday tasks, my ability to comprehend and explain business communications situations (i.e., marketing communications), and help me in the way I really communicate with customers today.
I want it to be fun and effective. And that’s a really tall order for something that’s supposed to be a grueling experience.
My assistant is going to Harvard this fall for a master’s degree in public policy. My boss’s assistant is studying for the GRE to get a degree in management, with a specialization in business communications. A friend is at UT’s information school, in Austin, getting a graduate degree in information management (or something like that).
And still I wait and ponder… which means, really, that I’m not going to do it right now.
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