Posted by Bryon Burleigh, Career Services Graduate Assistant

Are you on track to graduate this spring?  Do you know what you’ll be doing afterward?  It’s not unusual to be in your final year of school, but have no ideas or prospects for life after graduation.  Many people simply turn to graduate school as a means of further delaying their foray into the “real world.”  This might be a viable strategy for some, but if you’re not sure what you want to do with your life then graduate school might not be the best choice for you.  There are many graduate school application guides available out there with differing information and advice, but nearly all of them include the following questions you should ask yourself:

• Should I go to graduate school?  Why or why not?
• What are my goals and interests?
• What degree do I need for my career path?
• Do I have the motivation to stick it out for another 2+ years?

If you think that graduate school might be something you are interested in, it’s time to start asking yourself these questions.  Many graduate application deadlines for the 2010 fall entry class are fast approaching, often occurring in early winter, and many applications require you to solicit letters of recommendation, take the GRE/GMAT/etc, as well as write an introspective personal statement.  These are not things you want to think about when you’re trying to study for your finals!

For more information on whether you should go to graduate school, check out the following links, or come to Career Services and meet with one of our career counselors.

• http://careers.d.umn.edu/grad_school/right_for_you.html
• http://graduate.indiana.edu/right-for-you.php
• http://gradschool.about.com/cs/shouldyougo/a/should.htm
• http://www.careervision.org/About/Graduate_School_Right_For_Me.htm
• http://www.usnews.com/blogs/professors-guide/2009/10/21/10-steps-for-thinking-about-graduate-school.html