ETA: I wrote this post before I was hired as an academic advisor for undergraduates. Now that I work in an advising capacity, I see how the language here is problematic for someone whose role is not to tell people what to do with their lives, but help them understand their many options. As an advisor, I would never tell a student “Do not go to graduate school,” but encourage them to learn as much as possible about the many options for a satisfying post-graduate experience, including and beyond grad school. However, if a friend or internet reader contacts me with this question, I feel free to be more direct and discouraging based on my personal experience. The entry below reflects my personal advice when people outside the realm of my work ask for my personal perspective on grad school. –lauren
Every day, someone finds our blog by googling about quitting grad school. This is awesome: welcome. I hope our writing has been helpful to you. I also thought it might be wise to have a landing strip for folks googling ”Should I go to grad school?”
My personal answer is: No. Don’t go to grad school. At least, don’t get a PhD (see below wrt valuable Master’s degrees). If you want a “yes” or a “maybe,” talk to someone else. I think more people, especially professors, should actively discourage people from grad school. Even the smart students. That’s what I want to do with this post. I wish someone had said this to me, given me pause, made me reconsider. There were a lot of yeasayers when it came to grad school. I want to be a naysayer.
Don’t go to grad school.
