The Financial Road to Graduate School

Many undergraduates—even some high school students—have a particular field in mind that requires graduate study, and so prepare for it early on. College graduates in the workforce—fairly soon or years after earning their bachelors’ degrees—may want to take up an old interest, develop a new one, or meet a requirement for advancement in their career. In all of these cases, graduate school will take years of one’s life, a great deal of disciplined effort, and often some sacrifice—in the financial area if no other. How does one maximize the “return on investment” of graduate school? Investigating the following areas is a good place to start.

Where Will You Thrive?

. Choose a field that excites you. It has become a cliché to speak of success in any field

of endeavor as being based on one’s “passion”. The theory—and often the reality—is

that only in a field one really cares about can one truly shine, by virtue of a compelling

motivation to strive, to persist, and to overcome the obstacles and negotiate the trade-

offs that may present themselves in any enterprise. The relevance to maximizing the

return on your investment is that graduate study is a two-way street. The best faculty

enjoy teaching to begin with, and passion and enthusiasm from their students sparks

them to give their best.

• Find a department whose approach to its discipline resonates with you. Nursing, as

one example, has a theoretical component in addition to its practical and technical

aspects. In looking for a nursing school, you might want to familiarize yourself with the

various approaches to nursing and what schools are associated with them, at least to

the extent of knowing whether or not you’re likely to be comfortable and productive at

a particular school.

• Do the school’s library and other resources support the kind of work you want to

do? If you’re looking at a prominent or well-endowed school, the answer is most likely

yes, but there may be particulars you want to know about. For film students, film

departments in general may be “the cheapest rental houses around”, but the ins and

outs of who gets to use what equipment for what purpose may vary widely. If you have

a focused interest is the humanities, you may want to consider which institutions have

the kind of “research libraries” with particular documents or archives you need, and

perhaps apply not only to those schools but neighboring ones as backups.

What Do Faculty, Students, And Alumni Tell You About A School?

• Are there “stars” who teach in your chosen field? If someone still teaching has inspired you to enter your chosen field, or their work centrally informs the way you understand

it, you should apply to at least one school that has your “dream” mentor(s). Whether or

not you get to work directly with such people, their presence and influence is likely to

be rewarding.

. A graduate faculty chooses its students. Selecting students for admission is under the

control of each graduate department rather than the university as a whole. (In practice,

admissions are decided by a committee of the faculty, whose composition will vary over

time.) A sincere enthusiasm for the kind of research, writing, or other creative work coming out of a department—or appropriately modest connections with your own work

to date—can put your best foot forward in the admissions process. (By the way, this is

not an occasion for sucking up or name-dropping. Be sure there is some objective basis

for any connections you suggest in your application.)

. Have a department’s alumni gone on to excel in their field? And have those who have

excelled, like Spike Lee at NYU, returned to teach?

. Creative work, conferences and publications provide evidence. Does an art

department you’re interested in maintain a gallery? What does the work done by their

students and faculty tell you? Particularly in academic fields, there’s a great paper trail

for how far departments advance the careers of their students. If you don’t know the

professional organization for your chosen field of study, you owe it to yourself to find

out. If you are unable to attend one of their conferences, get hold of the “proceedings”

from such a conference, often available in university libraries (“abstracts”, or

summaries, may be available online). Are any schools prominently represented in

setting the agenda for their field? Are their graduate students among the presenters

at such conferences? (And returning to an earlier point, do faculty or students from

one school or another seem to be doing the kind of work that most interests you?)

What Does The Admissions Procedure Tell You About The School (And About Yourself)?

Once you’ve figured out what you’re looking for, admissions requirements will tell you what

the schools that intrigue you are looking for. If they’re asking you for a portfolio that you

don’t have, your time may not be well spent trying to cobble something together—or their

requirement could be just the spur you need to pull together what you’ve done to date into a

more coherent body of work. In either case, realistically assess what your application tells you

about your prospective department’s expectations of its students, and whether or not you fit

those demands.

Does a Given Degree Confer Prestige In Its Field (Or Is A Degree Required At All?)

Although film schools have produced many noted filmmakers, a degree opens no doors to the

industry—rather, entrance is gained by the work one is able to produce, whether that work

is produced in graduate school, as an undergraduate, or independently of any institution.

Pop musicians may be able to make it on their own with the right combination of effort and

luck, but classical musicians, whatever their skills, may have an edge based on where or with

whom they have studied. MBA’s may be widely available, but (as with many fields) degrees

from Harvard will have additional cachet. Schools with stellar reputations may have them for

all sorts of reasons, and arguably may deserve them or not; indisputably, though—and again,

varying from field to field—this is one area where the prestige of a school can translate directly

into opportunities for their alumni. You owe it to yourself to apply to at least one school you

think is “too good for you”, or beyond your reach. Give yourself the chance to turn them down.

Does Your Chosen Field Offer Online Study?

Yes, Virginia, there are online graduate degrees. Decades of research have shown that distance students are at no disadvantage to on-campus students when it comes to learning—and may even have a slight edge. That said, you should carefully investigate not only the prestige factors but the traditional forms of networking in a given field that might favor study in residency.