I get asked a lot if I think it’s a good idea for someone in the workplace to go to graduate school. The long answer is, maybe. Like any other decision, you’re going to have to decide what outcome you’re looking for. If it’s simply more money, the decision is easier: Figure out what it’s going to actually cost you to get the degree that gets you the career (i.e. loans and/or opportunity cost), figure out what other options you could take to get you to the same place instead of going back to school, and then weigh each of those costs against the realistic benefits (i.e. you’re not going to make $180k a year after 3 years at a decent law school if you’re in the middle of your class; more like $60k). If the outcome you’re looking for is a more fulfilling career, the balancing gets a little trickier, but the same thought process applies.
There’s also a quicker gut check: would you go back to school if you had to work full time while doing so? If not, you’ve probably got the wrong motivation. Ya, school was fun. No responsibility was fun. Partying and girls (or boys) was fun. Not working was fun. The thought of going back to school might sound appealing because you get another round of all that stuff, but that’s the wrong reason to give up the momentum you could otherwise be building.
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Why did you decide to go for your current degree goal?
I decided to go to law school while I was still in college, and I ended up going straight through without taking any time off. I knew the background was going to be valuable, not only to practice law law, but for everything I want to do later in life. The decision was made much easier by the fact that I didn’t have to pay for any of it. This, combined with the fact that my university education didn’t actually provide me with any highly marketable skills, made the opportunity cost extremely low.