Have you ever wondered, are master’s degrees worth it?
Do you ask yourself if studying for an advanced degree is worth your time, energy, and money?
Fly High Coaching, has worked with thousands of clients over the course of almost a decade and the topic of master’s degrees has come up regularly. There can be countless outside factors that impact your educational endeavors. The wishes of parents, family members, friends, and colleagues can influence your career and educational choices. Often, executives and professionals are unsure of if they really desire a career path, or if someone else wants a certain future for them.
Our host and CEO, Porschia, will be answering the question from two angles. Yes, a master’s degree is worth it, if these things are true. No, a master’s degree is not worth it, if these other things are true.
What you’ll learn:
- Four ways to know if a master’s degree is worth it!
- The importance of having a career plan
- Four ways to know if a master’s degree is not worth it.
- Why some people with master’s degrees are unemployed or underemployed
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Happy graduation season. For those of you in the U. S., you know that we are just wrapping up graduation season, where students of all ages are graduating and getting their diplomas. I love this time of year because the graduates are usually filled with excitement, uh, and hope and they’re thinking about all of these new beginnings that they’d like to have in their life.
Uh, and they’re also thinking about how they can reach their goals. I actually just attended the graduation ceremony for my master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology, which is long and a lot of people don’t even know what that means. Uh, it is basically psychology [00:01:00] of the workplace and it’s really been a long road.
Uh, it has taken me two years, uh, to do it while running this business. This degree program has been helpful for working with our individual clients who want to grow in their careers and those who want to develop their businesses. Courses I’ve taken in areas like Selection and recruiting, job analysis, and training and development have given me even more knowledge to support our individual clients.
Uh, this degree has also been beneficial to me for the consulting projects with our clients who are companies or larger organizations. Uh, some courses I’ve taken. [00:02:00] To support, you know, that side of the business, uh, include organizational psychology and behavior, uh, organizational change and development, uh, and applied research methods and statistics.
So all of that really helps to reinforce the work that I’ve already done and continue to do. But, as you can probably pick up, I’m kind of a nerd and I like learning. And so this is my segue into our topic today, which is Master’s Degrees 101. Are Master’s Degrees Worth It? Have you thought about going back to school to earn a Master’s Degree?
Do you wonder if studying for an advanced degree is worth your time, energy, and money?[00:03:00]
Many of you know, my company Fly High Coaching has worked with thousands of clients over the course of almost a decade. And a big question that comes up with clients is, are master’s degrees worth it? To be honest, we’ve seen a lot of people with master’s degrees who are unemployed or underemployed. That is also true of some clients we’ve seen with PhDs.
So there really is not a clear cut answer here. Many working executives and professionals contemplate if obtaining another degree is essential to achieve their career goals. While some careers require advanced degrees, there are many professionals who develop successful and lucrative careers based on their experience, [00:04:00] bachelor’s degree, and or, you know, additional certifications that they have.
When thinking about master’s degrees, it’s important not to harp too much on age. Um, A lot of times people might feel like they’re behind or they’re ahead, right? So there are people, uh, fresh out of undergrad getting master’s degrees. And there are people who graduated from undergrad over 30 years ago pursuing master’s degrees.
There can be countless outside factors that impact your educational endeavors. The wishes of parents. Family members, friends, and colleagues can influence your career and educational choices. Often professionals are unsure of if they really desire a career path or if someone else wants a certain future for [00:05:00] them.
The most important area to have clarity around, um, are your prime job targets. So once you’re clear on what positions you’re interested in, deciding on whether or not to pursue additional education becomes much easier. So to answer the question, are master’s degrees worth it? It is obviously going to vary based on the person, their goals, and the amount of resources.
So this is time and money that they have. I’m going to answer this question from two different angles today. Uh, the first is yes, Yes, a master’s degree is worth it if these things are true. And then on the other hand, no, a master’s degree is not worth it if these things are true. [00:06:00] Okay. So, uh, hang in there with me.
We are going to start with the four ways to know if yes. A master’s degree is worth it. Number one. A master’s degree is required to land the job you want. Now this might sound obvious, but there are certain fields that require advanced degrees. And I’m saying require, not prefer. You’ve really got to look at a job description there and do some research.
However, jobs such as professor or instructor roles in academia, for example, also highly specialized subject matter expert positions are good examples. In these instances, a master’s degree, and sometimes a doctorate degree, is usually required. If you want to pursue these types of roles, Obtaining a master’s degree is non [00:07:00] negotiable because many recruiters won’t consider you qualified without it.
Number two, you are planning a career change. If you’ve been working in one industry or role and you would like to make a career change, a master’s degree can be very beneficial. Again, it’s not mandatory, but it can be very beneficial, uh, participating in a degree program where you gain the education and understanding of the practical application, right?
How to use this knowledge and content in the real world, right? So this practical application of concepts, uh, can be extremely helpful. Uh, there are practitioner focused programs and those with practicums, uh, which can help you to acquire solid experience during your studies that can [00:08:00] translate well on a resume and during an interview.
When competing with other job candidates who might have more experience than you, a master’s degree can set you apart. Number three, you have the time and support. Regardless of if you’re working full time or not, pursuing a master’s degree can be very demanding. Do you have the time to dedicate to reading, studying, and completing assignments?
Are you supported at home and at work to help you get things done if you have less time to do them? Many universities estimate that students should spend between 7 to 12 hours per week studying for a master’s class. My university [00:09:00] program, however, told us to plan for 12 to 15 hours of classwork per week.
So we spent even more time studying and working on assignments than some other, uh, programs at different universities. If you have assistance from family members, friends, and co workers, earning a master’s degree can be more realistic. And number four, you want to progress deeper in learning to support your career or your passion.
Do you just enjoy learning aspects related to a certain area that you’re passionate about? Would having more knowledge on a specific topic help you progress within your career? If you can answer yes to either or both of those questions, then getting a master’s degree might be a great investment of your time.
[00:10:00] Obtaining an advanced degree requires you to dig deep into an area and perform extensive research. So, having a genuine desire for learning can help to keep you motivated.
Now, we’ll transition to four ways to know if a master’s degree is not worth it. Number one, you want a master’s degree just for your image. This is when you want to gain more respect, admiration, or for people to see you as intelligent. There are a lot of people that think having a master’s degree will put them on another level.
Generally, when I’ve seen clients who have had this motivation behind getting a master’s degree, There was usually some [00:11:00] inner work for that person that needed to be done. There are other things that you can do to build your credibility and personal brand. Okay, um, getting a master’s degree might help to build your confidence, but it does not make you better than other people.
Number two, you don’t have a career plan. When working with clients, we dive deep into their career planning and strategy, because I’ve found that it is one of the main areas that people are never educated about. We go to school and are usually never taught how to determine what we’re good at. And that we enjoy to be most successful in the job market.
A lot of people are passively going from job to job and then wonder why they are not fulfilled or [00:12:00] happy. At some point, many executives and professionals think that getting a master’s degree will transform their career. I’ve heard people say, I don’t know what I want to do, so I’m going to go back to school.
The secret is… Having a career plan is what actually transforms your career. Just going back to school is not a plan. Number three, you heard that after you get a master’s degree, you’ll make more money. This is perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions people have. I’ve spoken with countless clients who were told that if they just got a master’s, then they would earn more money in the marketplace.
Right? Well, again, I’ve spoken with a lot of [00:13:00] people who have master’s degrees and again, like I mentioned earlier, these people were unemployed or underemployed. A lot of times they are what I call working backwards. They got a master’s degree first and figured that they would just learn how to maximize it later.
For most people, that does not work out. They should have created a clear career plan. First, and then decided if a master’s degree was even necessary as part of that. And if a master’s degree was necessary, then they knew exactly how they would market themselves and utilize the degree to be successful or make more money.
Number four, you don’t have your calendar or schedule under control. If you are struggling to [00:14:00] organize your time and get things done that you really need to do, then pursuing a master’s degree would be extremely difficult and probably not worth it to you. Most of our clients who have pursued master’s degrees have been working students.
This means they had a full time job or part time job while they were pursuing their degree. In addition to working and performing well at your job, you need to eat, sleep, spend time with your family and friends, and just live your life. If balancing all of that currently is hard for you, then the extra time demands of a master’s program would probably not be as high of a priority for you.
Deciding whether or not to pursue a master’s degree is a [00:15:00] question that Many executives and professionals consider that’s why this episode was so important for me to make outside influences can play a major part in the decision making process and cause additional pressure. It is vital for you to have a clear idea of your job targets.
and career plan before coming to a decision. In addition, understanding if a master’s degree is required for your desired roles and if it will help make you more competitive as a candidate. When considering the logistics of your schedule, you need to know if you actually have the time and resources to devote to coursework.
And finally, if you are motivated by learning and career growth, getting an advanced degree might also [00:16:00] be worth it. Now that I’ve shared all of that with you, I want you to think about this question. How would you know if you should get a master’s degree?
