Is Graduate School Outdated?

Penelope Trunk gives seven reasons why graduate school is outdated. They are:

1. Graduate school is an extreme investment for a fluid workplace.
2. Graduate school is no longer a ticket to play.
3. Graduate school requires you to know what will make you happy before you try it.
4. Graduate degrees shut doors rather than open them.
5. If you don’t actually use your graduate degree, you look unemployable.
6. Graduate school is an extension of childhood.
7. Early adult life is best if you are lost.

All interesting, but take it with a grain of salt too. Nowhere does she, for instance, mention anything about wages or the empirical evidence for the returns to schooling. There are, of course, jobs for which the graduate degree is - good or bad - a prerequisite. You can't practice law with a J.D. You can't go very far in economics without a PhD in Economics. You can't be a clergy in many denominations without an M.Div., and so on.

But she is right to point out the opportunity costs. Graduate training has opportunity costs, and depending on your foregone opportunities, those may be very high. Going back to graduate school when you're in your mid-20s may mean sacrificing as much as $40,000-$50,000/year. No matter what they're paying you as a stipend, it won't cover those costs. So you only go if the presently discounted expected wage gains compensate you for these sacrifices. That means being studious - look through the literature on the returns to education to find out what that return is, and prayerfully consider your various options. But if you don't have to go to grad school, I strongly encourage you to not go. (Unless you're J, in which case I gave him the hard sell - even enlisting a development economist in my department to help persuade him to do graduate work in economics!).