One thing I’ve been considering doing is going back to school, especially now that my temporary position is coming to an end. I’ve been told for much of my life about the benefits of higher education, and the biggest advantage to doing so is pretty simple: I could increase my earning potential dramatically. According to the data compiled by the US Census Beaurau, by going back to school and earning an advanced degree, I could increase my average annual earnings throughout my adult life from an average of $43,000 to $55,000, a more than a 25% bump in salary.
The question then becomes, why not go back to school? Because it might not help, and could actually hurt, my financial future; as noted by authors like Penelope Trunk of the Brazen Careerist, post bachelor education leaves much to be desired. It is expensive, time consuming, is frequently looked at as an escape hatch from real life, and did I mention the expense? The problem is that I will greatly increase my student debt (and likely at a higher interest rate than my current 2.875%) and will greatly decrease my earnings while I am taking classes.
Which option is preferred could become simply a matter of crunching the numbers, running various scenarios to see which conditions yield the greatest return for my time and money. But I’m not going to do that. While I do like crunching numbers, my professional life to this point has taught me nothing if not that the future is unpredictable. When I made the decision as an undergraduate to switch out of the pharmacy track program and into the biochemistry major, I was expecting to hold a full-time, permanent job by now. Alas, a string of bad luck, for myself and the broader economy made sure that was not the case. So, instead, I’m going to put aside the issue of money, and simply focus on asking the following questions:
1) What do I want to do? I sometimes feel like I’m still a kid, juggling so many possibilities for my future in my head: researcher, pharmacist, technician, and yes, perhaps even a full-time blogger, if the Fates smile upon me. Before I can decide how to reach my destination, I must first decide in which direction it lies; this will require some deep soul searching and thinking about my life, likes, and dislikes.
2) Do I need school to get there? One idea I stumbled upon while gathering resources for this entry was a post by Marty Nemko, suggesting that getting training in the real world (by offering to take unpaid internships, for example) could be just as helpful in getting a job as obtaining a college degree. Depending on what I decide to pursue, an advanced degree might be necessary (if I want to become a pharmacist) or simply optional (as a researcher, for example). Once I know where I want to go, I’ll need to carefully consider all the ways to get there, and see which are the most plausible to me.
3) Do the opportunities exist? A final issue I’ll need to confront: no matter how much I prepare or how ready I feel, I might not be able to enact my ideal plan. Jobs dry up, pharmacy schools have limits on admissions, and blogging is a blog eat blog world (it’s a bad pun; so sue me), all of which could derail my plans and force me to go with Plan B, or Plan C, or…well, you get the point. As a result, I’ll need to do plenty of research, prepare for all possibilities, and have a few back up plans ready to go, just in case.
I honestly don’t know if this time next year I will working another full-time job, preparing to go back to school, or running a hugely successful blogging empire (although, that last one sounds pretty nice). But, I will keep up my efforts and always make sure to have something in the works to better myself.
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