As the national economy appears to improve, fewer students are using graduate school as an excuse to stave off adulthood.
According to Mike Sciola, Director of the Career Resource Center (CRC), the percentage of Wesleyan seniors applying to graduate school has dipped over the past two years, from twenty-two percent to eighteen.
Up until 2003 the number of seniors going immediately into graduate school had been growing steadily since the late 1990s, reaching its peak 2003, Sciola said. To a large extent, the reversal of this trend, which appears to be a national one, is a reflection of the nation’s improving economy. With an expanding job market, more students can enter the workforce while developing firmer plans for the future.
“In ’99 the economy got awful and correspondingly more graduating seniors went on [to graduate school],” Sciola said. “When there are jobs, people tend to delay going into graduate school.”
While Sciola encourages students to obtain advanced degrees, he said the decision to attend graduate school should be an informed one. With the exception of students who are certain about entering academia, Sciola said this decision usually requires some time and distance from the classroom.
“At the Career Resource Center, as a rule, we always say ‘great’ when students say they want to go to graduate school,” Sciola said.
He said, however, that career advisors at the CRC will follow up with questions to make sure that students are thinking earnestly about such a decision.
“But what are you going to do with that degree? How is this going to get you what you want?” Sciola said as examples of the type of questions a CRC advisor might ask.
Becky Goldstein ’05, a psychology major, has recently given much thought into whether to go into graduate school right after graduation in May, or to take time off.
“I’m taking a year off and then applying to clinical psychology Ph.D. and PsyD. programs,” Goldstein said. “I want to take the time to decide for sure that I want to pursue grad school in the first place.”
“I don’t know how I would pay for [graduate school] and I’m afraid that if I set out on a career path into academia, I’ll never be able to go outside and play on a regular basis,” said Bonnie Loshbaugh ’05, a Russian and Eastern European Studies major.
Loshbaugh, whose enjoys rowing and studying Russian, hopes to combine these interests in a future career. Should she go to graduate school, it may well be for maritime studies, Russian, or both.
“[That’s] funny, because while most people come to college confused and ready to try everything, I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Loshbaugh said. “I was going to continue with Russian and learn Japanese and work as a translator for oil companies in the North Pacific. I have, however, been disabused of this notion.”
Abigail Holstein ’05, an English major, has few doubts about her ultimate goals but is nevertheless planning to take a year or two off. In addition to the financial and time commitments graduate school necessitates, Holstein is wary of locking herself into a career path prematurely.
“I definitely want to continue my studies in literature and writing, and I definitely want to teach at the university level,” Holstein said. “But I also want to see what publishing, journalism, freelance, and the rest of the world has to offer. My decision to wait on grad school has allowed me more freedom to focus on my thesis and my last year at Wesleyan.”
Sciola winces at the idea that graduate school is a way for students to waste time before confronting adulthood, but admits he also understands.
“Graduate school is never a waste,” he said. “But by the time you’re a senior you’re at the top of your career. You’ve perfected being a student and making that next step is stressful.”
For students with a clear career path, particularly in academic or health professions, graduate school is almost always the next step.
“For them, it makes sense to continue the trajectory,” Sciola said.
According to Sciola, seniors nationwide applied to medical schools in record numbers, with some 55,000 students competing for 14,000 seats. Peggy Carey Best, the Health Professions Advisor at the CRC, estimates that eight to ten percent of students in each class consider health professions and that of these, half are actively preparing for graduate school.
For other students, the Wesleyan Five-Year Masters Program has been an appealing compromise between holding off graduate school for five years and plunging into the workforce.
Sciola added that the experience provides a great opportunity for students to explore their interests, particularly by continuing work they began as undergraduates.
“Many students are energized by their senior theses or research,” Sciola said. “The education you receive here is just so amazing that a lot of students are attracted to the fifth year option.”
Sciola takes the decline in immediate matriculations to graduate school as another reason for students to be optimistic about their futures.
“The problem isn’t in finding a job,” Sciola said. “The problem is that there’s too much opportunity out there. It can be difficult to narrow your focus.”
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