Masters Degrees - worth it?

[KulturedKaveman]

I finally paid off every cent of my student loan. I did. Pretty much debt free.

However, I got a slop degree as I mentioned in some other threads. I thought about attaching rocket boosters to my career life by getting a masters in some sort of engineering or AI. Something I can turn into an immediate job. You guys think hitting the books would be worth it again at 34?

Any of you got advanced degrees that paid off? I have a hard time believing getting an advanced engineering degree is the same waste of time as getting some ____ studies Degree.

 

[FrancisK]

Congrats on being debt free, that's a great feeling!


Both my sisters have two masters degrees each, my younger sister has a masters in both biology and chemistry. She works for me as my warehouse manager, she's more valuable to me than the job she was working in a lab and I pay her significantly more. My older sister has a masters in health administration and her MBA, she actually works in IT for a very large insurance company nothing related to her masters. Mind you my older sister barely knows how to turn a computer on she just knew the right person and they offered her a job. She actually does really well at her job considering she barely does anything it's totally an adult daycare job....remotely from home no less.

I have a degree in accounting, I've never worked as an accountant a day in my life and I quit in the middle of getting my CPA because I realized how pointless it was. I was sitting in an auditorium of a small university with a very small business program with at least 100 other kids all going for their CPA, there were multiple times a week for this class and more than one professor. So this small university was pumping out probably a thousand CPA's that year, how many colleges are there in Michigan? How many throughout the entire country? How many CPA jobs were opening up that year? It just didn't make sense anymore, I was getting a degree just to get it at that point putting my actual life on hold so I quit and started a business. Not to say you should go and start a business just putting my decision into perspective.


I think you have to look at the time and cost vs what you will get out of it. Make no mistake you're putting your life on hold for assumingly a couple years plus the cost of the schooling, would you do better POSSIBLY finding a job with the masters or would you be better off with the two year head start and money in your pocket? I think if you were already in a position and they told you "get a masters we'll bump you up" that's different but to just go get a masters and then blindly go job hunting at the entry level I think the years and money are more valuable than that. In the end you know better than anyone else as there are multiple subjective variables but be wary of falling into the trap of the "I'm in school" excuse when in reality you're just putting your life on hold, especially in your mid 30's. I know a lot of people who fell into that trap and all they were doing was delaying actual progression in their life seeking the easy path.

 

[Thomas More]

I finally paid off every cent of my student loan. I did. Pretty much debt free.

However, I got a slop degree as I mentioned in some other threads. I thought about attaching rocket boosters to my career life by getting a masters in some sort of engineering or AI. Something I can turn into an immediate job. You guys think hitting the books would be worth it again at 34?

Any of you got advanced degrees that paid off? I have a hard time believing getting an advanced engineering degree is the same waste of time as getting some ____ studies Degree.

I got a slop degree when I was young and went back for another bachelor's in STEM, followed by a Masters in STEM. I got a good paying STEM job, but I did have a huge student loan debt as a result.

I felt like I was not living up to my potential before going back to school, and I feel like I have been able to push myself and find my limits with the current path.

I finished my masters before universities truly went woke. I started seeing the woke movement building up at other universities, but not at the Engineering School I was at. I imagine even STEM schools are terrible now.

Another thing to consider: corporations are all following woke DEI policies to hire only browns and women now, so white STEM graduates are going unemployed, even from the best schools. Maybe this will change, but it's currently a big problem for white people seeking STEM jobs.

Edit: If you do go back, hopefully you have access to a good state university engineering school, so you can pay in-state tuition. It's hard to work and do grad school for a STEM degree. There are some 3 credit hour classes that will give you 20 hours of homework a week. With a 12-15 hour course load, you can see how this will cut into the time you have available for work.

 

[Wutang]

I did what you were doing around my mid 20s. I would say dip your toes in slowly before fully committing to matriculating in a program. The school I went to allowed you to take a few classes before fully committing to declaring a major. I've also seen some other reputable schools that offer a certificate program with classes that can be be used for a MS later on. I would take one or two three credit class initially while working full time for the first year and see if you can handle that before going full bore.

 

[IM3000]

I was in a similar situation 10 years ago, including the worthless degree. After some thinking, I went back to university at 32 and finished my MSc in Engineering at 35. It changed my life. This was in Europe, so no meaningful tuition/ student debt.

 

[Get2choppaaa]

My MBA has been very valuable to me, I finished it in while working already in a professional role. I started at age 33 and finished at 35. In my situation it was excellent because I had a background in operations and supply chain after my military career. I studied history in college so it wasn't exactly tangible to the finance and capital projects space and I didn't understand how management approached decisions with regard to a balance sheet and corporate strategy.

I used my GI bill and was paid for it. It would have cost me about $150k out of pocket. I would not spend that type of money out of pocket. It really depends on what you want to do and how much you think you'll get out of it.

In my case it was buying a network and getting some credentials that set me apart from other folks in the corporate world. But I like corporate America and enjoyed working in that environment.