Guide to Getting Into Graduate School > Are You Sure?

Are you sure you want to go to Graduate School? You know, you don't have to go. There are plenty of people who graduate with an undergraduate education, find a job, and do just fine without a graduate degree. In fact, it's a very small percentage of people that obtain graduate degrees...very small!

If you're not sure, that's okay. There's not a graduate school in the world that would look down on an applicant who took a year or two off after undergraduate and pursued some career-related employment, say in a counseling center. In fact, if your grades aren't competitive enough for the graduate school you want, this is encouraged. Additional experience related to the psychology degree you want can make you a much more appealing candidate.

Graduate school is incredibly hard and represents an investment of your life, time, energy, and money that is difficult to understand fully until you've experienced it first hand. But take it from me...it is challenging! It's a three to seven year education. Seven years from now, how old will you be? Are you okay with the fact that, while enrolled in graduate school, you won't be making more than twenty or thirty thousand dollars a year? And that's if you're fortunate enough to have a great stipend for doing research or teaching classes.

You'll need to make many sacrifices to reach your goals. That said, once you reach that goal, you've achieved something very few people achieve and something nobody can ever take away from you. If that seems worthwhile to you, then read on future graduate student.....