If you are interested in graduate school, you should carefully consider how it will help you attain your personal and career goals. Graduate degrees are often required for employment in some fields. For example:

• Careers in higher education
• Careers in psychology, social work, nursing, and secondary school teaching, which require professional licensing
• Careers with a laboratory-science component or fieldwork.

You may pursue a graduate degree as a way to change careers or seek advancement in your job. Or you may go to graduate school simply for the love of the subject matter and your wish to pursue it in greater depth.

There are many good reasons to go to graduate school, so make sure you have one. Some students go to graduate school for the wrong reasons—they have not chosen a career, or they think that a graduate degree (regardless of the field) means they will make more money when they graduate. Graduate school is not the place to figure out what you want to do with your life. It is too expensive and time consuming.

You should begin with an honest period of self-assessment where you clearly define the reasons why you want to go to graduate school and how it will help you in your career aspirations.