Personal motivations for pursuing a master's degree in higher education

¶ … Graduate Degree

Why I Chose to Pursue a Master's Degree

In today's educational environment, breadth as well as depth in education is encouraged. Even scientists are encouraged to take courses in writing, and students of literature must become conversant in the specifics of genetics as well as hermeneutics. And students of business must understand psychology as well as finance and corporate case histories. However, once one passes the undergraduate level, there comes a time where specificity rather than generality is the goal of one's education. Rather than courses that merely survey a subject area, a student craves the ability to study something in a systematic fashion, and in greater depth. Moreover, as fewer and fewer undergraduate degrees require less and less independent research, gaining a master's degree not only gives a student a greater access to course work with a higher level of concentration, but also gives a student greater time within the university community to pursue independent learning and research, to make a contribution to academic study as well as simply become a passive recipient of the professional work and the study of others. One becomes, as a graduate student, part of the academic discourse as well as a participant in the academic social community. One can find the answer to questions that have plagued one's own mind, rather than study the writings and research of others.