¶ … 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.

There is another, more emotional reason why pursuing a higher degree can be beneficial to one such as myself who unabashedly loves life as a student, and the life and culture of the university. Namely, by the time that one has graduated from an undergraduate institution, one finally can appreciate the need for education and how life in the Ivory Tower provides a critical sanctuary from the pressures of the world outside of the university. Of course, the ultimate purpose of a graduate degree is to make one more fit for this real world. But by becoming removed from reality for a little bit longer, as an adult rather than as an adolescent, one becomes a better worker as well as a better student, and ultimately a better person. It is for this reason I believe study beyond that of the undergraduate level is so valuable.