Do you have a Masters degree? Was it worth it?

[FaceHugger]

I have a BS in CS. Done just fine in life with it.

STEM is weird though. One doesn't need the highest levels of education to earn a good living or even be recognized. The four years is brutal enough. If you want to be an astrophysicist or follow in the footsteps of Carl Sagan or someone then yea get yo PHD. Otherwise, you'll earn six figures on a BS.

 

[Couleurs]

Masters in Accounting here; I only got it to meet the 150 credit hour requirement for CPA eligibility. Otherwise, it hasn't really been important for my career other than looking good on my resume. If I could do it over again I would have double majored instead.

 

[Necromanti]

If you want to be an astrophysicist or follow in the footsteps of Carl Sagan or someone then yea get yo PHD. Otherwise, you'll earn six figures on a BS.

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As a physicist? Not a chance.

That's only really true for engineering/CS, though that's very location and company-dependent. (And is really only limited to the US.) The 'S' from STEM should really be removed in the context of employability and salaries.

 

[Illuvatar]

Did they award with you a diploma, at least? I know that in the UK, a master's degree minus the dissertation is a "PgDip" (postgraduate diploma).

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I have a bachelor's degree in my field so there's that (albeit within social sciences). But I can't complain since I've so far succeeded in most of my career goals, though those have shifted over the years.

 

[Hayeya]

I have an MBA in Management and Strategy.
Helped me a lot in my career, in the middle east this level of education Automatically gives you an advantage over Bachelor degree holders.

 

[mentok15]

Masters in Biotechnology. Helped a bit pls made some ok connections. Still want to go on to a PhD.

 

[breakdancing duck]

I'm in the education so it was absolutely worth it. Just having it meant an extra $2,000 a year and it opened up the opportunity to go into admin which paid significantly more than that.

 

[Mivey]

Sure, but I live in a country with free university education, so my answer is probably not very useful. Except that maybe the US should do more to actually subsidise higher education?

 

[PlayBee]

I have a Masters in Electrical Engineering. Haven't done anything with it but it didn't cost me anything either, other than my time.

 

[HarryHengst]

Im in Europe, over here employers laugh in your face if you turn up with just a BA or Bsc. Its not considered a complete education.

 

[FaceHugger]

Im in Europe, over here employers laugh in your face if you turn up with just a BA or Bsc. Its not considered a complete education.

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That's unfortunate. Here I am with a BS earning over $3500 a month AFTER bills and taxes. You guys need to get it together.

 

[Deleted member 9932]

I'm a college professor so, yes.

 

[Navidson REC]

Absolutely, but I live in a country where it doesn't ruin you financially. Beyond academic reasons, the time spent on my Master's degree were some of the best years of my life.

That's unfortunate. Here I am with a BS earning over $3500 a month AFTER bills and taxes. You guys need to get it together.

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That's a fair point, but how much debt have you accrued for this degree? (Hopefully not much, and I don't even know where you live, but based on my American friends student debt can crush you over there.)
Anyway, as stated above, my Master's didn't really put any financial strain on me while being some of the best time of my life, so I'm not complaining.

 

[cvxfreak]

I have a Master's degree, although it doesn't really have much to do with my current job. That said, I think it was worth it because I went to grad school for two years starting with the beginning of the financial crisis of 2008, when the job market tanked. Grad school (and the scholarships I received) let me ride that out while the economy recovered, and I improved my Japanese knowledge while I was at it (I went to grad school in Tokyo).

 

[Shadybiz]

I got my mba in 2011. It definitely did help open some doors, because my bachelor's degree is fairly irrelevant to the corporate world. If I had already had a finance or accounting degree, I probably wouldn't have bothered, though.

 

[FaceHugger]

Absolutely, but I live in a country where it doesn't ruin you financially. Beyond academic reasons, the time spent on my Master's degree were some of the best years of my life.

That's a fair point, but how much debt have you accrued for this degree? (Hopefully not much, and I don't even know where you live, but based on my American friends student debt can crush you over there.)
Anyway, as stated above, my Master's didn't really put any financial strain on me while being some of the best time of my life, so I'm not complaining.

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No debt , not anymore. Paid it off

 

[teruterubozu]

Masters in History. I work at a museum and teach kids. I would say it was worth it personally. Moneywise not so much.

 

[Paroni]

I live in Finland and pretty much everybody who enter university finishes it with master's degree. Bachelor's degree in most fields is worthless merit here since there's always people with master's competing for same jobs.
That being said tuition fees and huge student loans are not a thing here so everybody can also afford to spend ~5-6 years in university.

 

[Mar Tuuk]

I have a Masters in History and a second Masters in School Administration. Worth it since I've been teaching for 7 years and will eventually become a school building leader. The second one was an accelerated program that took only one year but was pricey.

 

[Magni]

I got an engineering degree from a public university in France, which translates to a MS (and was super cheap). Definitely worth it for me, especially since I didn't need to interrupt my career for it (finished in one go five years out of high school).

When I graduated I thought I'd eventually be back in a university for either an MBA or a PhD but I have a hard time imagining it now, I'm having too much fun to want to pause things.

 

[mhayes86]

I only have a bachelor's in information systems and have been doing great in my field, but I do have a couple friends that have master's degrees, both in the same field as me.

One friend works as a developer, and according to him all it really did was add a couple years to his total experience in the field. He said it wouldn't have been worth it, except for the fact that his job at the time paid for it. He would work during the days and go to campus in the evenings, which would be more difficult now that he has a kid.

As for the other friend, he had a bachelor's in English, but it didn't pan out the way he expected. He got a master's for a career change which was absolutely worth it to him.

 

[Travo]

I'm halfway there. I wouldn't have started if it wasn't free through a cohort. The pay grade will be worth it.

 

[Acheteedo]

It meant I could do a PhD, so for sure it was worth it. UK here and this was in the early 2000's so it was also dirt cheap.

 

[Tuck]

I did a one year master's degree as I wanted to switch careers.

It was a success - basically got my dream job because of it, in exactly the new field I wanted to be in, with a large bump in salary. Effectively paid off the degree in just a couple years.

 

[The Fabled Englishman]

I have 3 of them. None are directly related to my work but I think it's fair to say that they probably contributed significantly to getting my current job.

 

[Charcoal]

Yes it was worth it, but literally just because of the friends I made along the way.

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You know, Alien Bob, we really are the Masters Degree.

 

[Socivol]

It was worth it for me as it allowed me to transition careers. I dont work in the field I got my masters in anymore (education) but it gave me the training I needed to transition careers. I now work in tech which wouldn't have been possible without getting the skills I have from my previous career.

 

[Donos]

Yes, since i have the job i wanted and i needed the master for it (since it was equal to the diploma degree*). Only downside was that i made it exactly in the 3 years, where germany had introduced tuiton fees (500 € per semester). After i finished, the removed them again. Well 2000 € is not that bad but still. Also the master is rather short (4 semester in most european countries) so it's not much time "to waste".

*because of this >

Also, the Bachelor/Master system was only introduced maybe 15 years ago in Central Europe. 3-year-degrees just weren't a thing before here in Germany. So there's a certain stigma against having "only" a Bachelors, it's not really valued.

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[nny]

It was a halfway point towards the PhD, so yeah, absolutely.

 

[irishsoccermbw]

It was paid for by my employer, so absolutely worth it. (MBA)

 

[MonoStable]

Got my BS in 2012 and currently have taken 2 non-degree seeking classes since online seems to have really taken off. It would definitely open some doors for me as a EE that wants to do cmos level design but I also don't want to pay for it lol. Problem is I currently work for a small company that will not pay for it and all the big jobs in my area seems to require a masters.

 

[Deleted member 41178]

I left school at 16 and went straight into work, just about to turn 40 and have a bunch of professional qualifications but no academic ones. I don't believe not having any higher education has ever hindered me, in fact it usually starts an interesting conversation during interviews. Also my portfolio of projects helps.

My wife gained a MBA Executive degree and found it worthwhile but is now a stay at home mum and doesn't miss it, it definitely helped get her noticed though.

 

[GYODX]

Yes. Bachelor's in Computer Engineering, then got a Master's in Computer Science from a rather prestigious university.

My company paid for it, I got a nice pay raise for finishing it, and I get to put a big prestigious name in my resume, so yeah, I'd say it was worth it. I would probably have never gotten it if I had to pay for it myself, though.

 

[Arrogant PsycHOPathy]

Master's here. Well worth it. Higher earning potential in the shorter and longer term coupled with access to positions and responsibilities I wouldn't necessarily been able to achieve with a bachelors.

My wife just got her Master's. While she managed to find a better job than her last one, it isn't exactly relevant to the Masters. As of this moment, she would say it was "irrelevant". But I chalk it up to Covid and the current state of things.

 

[west]

M.Sc in computer science. Easily worth it ofc, but I live in a country where it was free and immediately got a raise because of it. Might say I got into my whole career because of it since I got hired while still studying, basically on the merits of being approved to that particular University. Now I am a Unit Lead at that very same sofware company.

 

[swsp]

Degree inflation, the thread.

Edit: to be slightly more helpful, yes I have one. I used it to springboard to the top
PhD program in the country and wouldn't be here without it. For me it was definitely worth it.

 

[Liquid Plejades]

I'm on the path to get my master's in education. I did a lot of research before deciding to do it. I didn't want to just be a teacher, and work in more specialized sectors and locations, and this was the way for me. There are some specific certifications I want and workshops available that are either only open to a master's holder or you need to have years of experience etc, so it will also allow me to obtain these for my professional development. Obviously some of the options I looked at also come with significantly better pay, so hopefully, it will pay off. Thankfully the master's degree I'm going to get isn't ridiculously expensive and I can somewhat still be in the field working while doing it.

 

[Gravemind IV]

I have one in organisation studies. It was a great experience and it introduced me to statistics. I don't have a job in that field though, working as a database marketeer at the moment which is great financially (and fun to boot). It's funny when you see everyone from your final year go in completely different directions, that's a thing with business degrees though.

 

[Kurita]

Yes but I'm not American.
It allowed me to easily get a great internship that opened me some doors.

 

[secretanchitman]

Yes and it was definitely worth it.

 

[Jeronimo]

I got my Masters fresh out of undergrad. It opened up specific opportunities to work in the field and also to live where I wanted to work, so I also moved.

I was able to get a foot in the door via a internship and was able to prove myself and work my way up to a full-time salary position with benefits. By "prove myself" I mean showing I could do the work and then being able to justify that I was qualified for a better job and applying. The Masters contributed to the pay raise. The employer also qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness so I'm a few years into that process which helps make it really worth it.

 

[GungHo]

In my current career, it's hard to tell. I'm not doing things directly related to my BA/MBA. I got it because there were only a few courses more for what it would take to qualify for a CPA license, and I figured I might as well get it over with.

 

[Deleted member 6263]

I have an MBA. It has helped me find jobs for sure, including my current one, but nothing that really uses it. So yeah, mostly worth it.

 

[SwampBastard]

I spent $30K on an MBA. The salary increases I've gotten at work because of it have more than offset the financial and time cost, so yes.

 

[III-V]

Yes, but debt sucks

 

[Bman94]

I don't have one yet, but I'm just going to say that it will be worth it once I get it. I eventually want to teach at the college level, and that's like the bare minimum requirement.

 

[Delicious Waffles]

Teacher here. Yes., it was worth it. I needed it eventually.

 

[Messofanego]

Masters in psychology and yes, very much worth it. Have had a lot of opportunities because of it.

 

[Viewt]

I don't even have a Bachelors, but my wife has a grad degree. It's important for her line of work - higher education. You aren't really taken seriously in that line of work without at least a Masters, and in some cases, a PHD.

I work in tech, though, so my lack of formal education has never really come up.

 

[yellowfury]

My masters was worth it because I absolutely struggled to find a job after undergrad. I spent a year job searching with nothing to show for it. After getting my masters I got offers after graduation.