6 Common Myths About Graduate School Debunked

By Allie Mitchell on July 26, 2016

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.

What happens after college is something that almost every college student has thought about in their time as an undergraduate. There are the students that know what they want to do right away, the students that think they know and change during their time as an undergraduate, and the students that don’t figure out what they want until later.

There is no right way about it if a solid yes or no answer is what you are looking for. How you end up proceeding with your future is all up to you, honestly. How long it takes you and how you proceed about getting there are all up to you, and no one can tell you any different.

One of the things that many students decide to do with themselves is go to graduate school; graduate school to some students can be seen as undergrad with just more papers and work to put in. The people that say this aren’t exactly wrong.

On the other hand, there are many things that students ARE wrong about when it comes to graduate school. If you listen to enough students you will hear horror stories and lies about medical school and pre-professional schools, same as the lies and myths you heard about when you entered college for the first time and discovered the reality on your own.

This article is meant to shed some light on graduate school and let most of the future graduates in on the reality that is post-undergraduate life. Below are just a few myths/lies that have been spread around about graduate school and why they are not something you should take to heart.

Graduate school isn’t meant to be something to fear; it’s meant to be a step in the right direction of the future you see yourself in.

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Graduate school and undergrad are pretty much the same.

Graduate school is a far cry from your experiences in undergraduate life. Undergrad was probably the first time most people leave home and get that newfound freedom mojo. Everyone in your class during your time there is usually in the same boat and making friends isn’t as hard as it seems.

But, when it comes to graduate school all that newfound freedom and friend-making mojo is gone. Everything is old to you, you have no desire to make lasting bonds with anyone and you view life and the world much differently now.

It will be easy to make friends.

You will make a lot of acquaintances and the occasional friend quickly. When it comes to graduate school not everyone is on the same page or level as you, so making friends isn’t always on everyone’s top priority list. People will be friendly for the most part, but their priorities may keep them a bit more reserved and removed.

Classes are smaller so you will get more hands-on help.

Wrong again. Most professors in graduate level classes are working professionals. This means that they have jobs outside of being a teacher and they don’t always have the time or patience to help you out outside of class. They won’t be as available to you as your undergraduate teachers were. You may get more attention in class, yes, but outside of class is tricky and probably quite impossible, so I wouldn’t count on it.

Grad school is a great networking opportunity.

This isn’t all wrong — well up to a point it’s not. The professors you have are very likely to be big times in their field, which means you could be learning a lot from them, but to get them to even notice you is to do pretty much one of two things: make a really big impression or annoy them enough so that they have no choice but to remember your name.

Graduate school opens up a small minuscule crack in the door for you and your future; it is your responsibility to make sure that small crack stays open and keeps getting bigger.

It is worth the money and time you put towards it.

This is ultimately dependent upon you and also upon the degree you are seeking. Getting a secondary degree most definitely opens up the window of the job market, but the fact of it being worth the cost and extra time, well that is debatable. Some concentrations are more focused on what you produce during school and the connections you make rather than the degree you get at the end of the journey, and some concentrations make a huge deal out of the degree you come out with.

It is the only way to reach your career goal.

It most certainly is not. Well, okay, if you are trying to be a doctor or a lawyer then yes, going to college and getting a degree is a must, no doubt about that one. Besides that, the reason that most people go back to school for graduate school is because they have usually hit an unknown wall in their life and have no idea where to go from there. Or they have graduated and they hate where they ended up so going back to school for something different is in the cards now.

Either way, graduate school can open up doors for you, but with today’s job market being an ever-changing thing, this isn’t always the path that needs to be taken.

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Graduate school isn’t for everyone and it doesn’t have to be. Make sure to do your research before committing your time to something that you later learn was unnecessary for you to do in the first place.

Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.

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