As a person who loves school, and excels in school, I’ve always considered the option of attending grad school after completing undergrad. As sophomore year rolled around, I began considering this more seriously, and looked into several graduate programs I was interested in, ranging from art management and art business schools, to a variety of law schools. The idea of grad school sounded great: gaining the skills I needed to get out in the real world and be prepared, while pushing off the scary idea of getting a job for a few more years.

Using the resources on campus, such as Claremont Connect and CP&R events, I was able to find and attend several informational sessions on different law schools, and art management schools. At these panels, I networked with representatives and alumni of each school. I reached out to several of the contacts I had made at the panels, and conducted informational interviews in order to learn more about their individual experiences. Many of the people had gone directly to grad school after graduation, and they were all very happy with that decision. Each person raved about their experience and made it clear that the programs allowed them to build the necessary skills and connections to land a great job right after they graduated. Others had worked for a few years and returned in order to build specific necessary skills for that sector of the art world, for example.

Coming out of this, the idea of graduate school sounded all-around perfect. I became infatuated with the idea of attending grad school directly after college. I toured several schools, sat in on classes, and I even spoke with the President of a Grad School with an Art Management program, where I had a “mock interview” where he basically told me I had a spot in a recently created program that I could begin my senior year. Did I get ahead of myself? Totally.

Heather knows all.

I realized afterwards when discussing all of this with my mom and several teachers that I wasn’t considering all of my options, and was rushing into this idea I had created in my mind. First off, was I sure that this program was exactly right for me? There exist several world-renowned programs at leading institutions such as NYU and Columbia that I hadn’t even looked into. Also, was I even sure I wanted to work in the arts business world? I had no experience and nothing to base this career goal off of. Most trusted adults I spoke with all gave me similar advice: I should take my time out of college to see what career works best for me, especially considering my indecision with choosing a major and my uncertain future career goals. This advice was further reinforced when I went home for fall break my sophomore year, when I spoke with my high school college counselor, whose opinion I greatly trust, to ask her about my dilemma. She told me an anecdote about a past student of hers, who went straight from under grad, to grad school, to then complete a PhD. After completing his PhD, he tried to get a job, and couldn’t get one. Surprised? I was. She told me that this was because he was, “overeducated” and had no real-world professional experience. As a PhD graduate and with a Masters, he was expecting higher pay than an entry-level job, but without having any real, applicable skills. Thus, when comparing the candidates, he would inevitably always fall short, even though he had a masters and PhD, compared to the applicant with four years of job experience. In the end, there was no real competition.

Needless to say, my counselor’s advice struck a chord in me. I had been in a total state of conflict and not to mention confusion. It was almost a year ago that I had the mock interview with the school, and looking back at that and the mixed advice given to me, I can recognize that grad school may be in the works for me, but most likely at a later time. As a person who loves to learn about a variety of subjects, but is also confused and uncertain about her exact career path, diving into a specific graduate program may not be the best idea. Taking the time to explore different career paths and isolating which I am most passionate about, then thinking about applying to a specific program to advance my skills in that one area when I am ready is a much better option.