5 Reasons to Consider Grad School

Discover how grad school can develop your skills and boost your resumé.

If you’re nearing the end of your undergraduate degree, you may be wondering what is next for you. If you haven’t considered grad school already, you should start to look into it! You're probably wondering, “why should I do more schooling when I just finished my undergrad?” This can be a difficult decision to make after finishing years of an undergraduate degree, but there are many benefits to a graduate degree that you may not know about. Here are five reasons why you should consider applying to a grad school.

1. Gain experience as a Teaching/Research assistant

Many graduate programs offer the opportunity to be a Teaching or Research Assistant while you study. If this is an option, you should seriously consider taking it!

As a Teaching Assistant, you gain valuable skills that are transferable to the workplace and can be a huge benefit to your future career. Your communication skills will further develop as you must take complex information and synthesize it into easy-to-digest material for your students. You’ll learn how to cater your teaching style for each of your classes to have the greatest impact on your students. Your time management and organizational skills will improve as you must balance your studies with teaching and the responsibilities that accompany this role.

As a Research Assistant, you can work closely with professors to help them with their research. You gain valuable research, critical thinking, and communication skills.

These are great positions to have on your resumé as their skills can be adapted to whatever career path you choose to follow.

2. Specialize in a topic you're interested in

Similar to an undergrad degree, you get to choose an area to study that interests you. But a grad degree is one step further as you get to specialize in a topic that is personal and interesting to you. In your undergrad, you chose courses to complete requirements for a program that you were interested in, but in grad school, you choose what topic to devote your studies and research to.

Depending on whether you choose a course-based or thesis-based grad program, you’ll be expected to either do assignments or conduct research on topics that are related to your subject. The key is to choose a topic that you are interested in so that your work will feel meaningful! Your topic could be anything from analyzing your favourite childhood movie, studying the long-term effects of concussions on hockey players, or excavating possible sites of ancient civilizations. The decision is yours.

3. Open up opportunities

As a graduate student, you are open to greater opportunities than undergraduate students. You have many more chances to write and contribute to publications and increase your scholarly reputation. Grad students are typically invited to speak at conferences, work on research projects, and write a publication for a journal. They are also given access to more resources such as lab equipment, graduate study areas, library archives, and more. Since you are in a smaller program, you have access to more research, one-on-one time with professors, and academic advantages.

4. Set yourself apart

Most careers expect you to have an undergraduate degree as a minimum requirement, so how can you set yourself apart from all of these other students? A graduate degree can increase your chances of gaining attention from possible employers as you've demonstrated the drive to further your education and increase your knowledge. A graduate degree will provide powerful additions to your resumé such as strong communication and research skills, possible publications, a greater network, and possible employment from the university in the form of a Teaching/Research Assistant role.

5. Make closer connections

As an undergraduate student, you were one of a hundred other students in your program. It is hard to make strong connections with peers and professors as you're competing against so many others.

In grad school, you work closely alongside professors and a few other students which increase the likelihood of making strong connections. These professional connections are beneficial to have in your studies as well as in your career as they can act as references for you, assist you in writing publications, and refer you to their connections when looking for a career. These networks that you create in grad school will be useful for the rest of your life.

If these five reasons for why you should consider grad school don’t have you already looking into your school and program options, then maybe this bonus reason might. Did you know that typically the higher your education, the more you earn? Don’t believe me? Check out this Statistics Canada report that proves this.

So why not expand your education and boost your resumé? Apply for grad schools today!