We get contemplative as our college careers come careening to a
close. Instead of focusing solely on papers, finals and vacation
plans like we have at the end of previous quarters at UCLA, we
spend our time musing about the unanswerable questions, such as
“Have I spent my time here wisely?”, “Have I made
the right decisions?” and “Will they still let me
graduate if I have $4,750 worth of unpaid campus parking
tickets?”
But while we look back on our time here with regret or
wistfulness or simply with joy that we’re done, we also fear
for the time ahead. Some graduating seniors are going straight to
work, selling their souls to The Man for a steady paycheck and a
401(k). Some are taking vacation time, be it living at home and
squeezing a few more months on the parental dime or backpacking
through Europe (which is always just an excuse to get high in
Amsterdam).
But many are going straight to graduate school, choosing to
celebrate the culmination of 16 consecutive years of schooling by
… signing up for three to eight more consecutive years of
schooling.
Grad school, it seems, is the new college. In the past, simply
getting your college diploma was enough to send employers into a
frenzy, fighting over you like you were the last piece of cheese.
But in 2003, the number of college graduates in the U.S. had
increased by nearly 40 percent over a decade, according to the
National Science Foundation. That’s a lot more people
competing for fewer and fewer jobs. The Economic Policy Institute
reports that the employment rate for college graduates ages 25-35
is the worst it has been in 20 years. You have to get yourself even
more education to distinguish yourself from the job-hungry
hordes.
This probably isn’t the only reason students are lining
up, clamoring for a chance to take more tests and write more
papers; going straight to graduate school can seem easier than
joining the working world. Once you get that job, it seems like two
blinks of an eye and you’re getting married and buying a
house and watching Charles Schwab commercials more closely, doing
something called “liquidating” which doesn’t
sound fun at all, retiring, and seriously thinking about whether
Viagra or Cialis is right for you. Who wouldn’t want to
postpone that for as long as possible?
So we pick a graduate school. And, of course, students who go to
graduate school learn things that allow them to have better,
longer, more prosperous careers. Some of them will also learn how
to write that lawsuit I’ll need to file in 10 years and how
to fix the arm I’ll break. But I wonder if the rush straight
to graduate school is good for us ““ in the long run.
We’ve spent 16 years relentlessly and recklessly achieving
things, all in preparation for the next achievement. We’ve
spent our lives stressing out about things ““ papers,
A-minuses, padding resumes ““ that will seem trivial in five
years, let alone 50 years.
Most of us have not taken a break from the unending machine that
is the American schooling system, such as working in a random job
for a year or two or moving to another country and to experience
life not centered around business titles, BMWs and bellyaching
about a B+. Make a film or write a book or even watch a lot of
films and read a lot of books.
Many members of the older generation will tell you that if you
don’t take advantage of the ability to try something random
for a while before you turn 25 and start on your career path, you
won’t get the chance again.
Random life experiences after college can even help you get into
graduate school. As more and more college students choose the
grad-school path ““ more than 38 percent of all employed
college graduates now have post-bachelor degrees ““ working on
rainforest conservation in Honduras for a year would look much more
interesting on an application than simply having participated in a
campus save-the-rainforest protest. Graduate schools often prefer
applicants who have some life experience to those who may be
applying simply because they don’t yet want to find a
job.
Those of you who are already going straight to graduate school,
who have spent the past year applying and waiting and hoping and
finally being accepted somewhere, by all means grab your new
opportunity by the horns.
But those of you who are still deciding about your post-UCLA
future, pick up that Peace Corps brochure you previously ignored,
or attend a Career Center seminar on “gap year”
options. You may end up realizing in 10 years that experiencing a
small dose of Life between so many years of classrooms was the best
thing you ever did.
Or maybe it will have sucked. At least you’re thinking
about it. And hey, who knows ““ that gap year job might allow
you to save up enough money to pay off your parking tickets,
allowing UCLA Parking Services to rescind its claim to your
firstborn. Sometimes these things really do work out for the
best.
E-mail Atherton at datherton@media.ucla.edu. Send general
comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.