Speaker Series: Do I Need Another Degree, or Am I Ready to Work?

0:05 hi everyone and welcome back to the 0:06 career kickoff collection 0:08 my name is ryan hilai and with me today 0:09 is dear julie 0:11 we're both partnership development 0:12 fellows with the university of michigan 0:13 center for academic innovation 0:15 and today our guest speaker is maurice 0:17 washington director of the university of 0:19 michigan's athletic career center 0:21 in this video we're going to be talking 0:23 about whether you're ready to enter the 0:24 workforce or if you should pursue a 0:26 higher education 0:27 and the considerations attach these 0:29 choices 0:30 maurice would you be willing to talk 0:32 about how students should navigate the 0:34 choice to either enter the workforce or 0:35 pursue higher education 0:37 what guiding questions you typically ask 0:39 them 0:40 well again thank you for allowing me to 0:42 be here and that's a great question um 0:44 in this in this season where students 0:46 are making a critical decision 0:48 upon postgraduate uh post uh their 0:50 undergraduate to make a decision if 0:52 they're gonna go into the workforce or 0:53 go get a graduate degree 0:55 so i would i would pose a question like 0:57 this do you have the experience do you 0:59 did you gain experience while you were 1:01 an undergraduate in order to move on 1:03 into 1:03 the workforce if you if your 1:06 undergraduate degree 1:07 really aligns to what your career 1:08 interests are we do understand that 1:10 a majority of students their 1:12 undergraduate degree really 1:14 has no bearing on what they're going to 1:15 do upon graduation so 1:17 does that graduate is that graduate or 1:19 were you going to really help 1:20 another thing you need to consider is 1:22 the location of the graduate school 1:24 right location of the guys group matters 1:26 because of cost 1:27 that's the second component how much is 1:29 because most often times you're going to 1:31 have to pay for that 1:32 you also want to attain a school that's 1:34 accredited right 1:35 you want to get a graduate degree that's 1:37 really going to help you progress 1:38 and project yourself your trajectory you 1:42 want to 1:42 trajectory to be to be you know a gain 1:46 in going into a graduate program and you 1:48 also want a graduate program that is 1:50 going to align 1:51 to your career goals you know that's 1:53 very very important 1:54 what we find is is that 38 of 1:57 of individuals or students in graduate 2:00 programs and two-year programs 2:02 are non-traditional students so let's 2:04 talk about traditional and 2:05 non-traditional students 2:06 we're talking about traditional students 2:08 you're thinking about from high school 2:10 to undergraduate to 2:11 to a graduate program non-traditional 2:13 students 2:14 are those who have families those who 2:16 work so we're looking at 38 percent of 2:18 the 2:18 of individual or students that graduate 2:21 from the undergraduate programs 2:22 they go into the workforce and they 2:24 understand that they need that graduate 2:26 degree based off the work they were 2:27 doing 2:28 so why is it important one it could be 2:30 because of additional income 2:31 hiring trends so you have a higher 2:34 professional degree it allows you to be 2:37 in a position of more more impact and 2:40 also more responsibility so i really 2:42 when i'm talking to the students i 2:44 really ask them about their experience 2:46 about their career goals and interests 2:47 and if that graduate would be really 2:49 going to help them at that point you 2:51 know they may 2:52 go into the workforce and decide later 2:54 that that's that's more important 2:56 thank you maurice and what areas or 2:59 factors do you think students should 3:00 consider 3:01 when making this decision one of the key 3:04 factors to making the decision of 3:05 do you want to go or should a student 3:07 consider a graduate program is cost 3:10 cost is very very important right 3:12 because again students will then be 3:13 paying for that graduate program 3:15 accreditation is is another key factor 3:18 is the school that you're going to for 3:20 graduate school is it accredited in the 3:21 area that you want 3:23 three is is that graduate program really 3:25 going to traject you into your career 3:27 is it going to be helpful or is it all 3:29 the experience that you're gaining 3:31 in the workforce is that going to be 3:33 enough and the last thing is location 3:35 location location many of the students 3:38 that go to undergraduate programs out of 3:39 state 3:40 there's a cost to go into a graduate 3:42 program out of state so do you want to 3:44 go back to the state where you're from 3:46 or or go to another state that'll allow 3:49 you the opportunity and you think about 3:51 a graduate program 3:52 what i'm finding is most students that 3:54 graduate from graduate programs they're 3:56 working in a vicinity or within the 3:57 state of that graduate school 3:59 so you probably would want to consider 4:01 going to a graduate school 4:03 in an area that that the industry that 4:06 you're interested in 4:07 that that it's profound right that you 4:09 could find a job 4:10 thank you so much maurice that was very 4:12 insightful well we hope this video was 4:15 useful for unit career development and 4:17 we hope to see you in our final segment 4:18 on interviewing shortly 4:26 thanks 4:31 you