Why pursue a graduate degree?

Gain Hands-on, Applicable Skills

The first and most tangible benefit of a graduate degree is the acquisition of practical, relevant skills. These specialized programs of study, whether at the master's or doctoral level, equip you with advanced, field-specific knowledge, skills, and training. This not only enhances your current role, but also makes you a more attractive candidate for future employers.

Strengthen Your Emotional Intelligence

Additional education also makes you more competent in other, less obvious ways. Advanced education enhances emotional intelligence by improving interpersonal, communication, and conflict-management skills. Earning a graduate degree may equip you with the traits of the most emotionally intelligent leaders.

Personal Satisfaction

Earning an advanced degree will give you a sense of accomplishment from pushing yourself. If life got in the way during your first educational venture, you’d gain the peace of mind of finishing something you started. Achieving a demanding goal brings increased self-esteem, which is one of the best advantages of completing graduate school, and one of the most significant gifts you can give yourself.

Networking Opportunities

Graduate programs create learning communities; students build relationships with fellow students, professors, alums, and other disciplinary experts. The professional connections, friendships, and networks you establish during graduate school can help you further hone your skills and grasp relevant opportunities. University of Minnesota alumni, some 600,000 strong, are educators, lifelong learners, artists and policy leaders, engineers, doctors, philanthropists, mentors, and more. Our alums span the globe, serving communities, leading organizations, discovering cures, and inspiring bold ideas.

Leadership and Management Roles

The specialized training, critical thinking, and focused skills developed with a graduate certificate or degree may qualify you to direct more complex projects. Additionally, many graduate programs prioritize real-world professional skills, such as teamwork, management, and leadership. These aptitudes give you the confidence to take on more responsibilities in the workplace while signaling to employers that you are management material. Also, employees who excel at representing their companies get more chances to travel.

Career Change

According to a 2023 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study*, the average number of jobs held by individuals ages 18-56 from 1978-2020 was 12.7. That’s the average number of times a person changes jobs in their lifetime. Maybe you’ve been on the job for two or even 10 years, but your interests have changed and you are seeking a new direction. A graduate degree may allow you to develop your previous education and capitalize on your professional experience, granting you more versatility (and options) on the job market.

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Desirability in the Job Market

A graduate degree may give you a significant advantage over other job applicants or even secure the job itself. Along with thorough preparation, additional knowledge from advanced education might help you succeed in one of the most stressful of situations: the job interview. A graduate degree may also make finding and keeping relevant employment easier. According to a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study*, workers aged 25 and older with graduate degrees had the lowest unemployment rates and highest earnings compared to those at all education levels.

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Intellectual Growth and Transferable Skills

Despite the saying about the difficulty of teaching old dogs new tricks, you’re never too old to learn. Pursuing a graduate degree could mean diving deeper into a subject you love, or perhaps one that has haunted you from your early undergraduate days. You will develop competitive, transferable skills that you can leverage throughout your career. Transferable skills can be added to your career toolbelt in any professional setting, such as project management, working with people, planning, developing processes and timelines, organizing a team, volunteering, coding, freelance jobs, etc.

You’ll satisfy your love of learning and the goal of mastering a tricky subject while getting more brilliant. Yes, smarter. A recent study even found a correlation between achieving a higher education and warding off the effects of age-related cognitive decline. So you’ll grow your brain while contributing to the world’s knowledge bank.

Increased Earning Prospects

Earning a graduate degree can significantly impact your compensation, providing you with a higher earning potential. According to the Salary Survey of the National Association of Colleges and Employers*, graduates in the computer sciences fields are expected to be the highest-paid majors among the class of 2024’s master’s graduates with an overall average salary projection of $85,403 (up 2.1% over last year’s average projection of $83,681). Computer science doctoral graduates are also expected to be the highest paid at their degree level. They are projected to earn an average starting salary of $139,928 (up 5% from last year’s projection of $133,250).

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