What's a masters degree worth?

[LibraryFaerie]

I personally think it 100% depends on the field you want to get into.

I went to undergrad and studied English because I wanted an education, experience, and to study something I loved. I figured if I was going to school just to get a job I could've gone to a tech school. And English seemed well rounded enough. After graduation I was working full time in retail and making decent money, but I was miserable, so I went back to school to get a master's in Library and Information Science. (I did my masters all online while working full time so it's possible, but you won't get the "college" experience)

My current job required a master's degree in my field, but the pay is no where near what it should be for me to make a dent in a loans. So a degree does not always equal more money (especially if you're in some kind of social or public service). There's room to move up and make more money eventually, once people start retiring (I'm younger than the rest of [most of] my coworkers by 20-30 years).

On the alternative - most days I really find joy in my work, and I think that's rare. So it's a trade off.

[Sci_Girl]

Entirely depends on the field. If you are looking at more high up managerial positions or higher then they would likely look for someone with more education. But if the job outlook is limited to only certain positions and again limited in the quantity being made available then it might not be worth the mental and financial stress.

[Mama Bear]

I've started my Masters in a field just left of my career. I have a Bachelor of Secondary Education and I'm doing my Master of Applied Linguistics. I chose to do it because it is far more interesting than a Master of Education, but still looks very good on my CV for promotions etc. In total, it'll cost me less than $5k, so that's worth it for me.

It depends on if you have time/inclination to study/money/it'll help with your career.

[zitilover]

I have a baby and work full-time, I take 10 credits per semester. It’s not impossible, you just need to be determined.

[Raichuu]

I think it totally depends on what you want to do, what field you�re in, and etc. I�m currrently getting my masters in physician assistant studies, a degree that is invaluable in my position. I can�t go into medicine and do what I want to do without higher education, so it�s totally worth it to me. However my friend in business and finance, a masters probably wouldn�t be all that beneficial to him. In that field it�s more a matter of getting your feet wet, gaining experience, forming connections, and etc.

[I_royalty_I]

Thanks for all the opinions everyone.
I know I definitely CAN do it while working full time, there's no doubt in my mind about that. I've taken 12-15 credits and worked full time for part of undergrad. The main issue I'm trying to work out is whether dropping from the working world for a year/year and a half would hurt my career more than help it. My bachelors is in cybersecurity and my masters would further that with either policies or network engineering perhaps; undecided.

I figure now is the time though, before I get too caught up with other things.

[plsmy1]

I'm trying to decide if it would be worth it to pursue a masters degree.

Low key considering stepping out of the working world for a year/year and a half and throwing myself completely into furthering my education a bit more. Also kinda want to get that big school experience considering most of my classes were online or via community college for my bachelors.

Taking money out of the picture, I'm trying to decide whether to just keep working and progressing that way or going this alternate route.

Has anybody here gone through graduate school or is going through it now?

Looking to get more opinions on this realistically. Am I just being crazy?

PM me - have I got a story for you. Wrapped up my Masters 1 year ago after working for 3 years post undergrad.

[Bridge]

Also kinda want to get that big school experience considering most of my classes were online or via community college for my bachelors.

It's really nothing special, in my experience the teachers at university seemed apathetic and it wasn't very personal at all. I preferred my community college experience over my university experience.

Personally, I'm going to go into law enforcement in the near future, I've got my bachelor's degree and now that I've done my Army time I'll have my GI bill if I ever want to go for my masters (although that would help me progress/get promoted, I would mostly want it to teach Criminal Justice at a community college/online when I retire). Mostly waiting on my girlfriend to finish school/for us to move before I start my career though, so I've got about a year to burn in the interim, unfortunately.

[tcas4200]

I think most people have gotten in some solid points. I'll just share some of my own from my experience.

I'm almost done with my masters in computer science. I'm only working at it one class at a time since I'm still working my full time day job. My motivations aren't about money at all but rather because this is something I wanted to do. I've taken classes as well as worked with legendary figures who publish whitepapers in graphics, AI, and machine learning and really enjoyed the experience. For me, even after graduation, I'll never be finished learning.

I highly advocate free or very cheap (<$100) classes out there (Udacity, Coursera, Udemy are favorites) that offer quality material and assignments that often aren't worth credit but will offer structured learning platforms. Some also have social integration with chat boards for class takers. It's not the same as an actual university but certainly worth your time if you want to learn about a topic at your own pace. I've also found with some of these free classes that I got more out of their material than the physical classroom in my masters though I might say that the extra material complements class time.

I didn't do an online masters but I've seen ones that are cheap. Georgia Tech had one that promised like $700 per class ($7k total) that I considered before going with my current physical school (largely due to the tuition assistance from employer for specific schools that might get wiped out in the new govt tax bill but I'm almost done anyway so it doesn't matter).

[Buckley]

Thanks for all the opinions everyone.
I know I definitely CAN do it while working full time, there's no doubt in my mind about that. I've taken 12-15 credits and worked full time for part of undergrad. The main issue I'm trying to work out is whether dropping from the working world for a year/year and a half would hurt my career more than help it. My bachelors is in cybersecurity and my masters would further that with either policies or network engineering perhaps; undecided.

I figure now is the time though, before I get too caught up with other things.

Is there an academic/career advisor at your school of choice?