First off, sorry if this is in the wrong section, I wasn't sure where this belonged more. Next, I'm interested in your opinion.

In about 8 to 9 months I'll hopefully have my undergraduate degree. And I'm currently trying to figure out what to do next. I don't have any cash reserves so travel would be difficult. I'm considering either going off to grad school immediatly, or try playing in the working world first, work for a year or 2 and then, if I still want to, persuit a master's degree.

The reason for the master's degree is simple, money, and better qualifications if I want to get a job in a different country. I could probably do this abroad, and get a 7000E scholarship from my home country.

The reasons for work; make some cash, find out if this is really what I want in life, because I'm currently on an internship and although I don't dislike the work I do (I'm currently working in nanoscale science and engineering) I really feel an more artistic side of me suffering.

Or maybe just starting a whole new undergraduate degree altogether.

Sometimes I lean more towards working, sometimes towards grad school, sometimes another degree.
I'd like you opinions on my options, what do you think? And most importantly why?

You might want to check out "Corporate Wasteland." There are a few threads about this very subject.

what is your bachelors degree in?

Applied Physics.

Piled Higher and Deeper

Read those comics first. They're all true. Every single one of them. It's like the writer follows me around and presents my life back to me as a comic strip...

Then if you aren't put off, feel free to go to grad school. Just don't expect it to be the easy option. It's a horrible soul destroying place.

On a related note, anyone want to write my thesis for me?

If your masters degree is going to be job related perhaps you could work and have your company pay for your degree?

Agreed. professional, non-artsy jobs will often pay for a grad degree, or part of it. Sometimes even if you work part-time. If not, get an internship, as you make a decent amount of money as a BS/BA interning.

The sooner you get any marketable experience, the sooner you'll start making money and learning where you want your career to go.

For me it came down to the question "Do you want to delay starting your life or not?" I opted for 2 more years of horrible pain and poverty and got my masters right after my undergrad. While in school I regreted it daily (well towards the end more like continously). Now 2 years after finishing I'm very glad I did it. I'm further along in my career then my friends who didn't go to grad school and I don't have to worry about working 2 jobs or selling all my stuff to travel (granted I don't have the time to travel because of my job). Of course I never questioned what I wanted to do and I worked for a research lab at school that paid my tuition.

If you're not sure about what you want to do then don't get a masters in it because it'll just make it harder to switch careers later. If you don't want to put off traveling then just get a job and save your money. If it still makes sense career-wise in a few years to get a masters then go for it.

This is funny because i have also been thinking the same thing for past few months. I finish my BA in History in few month. But thinking whats next? should I do MA or start life?

In my case age is also issue. I think i may be too old to go to Masters. By the time I finish MA ..my younger days are gone. I wanna travel while i am young. I am 25 years old now and still in BA. People my age have finished their Masters (some even their PhDs by that age). It took me so long to finish BA because..well I traveled every summer and changed my major some 3-4 times. Man i am glad when its all over.

With MA,I sure will have better Job offers. BUT i also be too old to travel by then.

So i am confused my self.

Ranni007, you are not too old for graduate programs. I started my MA (also in history) at age 24 and I was often one of the youngest people in my program. I've also met and know of plenty of other people 20-30 years older than me who are just starting their programs.

Also, finishing a Ph.D. by age 25 is extremely rare to damn-near impossible; the average grad history student takes 8 years from entering a Ph.D. program to passing the dissertation defense.

If you really do see grad school as a way of delaying the start of real life, I strongly suggest that you do not go. It's less true for a Master's Degree than a Ph.D., but grad school is a lot more work and is emphatically not Undergrad Part II (see this, this, and this, and these two books.) Most of grad school is geared towards professional socialization, meant to create future scholars capable of conducting independent research in a specific discipline and narrower field.

Also, few MA programs fund their students (I had very little student loan debt until I started my MA program) and having a humanities MA degree (including history) won't really improve your career prospects all that much. While this may vary by whatever career you are looking at, having a history MA definitely is not a sure thing, as far as improved job prospects go.

With no money, lots of debt, and no real motivation to settle into "regular" life I opted for an ESL gig. Granted it's not traveling, but it is living abroad and with 3-12 month contracts you can easily get a free ticket to SE Asia, room, board and a paycheck for a small amount of time before you start a trip.

If you're seriously considering it though, do some research as teaching children another language can be somewhat of a frustrating task.

Oh, I also thought about ESL, but I can't seem to jump the "native speaker" barrier, since I'm not "officially" a native speaker ie, not a passport from an English speaking country, nor a name that can actually be pronounced in English.

That's a tough one jay, but here's some hope for you. When I left, I went with a native-born Mexican named Nadxieli (I had to have her spell it out phonetically before I could get it right - Nah-gee-eh-lee). English was her second language.

she had the same hangup, but the recruiter quashed that once they heard her actually speak. I can't speak for Japanese immigration, but the Koreans don't seem much to mind if 1) can claim citizenship from a select list of countries (US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, S. Africa) and 2)have a bachelors degree.

If you can't claim citizenship, try and sweet talk one of the ladies on the forums here

Hey Jay,

I have been in sort of the same dilemma that you speak of. I did my undergrad in Biochem some years ago and I decided not to go to grad school right away. Now I am taking the required standardized tests to be able to apply to grad school for next year. It is weird to see people that you took classes with who are now progressing on to different things, while you are working and pretty much in the same place. Since you are in the sciences, you probably need that MS in order to get better paying jobs etc. Are you going to try to go for your Phd?

As for trying another undergrad degree, I am trying to do that right now. I am trying to get a BA in Philosophy through University of London, their external program. Something like this may be the answer for you since it wont tie you down to one place, and afford you the chance to travel. So there are options out there for 2nd bachelors that are not in a traditional university setting.

But if there is one thing I would tell you, its that MAKE SURE YOU DO SOMETHING. In other words it is very easy to get stuck just working and living day to day. If you want to travel, make sure you start making your plans and saving the money. If you want to do something academic while also traveling, then you can try to do an external program such as those offered by the University of London.

I dont think there is anything wrong with taking some time off between undergrad and grad school, I certainly have done the same thing. But what I did wrong was not planning ahead, not planning for something, you know? I just ended up working day-to-day and my concerns simply lay with paying the rent, having enough money to go out and spending time with my boyfriend. All these things are great, but after a few years of doing it, you realize that you need to work on career development, or save money for something that you really want to do such as travel. Also, after you get stuck in a rut like this, it is quite difficult to break out of it and move forward. Also one last thing, if you do decide to work for a few years, make sure to work in your field. In my case, I have recently been working in restaurants because I make a lot more money doing that for a few days a week, than working full time in a lab (such is the state of beginner lab workers such as us), but I think it is better to take the lower pay and work in a lab, because it will keep you motivated about what you want to do, while also learning important skills and making contacts.

As for me, I hope to get into grad school next year, and actually begin grad school the year after because I am saving money to travel next year! Lets see what happens! In the meantime I get to watch all my friends finish grad school while I am lollygagging in Argentina! I wish there was the "right" decision, but there isn't, therefore we have to take the risk and make choices for ourselves.

Thank you very much for that reply, it changed my views on quite a few things.