Does Studying a Masters Help?

I have been wondering the past few days whether studying a masters would be useful in my career progression and open more doors to me. I currently only have a bachelor's degree and was thinking of doing a masters in one of the local university.

Of course, cost is one of the main factors that I choose to do it locally. Besides, I cannot afford to do it on a full-time basis and most probably will have to pursue it on a part time basis.

I was just wondering whether doing a masters in my related field of work will bring about a better career progression for me. Besides, I have also been wanting to do a masters for the longest time but I just don't know whether it is worthwhile to spend the time and money on something unless there are potential benefits. The other option will be to wait for a few more years, save up enough money and then go overseas to do my masters.

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

8 comments:

  1. I also spent more than a year thinking very hard whether should I do a part-time MBA course.

    But, in the end I decided to invest the MBA course fee into the ever learning "University of Stock Market" and hope to graduate with a "Masters In Stock Market".

    I am not sure when can I graduate from the stock market?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was thinking of a masters too.
    But after weighing the potential loss in income from tuition, I decided against it.

    The amount I would have "lost" in terms of opportunity cost is at least, if not more, the cost of the Masters degree, not to mention I still have to fork out cash for the Masters.

    And the amount of benefit I could get from getting a Masters does not justify this extra cost.


    I rather invest my time into the University of Life, not stock market. Try out new ways of earning income while having fun doing it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Reasons for doing masters:

    1. Prestige
    2. Career progression
    3. Further improve myself

    Reasons for not doing masters:

    1. Cost
    2. Time
    3. Not sure if it will be of any real value in my working life.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Uncle 8888,

    You are graduating soon already ....going to retire and enjoy life in less than 10 years liao mah...

    JW,

    I understand what you mean. I am struggling with the same issues.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I did my MBA and the below is my experience :-
    1) Better to do either Ivy-League MBA or an MBA at the place where you want to find employment. Reasons being the strong networking you can develop and utilised after graduation. I did mine in Australia and when I came back, I realised the network is not really useful since most are based in Australia.

    2) Better to be corporate-sponsored than to decide to DIY. Reason being corporate-sponsored means out-of-pocket expenses are borned by company and it is an indirect company endorsement of your capability and future potential.

    3) Good if you want to shorten the learning curve from technical to business. You learn alot of business theories and know-hows within a short-span of time and you can be quite well-rounded to be a manager managing specialists.

    4) No use if you are intending to start your own business. Your course fees is better used as capital for your business. An MBA does not guaranteed you become a whizkid in business and is guaranteed of success.


    So, the considerations of why you want to or not to do your Masters in whatever specialty you are thinking of can be applied here as well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Wealth journey,

    I agree with you on point 3.

    Getting a scholarship or company to sponsor a masters program is definitely one of the routes I am considering. It makes sense to not pay for the masters for yourself as you never know whether it will be valued by your current or future employer.

    Thanks for the great insight. It has "opened" my eyes a bit

    ReplyDelete
  7. It didn't work for me. I studied really hard and worked really hard to finance it. I told myself that I owe it to myself to do really well in it.

    I did well, but still did not break into the industry of choice with the dream career I am looking so hard for.

    In fact, the jobs that came my way actually paid LOWER and had worst career prospects compared to my current job.

    My lesson learnt, take the masters for the knowledge (which you can also acquire by reading). If you are thinking of using it as a stepping stone, maybe job hopping with a clear strategy is a better option.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I did MBA in singapore. I earn less than 3K after 5 years of working here. Yes get MBA from Ivy -league, because its not the course but the discourse within that makes your life.

    these days no one even cares about qualification and education. They say it out loud , even employers.

    ReplyDelete

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