Insect Ecology at NDSU The Harmon Lab

Why should I go to graduate school?
Graduate school is demanding. You will be challenged mentally and physically, you will learn new things, work long hours, be stressed out, etc., so you should have some important reasons for pursuing an advanced degree. I know plenty of people think about attending graduate school just because they've always been pretty good at school and they don't really know what to do next. To be honest, almost all the people I've seen struggle and be miserable in graduate school came because they didn't have strong reasons for being there. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from thinking about graduate school; I'm just saying it is very important to think about why you want to go and what you want to get out of it.

The people who get the most out of their graduate degree usually went for reasons that were professional and/or personal.
Professional goals: An advanced graduate degree does allow you to pursue potential careers that you cannot pursue without that degree. In my discipline, this includes potential careers in scientific research, teaching, and outreach/extension, and those careers can be in an academic setting, government/agencies, industry, and more. While it is not essential to know exactly what you want to do with a degree when you are starting out, it is good to have at least some ideas of things you want to try. This lets you tailor your program so that you can have the best chance to succeed once you are done with graduate school.

Personal goals: In graduate school you will really narrow your area of focus, so it is helpful to pick an area that you enjoy and find rewarding. Hopefully you get some level of satisfaction in the work you are doing, perhaps because you are really curious about this area or perhaps because you can see how it helps benefit people or the scientific community. Graduate school can be extremely rewarding personally. If I'm doing my job right you are going to push yourself in ways you've never done before and you are going to learn new things, do new things, and ultimately expand yourself in a way that many people find really rewarding.

Here is a list of the major questions I discuss to help you navigate through everything

What is this page? What is it for?
Important disclaimer - Not all graduate programs are the same.
What is graduate school?
Why should I go to graduate school?
How is a graduate program different than my undergraduate experience?
What does it take to succeed in graduate school?
How is graduate school paid for?
How do I get in to graduate school?