r/AskAcademia • u/Flat-Tonight-7015 • 1d ago
Interpersonal Issues Should I get a master's degree in my current field, or reconsider the career path I originally wanted?
Originally, when applying to college, I applied for an English or sociology degree because those subjects came easier to me and i had the highest grades in them and i could see myself working as a social worker or writer. My mother said I shouldn't do those majors because I wouldn't get a job. So I did an environmental science degree because it genuinely was a passion of mine. Doing the degree was a little harder than I expected.
Well now after some time I could not get a real / good job in my field where I live, only internships. They exist but they are all taken / rarely hiring. Now they want to pay for my masters degree in the same field. The program looks promising and it's only a year. It's not super expensive. At first I was willing and happy, but soon after, the more I think about it, I'm starting to become concerned because it’s straying further and further away from what I ever saw myself doing. What’s also concerning is control, because they’re paying and I am not sure I would’ve gone down this path. They only ask that I not drop out and only give me one day to decide but I don't think that's enough time. I already went through 4 years of undergrad and it’s 1 more year + a free / cheap degree. I don’t think doing it would be the worst thing for me, and I have some ideas on what my thesis could possibly be. Is it setting me back if I don't do it? Is it setting me back if I do it? Also I'm trying not to compare myself to my friends because many of them have gotten their masters degree. I really do not know how to approach this.
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u/ResearchNotes99 1d ago
Free graduate degrees are pretty rare, especially ones that only take a single year to complete. You can always pivot toward social work or writing later (plenty of people change directions in their mid-twenties anyway), but having a funded master's gives you a strong backup plan. Taking one year to finish a free credential will not set you back nearly as much as starting over right now without a clear job offer in hand.