AboutJay Cutts Expertise Preparation for LSAT, GRE, MCAT, GMAT. Personal statements, letters of recommendation, graduate application process, practice tests.
No Questions about Undergrad Admissions Please (unless you are planning to go to law, business, medical or grad school eventually).
Note that I change private questions to public so they are available to others. If you have something that is truly private, let me know.
Experience Over 18 years full time graduate entrance exam prep with over 1500 students nationally and internationally.
Education/Credentials BA, Linguistics with Honors and Distinction, University of Michigan
MA, Special Education with an Emphasis in Learning Disabilities and Giftedness, with Honors, University of New Mexico
Question QUESTION: I am about to get my bachelor's degree and already have an associates and want to pursue in life something unrelated to my major like most people tend to. I'm under the impression that more and more people will be getting their bachelor's degree and also masters degrees and up are starting to become very necessary. How true is that? I personally don't want to be in school forever. I'm nearly 27, and my grades are likely not even high enough to be allowed into grad school. How delimited would I be with only a bachelor's degree these days? My major is psychology if that helps. I'd love to make good money in a management position somewhere.
ANSWER: Hi, James.
I think your first step is to do some serious career exploration and research. Do this before you get too bogged down in working, as it takes some energy. I'm talking about doing a kind of survey of the areas that are of interest to you and then finding a way to explore these.
Your exploration would include finding people or organizations that are doing things you'd like to do, finding out what certain occupations are really like on a day to day basis, what the issues are that people work on, what the work conditions are like, etc.
All of this would help you have an overview of your options - something many people never get a chance to do. It will help you find out if there are things that you may need an advanced degree for or if there are opportunities that you can jump right into.
It may help to work with a career counselor on this process. I can recommend people if necessary. Feel free to write back.
QUESTION: Well largely I am interested in what simply having a BA is worth? I'm told by one of my professors that it is not really a race and after a bachelor's degree a person's average income starts to level off. I'd be interested in a management position in a company that does something in my mind is useful or important. I know that most companies don't need someone with a management degree let alone an MBA to be a manager. If I wanted to be an accountant (which I don't) I know that would be different, but largely I'd like to help a company run smoothly, and I already feel capable of working with people. I just want to know what simply having a bachelor's in any subject will do? And also, would a masters or PH.D. in psychology be of any use if I am not looking for work in psychology? Is a masters really necessary these days for any line of work whether or not the topic of study is related?
Answer Hi, James.
I think for the kind of business management you are talking about, you can probably get a decent job based on your BA. As you work your way up, you can always go back to school if it would help you do more interesting or lucrative things.
So basically there is no need to get an advanced degree at this point. It might even make you look overqualified for an entry level job. I think you can feel comfortable going out with your BA and looking for a good job connection.
