For many of us, it seems like the four years of our time doing undergraduate study can run past us before we even catch our breath.

And then we are pushed, stumbling out the door, degree in hand, and a pat on the back. Hey good luck! But then what is the plan? What are the next steps we need to take?

Typically speaking, we have two options: the choice to immediately continue on to graduate school or the choice to take those cautionary steps into exploring the career and work options in our newly credited field of study.

It seems like with the recent downturn of jobs available, the wise choice would be to keep up the momentum and head straight to graduate school to get your Master’s degree.

You will be more qualified than your competitors and can also outwait the current economic conditions.

Now this isn’t a necessarily a bad move, but grad school is a big, costly commitment.

You need to double – maybe even triple – think the reasons why and where you want to continue your education, reasons beyond simply trying to avoid the job downturn.

You need to be committed to these goals if you feel like going straight to grad school is the best for your area of employment.

But for many of us others, foregoing grad school for awhile and gaining foundational work experience can prove to be indispensible in helping cement what career path we want to proceed with.

Therefore, it is wise to consider some of the reasons to stall going to graduate school to gain work experience before spending the immense amount of time and money involved in attending grad school coming fresh out of your undergrad years.

Think about it like this: Despite economic conditions, there are still many valuable opportunities to find a job or internship that can end up helping you land that dream job later on. 

Here is the step where the dedication and education from your past four years comes in.

Because the reality is, you can read all the textbooks and ace all of the tests, but without spending time trying to apply what you have learned sitting in the classroom to real-world situations with real-world consequences, you will find it difficult to adapt and survive at any job.

Being forced to apply those concepts makes us to work and mature past the ivory tower of education and gain a wider perspective about the workforce you are entering.

This is not even to mention how many graduate schools expect to already see this kind of work experience on an applicant’s resúme, therefore taking the time to go out and work in the field can enhance your chances of being accepted into a better graduate school program later on if you decide to go.

Consider also how you can spend this time working to not only gain connections and experience, but then continue to save up some money earned to pay for grad school later. In turn meaning you would need to take out less loans to pay for it. 

Furthermore, many companies prefer to hire people who are already working for them; some will even pay for their employees to attend graduate school, but only after a few years of loyal work within the company already.

So before making the long investment in graduate school, give yourself a chance to get out there and evaluate your job market. Explore opportunities and start hacking away at that career path.

You can always fall back on making it to graduate school so you can continue growing in your qualifications, but taking that first step out into the job market can help define your success goals for later on in life.