I Need To Go Back To School If I Expect To Earn More At What Cost

A s an adult, earning a            A degree means opportunity         degree requires enormous                                           sacrifices to your              As an adult who wants to change    financial, social, and emotional      the direction of your career and   well-being. Sometimes, additional     earn more for your efforts, this   training or education is just         may seem like a logical first      what we need. Other times, our        step. It may even be true.         reasons for going back to school      However, there are many, many      are not valid. Learn to examine       positions which have no specific   your reasons for returning to         educational requirements. Most     school, just at you examine your      positions in business are filled   reasons for acting and reacting       by people with a variety of        in other ways. Maybe you are          educational backgrounds. It may    interested in returning to            be much easier to change           college for one of these reasons:     companies than to get a degree.                                          In this way, business differs      • You believe a certain education     from the fields of education and   will bring you opportunities that     healthcare, where many women come  you don’t have now.                   from to business, and where        • You think a degree will help        specific educational requirements  you gain a level of confidence or     are a prerequisite to specific     competence that you don’t have        jobs (principal, registered        currently.                            nurse, neurosurgeon.)              • You don’t know what to do, and                                         you want to go to college to find     A few courses in computer          out.                                  programming could mean much more   • Someone recommended that you go     to your paycheck than a            to college.                           bachelor’s degree in liberal       • You want to be in college.          arts. If you ask people what                                             training meant the most to their   careers, it is often not college,     want to be. We like to think       but the training provided by          there is a sure-fire way to get    their current or previous             where we want to go, a straight    employers, or a smattering of         path that no one will question.    courses taken at various places.      Life in the business world is not  If you insist on going to             like that.                         college, make sure you earn a                                            degree which will, in fact,           You may feel insecure about not    enhance your career. If you don’t     having much education. Not         have a degree now, don’t earn one     surprisingly, the people without   unless it is in a specific field      a college degree often make it     which in fact holds                   more of an issue than those who    opportunities. If you are going       have one. Don’t get a college      to take the time, effort, and         education just because you think   money to go back to college, make     it will make you feel better. If   sure it will pay off. Higher          it does not help your chances for  education is a top priority for       advancement, you certainly won’t   so many women, and yet the great      feel better. Don’t allow a lack    majority of us remain in              of education to pull your          lower-paying careers. What’s          confidence level down. Don’t be    going on?                             the one who makes your lack of                                           education an issue.                A degree means confidence and                                            competence                            College will help me define my                                           goals                              Earning a degree might seem like                                         a simple, if not easy, solution.      Women are too seldom in positions  The lack of an education is one       which expose us to the total       of those concrete, well-defined       workings of a corporation. We      reasons for not being where we        often decide to make choices       later than the men around us,         They told me to                    because we have spent time                                               waiting for others to tell us         Maybe you are considering college  what to do. We don’t even know        because someone recommended that   what there is to choose from when     you do so. Perhaps this was        we get around to choosing.            someone you admire or someone who  College seems to be the only          does the job you would like to     place to figure it out. If only       do. Perhaps it was your boss.      we had a higher education, or         When we already feel insecure,     more education, or a different        half-convinced that we need more   degree, we would be able to           education, an offhand comment      clarify what we want out of life.     from almost anyone can cause us                                          to run to the nearest college and  Many people in academia have          enroll. Whatever the source,       never worked outside a                carefully examine your need to     university, and their experience      attend college before enrolling.   in business may be more limited       What applies to one person may     than yours. Course material will      have nothing to do with you at     teach you something about the         this point in your life.           opportunities that exist, but not                                        nearly as efficiently as you can      Perhaps you were turned down from  learn on your own. Instead of         a job because you did not have     going to college, do some             the right formal education. This   investigative work on where the       may have been just a handy excuse  jobs are. If you don’t want to,       to give you. Maybe you did not     do it anyway. The entire process      impress the interviewer for some   may take a few months, but            other reason. It’s possible the    completing a formal education can     person they hired had no more      take years.                           education than you have. It is                                           easy to let others convince us     that a degree will put us on the      is as fair as almost any place we  path to success. Meanwhile, we        can find. If you want to go to     are losing out on opportunities       school for its own sake, do it.    in the job path of our choice,        Work hard and enjoy it, but don’t  because our time and attention is     fool yourself into believing you   on our studies.                       have another motive. Certainly,                                          there is nothing inherently wrong  I like school                         with education, or earning a                                             degree. Something else might be    Sometimes we go back to school        better for you right now.          because we want to be there.          Carefully examine your reasons     College or graduate school is a       and your situation before          safe haven, where success is          enrolling.                         easily defined (grades.) College       About the Author: Patricia Smith is a businesswoman, speaker, and the Author of Each of Us: How Every Woman Can Earn More Money in Corporate America. http://www.eachofus.com Published At: www.Isnare.com