Considering graduate school?

Attending graduate school is often a way to deepen knowledge in a specific academic area or obtain the qualifications needed to pursue or advance within a particular career.

  • If your chosen career path requires further education to begin in a professional role (for example, law, medicine or teaching higher education), attending graduate school right after graduation may be the best option.
  • If you are considering graduate school to gain deeper knowledge and/or move up or transition within your career, it is important to consider your balance of education and experience. That is, should you obtain a graduate degree, will you offer a balanced mix of education and experience, or will you offer a great deal of knowledge with less hands-on experience?

Planning process

  • Examine your current situation, your current career path and job aspirations
  • Assess your strengths, weaknesses, financial situation and social situation
  • Research the industry or role you will target with your degree. Talk with professionals in roles of interest to learn about their career paths and educational pursuits.
  • Prioritize your needs
  • Set short-term and long-term goals to help you keep your eye on the ultimate goal

Decision making support

Attending graduate school is a major investment of time and money. Making the right decision and choosing the best school will have a significant impact on advancing your career.  If you would like to talk about your decision, undergraduate students may contact the Business Career Center or the Career Center.  Alumni and graduate students may contact the Business Career Center

If graduate school seems like the right choice for you, you will need to decide which programs you would like to apply to, understand what their admissions standards are and learn about their application processes.  Following are links to Marquette University graduate programs and GradSchools.com, a comprehensive research site.