Jesse Sutphin

Grad School or Straight to Work?

Its 2:42 a.m. at James B. Cabell library and you have a test
tomorrow morning that will decide whether you pass or fail the class
that you need to graduate. Youre on your third cup of coffee, but your
body is so immune to caffeine that it doesnt help you stay the
slightest bit awake. Youre tired, stressed, and thinking about how
many nights during your college career youve spent like this. You cant
wait to graduate and embrace the feeling of not having to worry about
nights like these. But should you be done with school after your fouryears as an undergraduate? Or should you pursue a masters or
doctoral degree? You consider if it will even make a difference in the
long run or if its just wasted time and money. Youre exhausted from
your undergrad experience but wonder and debate if a furthered
education is worth pursing. But isnt Grad school more expensive?
you wonder to yourself. I already have my other student loans to
payoff.
If you think about it, why wouldnt grad school help? It gives you
greater identification, credibility and a furthered sense of
accomplishment. A higher degree could help you earn a better job or
give you a chance to move further up in your already established
career and of course hopefully increase financial earnings. Or maybe
its smarter to take your four-year degree and go straight into the

workforce, start paying off your debt, start putting money in your
savings and start at an entry-level position that will help you begin
your climb up the corporate ladder.
Virginia Commonwealth University offers a number of different
graduation programs, some prestigious and some necessary. Two large
programs VCU offers, for example, are the Brandcenter and VCUs
School of Medicine. Many students from the Brandcenter have left
school and gone on to become very successful in the corporate world.
Graduates of the program have gone on to work for agencies that
create content for large, top companies such as Google, Apple, Panera
Bread, Facebook, Coca-Cola and many more. Two notable Alumni from
the School of Medicine are Patch Adams, M. D. and Baruj Benacerraf,
M. D. Adams, class of 1971, who created the Gesundheit! Institute and
is a social activist in healthcare reform. Benacerraf, class of 1945, won
a Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. Clearly, great things can
come from grad school.
To get a better idea of the experience of immediately entering
the work force after graduation versus the grad school experience, one
VCU alumni and one student in the Brandcenter agreed to be
interviewed about their insights. Bryan Portillo, class of 2014, currently
works at McGuireWoods Law Firm, LLP. When Portillo was asked why he
chose to go to work right after school he responded, I went into the
work force the week after I graduated undergrad. I had many

conversations with a lot of my mentors and professional contacts that I

gained throughout the years the consensus was that if I wanted to
survive/excel in todays economic climate I needed to gain more work
experience. The fierce competition that awaited me in the job market
and in applying to higher education implored me to work first and find
my niche. When I graduated college, I already knew and decided that I
needed a graduate degree, but I didnt know exactly what I wanted to
do. My two main options were Law school or Business school. Luckily
both programs put a lot of emphasis on the experience you have
gained before you apply to the school. Law school is very competitive
and if you do not get into a top 20 school, forget about being a lawyer.
By working at a highly ranked law firm, the experience I gained at the
firm would be a huge plus on my law school application. The managing
partner of a top ranked firm in DC told me that clients arent willing to
pay for associates who have no experience; this in turn made it even
harder to get through the door of a big firm after you graduate law
school. I received the same advice from contacts in the business world
top business schools wont even look at your application if they dont
see at least 2-4 years of real-world experience. And above anything
else, I wanted to work and figure out what I really wanted to do in life. I
have heard of many horror stories of people going straight into law
school or business school and then realizing (when its too late) that
this isnt what they really wanted. They then drop out or decide that

they have spent too much money already and have no choice but to
lead miserable lives in a profession that they hate.
Jacob Huber, earned his undergraduate degree at VCU before he
was accepted to the Brandcenter where he is a second-year. When
Jacob was asked why he chose the Brandcenter over going right into
the work force he said, I graduated with a B.S. in Marketing with a
certificate in Product Innovation at the Da Vinci Center in 2014 and
continued my education at the VCU Brandcenter (Creative Brand
Management track) immediately after. I didn't feel an undergraduate
degree in Marketing from VCU was enough to get me the job I wanted.
I was also fortunate enough to get a temporary loan from my father to
pay for it. The degree and network associated with Brandcenter is
worth its weight in gold.
Education is beneficial no matter what. Expanding your mind and
learning is never a negative thing. After interviewing these individuals,
it seems as if furthering your degree after four-year is a smart step into
earning the job you really want. Whether you end up going straight to
work after college or to graduate school, when the late nights at James
B. Cabell Library turn into the early mornings at your dream job, itll all
be worth it.