Is The Economy Pushing More Students Towards Graduate School

With the economy being so bad lately, and the reports of numerous layoffs and hiring freezes, it led me to wonder how many college students are looking at graduate school as a possibility to buy time.
Students who are graduating soon may feel a little overwhelmed, as I am, at the thought of not being able to find a job. I know that throughout my college years, I always knew it would be hard, especially in my field of Journalism, but I always figured I would find a position that I could start out in and work my way up to a position that I have always dreamed of. However, now I don’t know if I will even be able to find a job of any type.
While I have never thought of graduate school before, I now find that I am finding more and more people say, “Have you ever thought about going through graduate school?” This is driving me crazy. No, it’s never crossed my mind before and really, I want to go through more school no more than I want a pencil shoved in my eye.
I always dreamed of this time in my life where I could say, “I’m finished! I stuck to it, and I made it!” and now I have people telling me to go through graduate school to buy time. That’s not really an option for me because I am completely ready to starting working. I mean what happens if I go through graduate school and the economy still isn’t better? I would be 25 and just getting out of school with no experience, and more in debt with jobs still unavailable, not to mention, some employers may think that I would be over-qualified.
This idea doesn’t seem appealing to me but I was curious as to how many other people may be concerned about finding a job and considering furthering their career through graduate school.
“I am very worried about finding a job when I graduate college. I am supposed to graduate in December and have already pushed that back. I could have graduated this June but am buying more time. I am thinking about graduate school but am not really sure what to do! Honestly I would even take a babysitting position full time if I can't find a job, its just a scary market no one is hiring, especially in our field. I feel like so many more people are more qualified as well because I have no camera skills or any idea how to do final cut pro etc. I think the economy has really impacted me and my attitude towards finding a job,” says Rachel Plowden
Eric Lose who is already on the path to obtaining a doctorate says, “I am finishing my doctorate, and along with the degree comes massive student loan debt. The doctorate is necessary to get a college teaching job, but right now almost every college colleges has a hiring freeze. I am screwed, adjunct work pays less than McDonalds, but that's about all I can get right now. I am totally screwed for the time being.”
David Barnhorn, a senior says, “I am graduating at the end of the quarter and the economy has totally reshaped my plans. When the economy started hurting I wasn't worried and I continued to plan on taking the year off and working some. Luckily I went through all the prep to apply to law school still because the economy became very scary, very quickly. I decided to start law school fall 2009 and have been accepted. If I were going into the journalism market now, I would be scared to death. The market is extremely rough, papers are closing, layoffs are everywhere and no one knows where its going. Journalism skills also seem limited to writing, which is taking a hit everywhere; news, books, everything. I am definitely not going to law school to kill time until the economy gets better, but it did push me into it sooner than I might have intended.”
So, whether your thinking about grad school or not, there is no denying that the job market is slim and very competitive for all. Hopefully this downward spiral will start to get better for the sake of all the millions of people nationwide who have lost their jobs, and for the new graduates stepping out into the workforce for the very first time.