How do you know if you should go back to university?

[ccc]

How do you know if your desire to go back to study is just a sign that you haven't adjusted to corporate life or if you really would be better suited to an academic career?

[littledancerus]

I'm not sure. I have about 1 year left 'till my masters is done. I think the problem with me is that I always need to feel like I'm making progress & it's really hard to do that when you aren't in school. Whenever I'm not taking class (like this past summer when they didn't offer anything I needed) I feel like I'm not making progress & it makes me feel bad. Not sure how I'm gonna feel once I graduate....

[Kristen1981]

I know how you feel. When I first graudated, I had a corporate job for two years. Whilst I didnt mind the job I always missed the study and the feeling of "not progressing anywhere". At the beginning of this year I changed jobs and I now work full time and study part time via a distance education university for my Masters. It is difficult to combine both work and study but is very rewarding. Making progress in my studies makes me feel like im "getting somewhere". Also the Masters studies add to my skills base at work.

I would definitely recommend part-time study with working! :) Not sure hpw distance education works over in the States but here (Australia) its pretty flexible. Everything is online and you can work it so its fits in with your own schedule.

[g8ergal83]

its pretty much the same over here. there are lots of online universities, and traditional universities that offer entire online programs. I graduated from the Univ. of Florida in 2004 and for my job on campus I worked in the online-business-school. I taped classes and prt them online, among other things, and the program is really good. i'm thinking of applying now actually, because my bachelor's degree isnt really getting me anywhere and I think i need to change career paths. I went for television/journalism and none of the jobs pay very well at all, if they even pay over minimum wage. And I work 9-5 M-F so I can probably manage it with my life and some nice time-management skills.

I do kind of feel like i'm not accomplishing anything anymore. I come to work and do my job and go home. I really liked the feeling of getting things done and progressing in college. Now that that's been gone for over 2 years, I feel like something is missing. My job isnt rewarding and I feel like i'm stuck in a rut, job-wise, like I can finally start my day at 5:30 when I get home - before that it feels like i'm just going through the motions.

I guess if you feel like your degree isnt helping you, or you need higher education (masters, doctorate), go for it. if you dont, you'll just be wasting years thinking "i'd be finishing this year if i would have started back when I first thought about it." kind of like "i could have lost 10 pounds if I would have started excercising a few months ago. but i didnt so now i need to loose 12 pounds."

i hope that makes sense, i'm rambling and trying to figure out quickbooks (see thread - anyone know quickbooks?), feeling like an idiot. lol i guess just make sure its what you want first though, before you spend time and money on something that will get you back where you are now. that's what i'm trying to decide.

[geekchic9]

You can study anything you want to at any stage of your life, not just in your college years. I wouldn't go back to university till my debts from my first degree are paid off, and I know exactly what degree I want. I may go back to university some day, perhaps to get a degree in computer science. I have this urge to be a database administrator for web sites. I'm not 100% sure I want to do that, though, so I'm taking an on-line continuing education program in web programming, to see if I like it. If I like it and decide to pursue the degree, so much the better. If I don't, then I didn't waste a lot of money.