There are lots of reasons of why one chooses to pursue a second degree or even a third degree. Genuine love for learning. Doubt in the chosen career path. Wish to put off getting a real job for as long as possible – you might name another reason yourself.
Being an eternal student is not a lifestyle many people can afford – unless you are backed with substantial fortune or win lots of grants, that’s how it is. But even if you can afford it – do you really have to?
If you are willing to continue education in college after getting a degree (and are not going to pursue academic career), it most likely means that you have no idea what you are willing to do with your life, and are looking for a way to put off making this decision. For many people both High School and college are exactly these – legitimate ways of postponing necessary decisions. It is a justification: “Right now I am continuing with my education, there will be plenty of time to think about my future career after I finish with it”.
Needless to say, it is not a very wholesome approach. If you are avoiding dealing with an issue, 9 times out of 10 it means that this issue is extremely important for you and you will be much better off if you deal with it right here, right now.
What makes it worse is that education is not that much of an answer anyway – at least not anymore. While several decades ago getting several degrees in different fields was something akin to diversifying your investments, today’s world is much less attentive to formal education. It is experience, creativity and ability to learn on your feet that matter today – not your academic scores.
The reason is, the world today is changing so fast that it becomes impossible for formal education to keep abreast of it. Most things you learn in college either have nothing to do with the things you will actually deal with in your life or are obsolete even before the course is over. So getting additional degrees does not simply mean that you put off vital decisions. It means that you are wasting the most productive years of your life learning things you will never practice or the things that have no application in today’s reality.
Remember: life is short; sometimes it is unexpectedly short. Every day you spend learning you could have used more productively: working, getting real-life experience, making new and useful acquaintances, getting new skills. For learning new skills isn’t limited to formal education – far from it, the skills having to do with modern technologies are easily learnt independently.
Of course, it doesn’t mean there is no use for formal education anymore. There are numerous fields where it is necessary, and if you are thinking of academic career, higher education is a must. But even in this case getting several degrees is far from being an answer – you will do much better if you decide what exactly you need from life and start moving towards this goal.
