Riding out the storm

David Lai

With the recent economic downturn, job are becoming harder and harder to find for graduating students. Even students who find jobs face the risk of losing their jobs pending unavoidable corporate layoffs. One increasingly popular solution – stay in school.

Today, many students, instead of waiting for the economic recession to be over, take advantage of this period by honing their skills through graduate studies. Numerous surveys have validated that more and more students are applying to graduate school as a result of the recession. While attending graduate school requires a significant time as well as financial investment, many experts agree that this is the correct move for most students.

In addition, graduate studies are good for more than just stalling while a recession is occurring. In an increasingly competitive job market, a graduate degree will not only make students more qualified, but it can significantly affect their starting salary. According to Salary.com, a Master’s degree commands on average $10,000 more annual earning power than a bachelor’s degree does. In addition, according to gradschools.com, “Students with master's or doctoral degrees are likely to start their career at a higher level and continue to advance their career at a faster rate than if they earned only a bachelor's degree in their field.

To even further the argument, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), recently found that recruiters are looking for employees with "soft skills," such as leadership and communication. Recruiters are finding these skills in the prospective employees who have earned graduate degrees.