Returning to school for a midlife, mid-career transition? Wondering how to choose a program? Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., who spent many years in the classroom as both professor and student, suggests some tough questions to ask before you write your check.
1. Do you really need formal training?
After ten years of management experience with a well-regarded Fortune 50 corporation, Alice developed a seminar to help managers retain their best and brightest employees. Before returning to school, Alice needs to learn what credentials her clients will value. Some firms will prefer an MBA to a coaching certification. Others will be more interested in dollar savings she can document than any letters after her name.
2. Where have all the graduates gone?
Harold’s forty-year management career culminated in a vice presidency of a company that is a household name. Bursting with energy, Harold wanted to share his hard-won business wisdom with the next generation.
BusyPeople University promised flexible classes that were offered weekends, evenings, and online. Forget the horror stories of fussy dissertation committees and delayed diplomas: BusyPeople would give Harold a Ph.D. in three well-ordered, expensive years — two if he really hustled.
Three years later, Harold was turned down for one teaching job after another. Unaccustomed to rejection, he finally found someone willing to speak frankly.
“We don’t take BusyPeople degrees seriously,” said a senior professor at Traditional U, on condition of anonymity.
“We think BPU is a diploma mill. Okay,” he cut off Harold’s protest, “you say you had to do real work. But you have no idea what students learn in more traditional programs. You’ll have to try a junior college or maybe a small religious college.
“Frankly, you would have been better off to skip grad school altogether. Many business schools would have been thrilled to invite you to serve as an Executive in Residence. This degree actually lowered your value.”
Before you sign up for any program, talk to half a dozen graduates. The admissions office will tell you everyone is successful. Keep probing until you get a balanced picture. Talk to people who are as much like yourself as possible
And probe deeply. One BusyPeople Ph.D. listed a prestigious university as his current employer. He was telling the truth — but he was working as a lab technician while hunting for a full-time teaching job.
3. Do you fit the profile of the successful graduate?
Clarissa, at age forty-two, enjoyed her job as a CFO but dreamed of completing an MBA at a top-tier program. When she graduated at forty-four, she discovered that the greatest salary and career gains were registered by those who entered the MBA program at twenty-three, following two years of experience.
If she had talked to other forty-plus graduates, she would have been directed to an Executive MBA program where she could make strong contacts with her true peers.
Retiring from a twenty-year career in the US Army, George signed up for an expensive two-year coach training program. He had no business network and his military buddies couldn’t understand — let alone afford — coaching. A quick survey of recent graduates would reveal that success came most easily to those with an existing network of potential clients and referral sources.
4. Where did the faculty come from?
Quality education requires a faculty that is diverse in experience and education as well as race, sex and age. If many faculty were trained by the university where they’re teaching, you have to ask tough questions about innovation, growth and change.
If one or two people design a program, write the training materials, and conduct the classes, you are entering an apprenticeship program. This program may be the perfect route to your dreams but it will be a single-lane highway with limited turnoffs.
Bottom Line: Decide your career goal and network for information. You may be surprised to discover that you can fill your dream without setting foot in another classroom. You may learn that some programs actually exclude you from the career path of your dreams.
We have been taught that school is a steppingstone to careers and even to riches. That lesson holds — if you are the right student and you choose the right program to meet your goal.
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant. Your Next Move Ezine: Read one each week and watch your choices grow!
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