Should I Go Back to School?

Thinking about more school? This guide uses mental models like Opportunity Cost and Inversion to help you decide if a degree or bootcamp is the right investment for you.

Step 1: What Job is This Degree "Hired" to Do?

Before you analyze the school, analyze your goal. We can use the Jobs to Be Done framework here. What "job" are you hiring this degree to do for you? People "hire" education for a few common jobs:

• The Credential Job: "I need this specific degree (like a JD or MD) because it is a non-negotiable requirement to enter my desired field."
• The Skills Job: "I need to acquire a specific, tangible skill (like coding or data science) that I currently lack."
• The Network Job: "I need access to the elite network of alumni and recruiters that this specific program (like a top-tier MBA) provides."
• The "I Don't Know" Job: "I am unhappy or lost in my current career, and I hope school will give me clarity and a new path."
• Be honest. If you are hiring a degree for the "I Don't Know" job, you are taking a very expensive gamble. It is far cheaper to find clarity through self-directed projects, informational interviews, and low-cost online courses before committing to a multi-year, five- or six-figure investment.

Step 2: Calculate the True Cost (Opportunity Cost)

The sticker price of a degree is only the beginning of the cost. The Opportunity Cost—the income and career progression you give up while you are in school—is often far more significant.

Here’s a simple calculation:

• Direct Costs: Tuition + Fees + Books + Living Expenses for the duration of the program.
• Opportunity Costs: (Your Current Annual Salary + Expected Raises) x Years in Program.
• Total Investment: Direct Costs + Opportunity Costs.
• Seeing the true six-figure number (or more) is sobering. Now, you can make a rational calculation: based on the average post-graduation salary for your program, how many years will it take to pay back your Total Investment? This is your ROI timeline. A 3-5 year payback period can be a great investment. A 10-15 year payback period is much riskier.

Step 3: Explore the Alternatives (Inversion)

Instead of asking "Should I go to this school?", use the mental model of Inversion and ask, "How could I achieve my desired outcome without going to school?"

If your goal is to learn a new skill, could you do it with a focused online bootcamp for a fraction of the cost? If your goal is to build a network, could you achieve that by attending industry conferences and actively connecting with people on LinkedIn? If your goal is to get a new job, could you build a portfolio of personal projects that demonstrates your skills more effectively than a degree?

Often, there are faster, cheaper, and more direct paths to your goal. You owe it to yourself to seriously consider these alternatives before committing to the traditional path.

Step 4: The Signal and the Substance

A degree from a top-tier institution provides a powerful Signal. It tells employers that you are intelligent, hardworking, and have been vetted by a selective institution. In some fields (like management consulting or investment banking), this signal is extremely important.

However, in many other fields (especially in tech and creative industries), the signal is becoming less important than the Substance—your actual, demonstrated skill. A portfolio of impressive projects, a track record of success, and the ability to excel in a technical interview often matter far more than where (or if) you went to school.

Is the signal of the degree the most important thing for your target career, or is it the substance of the skills? Be honest about which one you are paying for.

Step 5: The Pre-Mortem - Why Might This Fail?

Imagine you have completed the degree, and you feel it was a mistake. What went wrong? Use the Pre-Mortem mental model to anticipate failure.

• The "No ROI" Failure: You took on a huge amount of debt, and the promised salary increase never materialized.
• The "Still Unhappy" Failure: You got the new credential and the new job, only to realize you are just as unhappy as you were before, because the underlying problem wasn't your career, but something deeper.
• The "Out of Touch" Failure: You spent two years in an academic bubble, and your skills are now less relevant than when you started.
• By considering these failure modes, you can make a more robust plan. For example, to avoid the "Out of Touch" failure, you could plan to do a relevant internship or freelance project during your studies.

Related Guides

• Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework
• Should I Switch Careers?
• Should I Take a Sabbatical?
• Should I Accept This Job Offer?
• Career Decision Log Template