Ramit SethiRamit Sethi: The No-BS Guide to Living a Rich Life

Grad School Might Just Be Expensive Procrastination

19 Dec 2025 · 1 min

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A short YouTube commentary by Ramit Sethi arguing that returning to grad school is often an expensive form of procrastination unless a degree is clearly required for a desired job. He warns that graduate programs can cost tens of thousands (example cited: ~$80,000 over 2–3 years) and recommends spending three months to get career clarity instead—through informational interviews, job shadowing, and short-term freelancing—to test career paths and learn job‑landing skills before committing to grad school.

Chapters

While we're talking about expensive mistakes, let me tell you about one that can cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Thinking that another degree is the golden ticket. Too many people are not sure what to do next, and so what do they do? They default to going back to grad school. It feels responsible, but unless your dream job requires a degree or you know for certain that you're going to make more money, this may just be expensive. Procrastination. Instead of spending $80,000 in two or three years, I'd recommend you spend three months getting clarity. Learn the skill of landing a job before spending tens of thousands of dollars on grad school, which the primary intention is not even to get you a job. Use informational interviews, do job shadowing, do short term freelancing to test if that path is really what you want.