Graduate School
by Ben Jarrell
One of the toughest decisions for a college graduate to make is whether or not to go to graduate school or to immediately go into the workforce.
For Paul Black, the decision was easy: do both.
Black graduated in December with an electronic media and communications degree and decided to go on to graduate school.
“I wanted to go to grad school because I'm a competitive person,” Black said. “I don't want other people to have a leg up on me in the job market when it comes to educational background.”
However, two days into the spring semester he realized this wasn’t what he wanted to do.
“Because I was doing graduate school part-time, I had already seen what employers are looking for in my desired career,” said Black. “I realized that a Master of Arts in mass communications is not as valuable as an M.B.A.”
Soon after, Black began his job search. After about a dozen interviews, he was hired to work as a customer representative at Director’s Choice Tour and Travel. Black helps plan out music festival trips for music education programs. He also writes company press releases, grant proposals, and marketing plans.
“It's a great place for me to combine my music background with my career goals,” said Black.
Black has a deep background in music. His father is a middle school band director. He made the Texas All-State band as a french horn player in high school and was a member of the Madison Scouts, a professional drum corps, for three years.
Black did mention that he does plan to go back to school at some point and get his M.B.A. because most of the companies he wants to work for want their employees to have job experience to go along with the M.B.A.
“I plan on going back for an M.B.A., but I want to have two years of employment under my belt so that I'll have work experience to compliment an M.B.A. upon graduation,” said Black.
Black did make a point of warning students that are thinking about going to grad school to make sure and go for the right reasons and not just to stay in school a couple more years.
“Don't pursue grad school simply to stay in school,” said Black. “You need to have both a firm grasp on your career aspirations, and how the graduate program will benefit your career.”