I come from an highly educated, immigrant family (more MD, PhDs and engineers, than not). To some degree, higher education was expected, though decidedly not in a creative field. I majored in both English Lit and Film Theory in undergrad, and had brief stints in publishing, documentary, and education before starting as a consultant at a creative agency (branding and digital experience).
I started looking at grad school because I was feeling a little stagnant. I saw a future of plodding ahead at my agency, moving up gradually, but not as quickly as I wanted and without the pay to match.
Grad school was a natural thought. There seemed to be two choices in my career—business school or a master’s in the subject matter. I’ve always had more respect for colleagues who were practitioners before managers, rather than going to school FOR management. Thus, I started looking at places like ITP.
ITP was almost a snap decision. It seemed so easy—a place to explore, another couple years in NY, flexible enough to keep working part time. If I’m honest, I’m not sure I investigated well enough and so my expectations were outsized. Like Greg said, I’m still craving that one project that helps me dive deep, explore a subject matter and become an expert. Ideally, I find a way to leave this place and be an authority—or at least a budding authority—on a specific way of thinking/working/etc. Right now, I feel that most of my classes have been either survey courses or skills-based, so as to be more fun and engaging than truly relevant to my future.
Is it necessary?
In certain fields like the hard sciences, it’s necessary. But even in creative fields, especially as a consultant, there’s cultural and social currency in the workplace and with clients. It’s not critical, but a help, especially in terms of salary negotiation. Of course, there’s value in the exposure to new thinking, networking and mentorship at the graduate level, though I actually think the quality and rigor of my undergraduate education at Barnard College, Columbia University and UCL was superior to what I’m experiencing and hearing about most graduate programs in the humanities. So no, I don’t think it’s necessary, but that isn’t to say it’s not worthwhile. I still think it is.
What other ways can one obtain this knowledge?
Most of what I do day-to-day at work—branding consulting, digital strategy, content strategy—was learned on the job, so continued work experience and senior mentorship is probably the most expedient route to career advancement. There’s also other forms of education, like MOOCs from top-tier universities, subscription services like Lynda.com, and non-accredited courses and bootcamps through things like General Assembly or Hack Reactor.