There are many misconceptions about graduate school. One of the oldest misconceptions is that a fail grade is going to necessarily kill your chances of getting into graduate school. Another common misconception is that a graduate school is a place where you hang out until you get your act together or figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. Both of these of course are misconceptions and are myths and are not true. Another misconception that is often circulated regarding graduate school is that your chances of being admitted into a graduate program are lower if you do not have any job experiences. This is not necessarily true.
While some programs are so competitive that a job experience would act as a tie breaker in the admissions process, for the most part graduate school programs do not really require a job experience for admission. This is in stark contrast to the reality of many MBA programs where a solid career working in the real world and getting promoted and achieving manager status does carry quite a bit of weight, especially if your competitions are wet behind the ears fresh graduates from college. When it comes to graduate school and prior job experience, you have to really look at the program that you are applying to. If the typical program is in the Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences, you do not really need a previous job experience. It is a purely academic exercise and so recent college graduates are more than welcome. In fact, they come in to such a graduate degree program with marked advantage.
What is their advantage? Their advantage is that their experience with academic grading, academic environment and working under academic pressure is relatively fresh. Compare that with somebody who has been working out in the real world for several years. Such persons would have to get their bearings back and are probably feeling a little bit rusty during their first day of graduate school. In the case of Humanities and Social Science courses, the less job experience you have is probably even better for you. This is in stark contrast to MBA programs and other specialized graduate programs. The bottom line is you do not have to have job experience to get in to most graduate school programs. Instead of focusing on job experience, focus instead on the key skills you’ll need to do well in a Humanities graduate studies program: analytical skills, reading and comprehension, and writing skills. Read a lot. Write a lot. The good news is you can hone these skills while on a long vacation.
Chris Walker, the famous guest post blogger, wrote this guest post on behalf of Ivy Research, the Internet’s leading source of personal statement examples for graduate school applicants.