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Dear Mopwater:
How have you been lately?
I have been doing quite a bit of thinking about my future and I felt that you would be a good person to seek advice from.
Honestly, I don’t want to go back to school for my Master’s but I feel like I should because [taking it back to grade school days] everybody else is doing it. I am fighting with this notion that higher degree equals higher position; yet, I’m also fighting with the financial basics that higher degree equals more debt and will take longer to get out of.
I have learned a lot more in my work experience than school itself. I took a surprising turn from being a film major to taking my media skills and incorporating them into Marketing. My degree has definitely helped with the evolving interest in new media. I like what I do and I want to grow in it. Possibly transferring to a PR firm or large ad agency in the future. Who knows.
I just want to know can I achieve a managerial position with just a BA. I know that I may have competition with an individual obtaining a Masters degree, but if I gain enough work experience and provide an impressive portfolio — can I make it?
Sincerely,
Contemplating Graduate Degree
Dear Contemplating:
Thank you so much for reaching out.
More education DOES equal more debt. It just does. Don’t just do what your friends are doing if you honestly don’t feel it’s necessary. I’m a firm believer in on-the-job training; and there’s so much changing in our industry that on-the-job training probably makes more sense right now anyway. A lot of people probably wouldn’t like to hear me say that. But wouldn’t you rather work and get paid 40k to learn in one year than pay 40k to a school to learn the same things from a theoretical perspective?
HOWEVER, given the precarious state of our current job market, it may be difficult to even get your foot in the door to get the full-time job that offers you a salary while you learn on the job. So what do you do in this scenario? In this case, if you can get your education financed affordably and you’re not going to go into an insane amount of debt to pay off your degree, then consider it. But remember, a graduate degree is not a guarantee of a job or better job prospects. And the absence of a graduate degree on your resume won’t necessarily keep you from getting the job that you want. It all depends on you.
(Tip: You can get creative with financing. Upromise – The Smart Way to Save for College)
So if you want to go to school to advance your public relations skills, you should go. But don’t just go because
a. everyone else is doing it
b. you’ve reached a career dead-end and don’t know what else to do, or
c. you think it will guarantee you a job.
Because there are no guarantees.
At the end of the day you should be prepared to walk away happy with the skills and knowledge you gained from your year or two in grad school, whether that nets you a new position or not. If you can’t say you would be okay with that, I wouldn’t commit to a graduate program.
I think that by asking questions, you are on the right track. You just may need to get your career on the right track. I’m not sure where you are working, but if you are trying to get into a management position at an agency, you need to be working at an agency. If you want to do non-profit PR, get at a non-profit. If you want to go association, get at an association. If you want to own your own firm, start freelancing. If you want to rise to the top at an agency, you need an account executive position. You may even need to to start with an internship position which I’m sure that you can get. If you are hungry enough, anything is possible.
Heading Back to School? – Don’t forget to find scholarships for college at FastWeb.com Want more tried and true advice for your PR career? Order your copy of the Mopwater Manual.
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Dear Contemplating Graduate Degree,
I’m a PR professional with both agency and corporate experience. I only have an undergraduate degree, but I have never seen an advanced degree make much difference in this profession. It’s all about the experience. Furthermore, I know several people with advanced degrees and they started at entry level with everyone else. Their drive is what helped them advance.
However, if you proceed in getting your Master’s, please diversify your skill set. Most PR professionals aren’t seen as understanding the financial side of business (not true) so being able to read and understand financial documents can be a plus.
I would encourage you to join professional organizations in your city. Networking is invaluable in this industry. Regardless of what the news media says, some companies are still hiring and looking for entry-level candidates.
Thank you for posing this great question. I’m wishing you the best.
Wyatt
You don’t need a Master’s degree for PR. If she is dying to take graduate level courses, I would recommend that she start taking one course at a time — while working — toward her MBA, and see how she feels about that. UVA and JHU both offer programs like that.
Re: her career plans, in this town pr agency jobs and ad agency jobs are not interchangeable. You’re either qualified to work for one or the other. There are a few hybrid agencies, but not at the big firm level. Then there are the digital agencies…
PR field is changing at lightning speed. I would do everything I could, in her position, to add marketing skills and experience to my resume, along with social media.
Marketing pays more and is higher on the food chain, management wise, in corporations and nonprofits. If you’ve got marketing savvy, go for it. Plus, it seems like many PR positions expect you to have both sets of skills.
I’ve been in the PR industry for about 4 years and have always wondered the same thing. Having worked at a few different agencies and having friends in larger agencies, I can say that for the most part, the answer is NO. You can hold senior positions in PR without a masters degree. However, here’s some food for thought: I’m planning on going back to get my master’s degree because I’ve heard from freelancers that it’s good to have if you ever want to give up PR when you’re older because it allows you to teach communications/PR courses on a university level. So as a back-up for when I’m older, I think it’ll be good to have. Hope this helps. If anyone else has insight or advice about what I’m doing…please shout it out!
Wow, what great feedback! “Contemplating” is really lucky to have you guys in her corner. I’m glad I decided to post this actual email exchange on Mopwater because your comment are the most valuable part of this exchange.
@Wyatt Yes yes yes to networking. It is SOOOO important in this industry and something I’ve had to learn to embrace. But I’ve been so much the better off since embracing it!
@Mary I also think that PR is changing at lightning speed. I’ve even heard graduate program directors say “This stuff is new to us, so we’re learning, too.” Really?
@Jenny Interesting about the degree as a back-up for when you’re older. What will be the focus of your study?
Hello:
The comments above are right on. I thought about going to get my MBA for a very long time and for many years decided it would not help my career. My rational was much simplier – none of the VP’s I worked for in pr firms or agencies had them so it was not something that they valued when we were looking for new employees. And as someone else pointed out, in this business every has to start at the same place – at the bottom – and earn great experience along the way. Think about your long term career aspirations and then find out what type of experience and educational backgrounds those people have – that may be a big help in determining if the degree will be worth it.
I have noticed that many positions posted for more executive VP roles within pr, particularly for corporate roles, now have a MBA as a minimum requirement. In the end, I finally took the plung and have an additional stream of income as a professor teaching intro pr and communications!
Hi! I’m an undergraduate student and I’ve asked this same question many times over the past year or so (although I don’t graduate until 2011). From every single communications professional I’ve ever talked to about this… NO, you don’t need a graduate degree to do PR. In addition, I’ll second that bit about networking and learning on the job.
I can honestly say that I’ve met more amazing people and learned more through Twitter than I have in almost any of my undergraduate courses. I’ve learned more through internships and my working relationships than I have any class. And I’ve learned more from my experiences abroad, my experiences volunteering, and my experiences at conferences and with social justice activism than I ever have on my college campus.
I love my college, don’t get me wrong, but formal education just doesn’t quite do it for communications–in my humble opinion. Things like social media aren’t taught in schools yet. And basic PR skills, like pitching, writing press releases, formulating talking points, simply aren’t taught early enough or well enough, even at an outstanding communications school such as my own (again, in my humble opinion).
However–I think I’ll probably still pursue a graduate degree, just not in communications. For me, this is because I’m not sure I *want* to do PR for a career. I also have significant interests in marketing, advertising, politics, policy, and law. If I want to get my foot in the door in those professions, having an undergrad degree in communications isn’t necessarily the best thing to have on my resume. In contrast, having two undergrad degrees (one in public communications, one in marketing), and undergrad minor (statistics) and and a JD/MBA (which I’m aspiring to, I think), would pretty much fit the bill for any possible profession in the categories I’ve listed above.
Obviously, a lot can change for me–I’m a youngin’. But in summary:
1) If you’re certain you want to do communications, and don’t have the financial resources to *easily* take on a graduate program–don’t do it.
2) If you want flexibility in career options for the future, and can take on a little debt without breaking the bank, maybe it should be something to consider.
Another thing to remember is that oftentimes large companies, as well as the federal government, will pay some or all of a graduate program if you choose to pursue one once you’ve gotten a job there. Also, don’t forget there are *always* scholarships to be had, you just have to look for them.
*shew* — /endtwocents
Twitter: @alexpriest
Facebook: /alexpriest
LinkedIn: /in/alexpriest
This is such a great(and necessary!)conversation.
Well as someone who chose to pursue a masters in PR, I can say confidently, it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made thus far (re: my career).
I obtained a B.A. in Communications with a general discipline as my major. Therefore in order to be a confident and knowledgeable PR practitioner, it was essential if not a requirement, that I learn the fundamentals.
Nevertheless I didn’t want two more years of boring theory-based education full of Bernays and Lee cases. Luckily after an extensive research process I found a program that was 75% practical and 25% theory. Bingo!
Moreover I totally agree that education is worth nothing without experience. Therefore I encourage every grad student to couple their classes with hands-on experiences.
My decision to go to graduate school was about investing time and energy into my craft. Period.
But I think we can all agree that deciding to go to grad school must be a personal and well thought out decision.
Good Luck!
I went back to school to get my master’s in PR after spending 10 years in the publishing industry. I can’t say it did much to directly land me a job – many in the idustry are much more interested in hands-on experience than an advanced degree. However, it did give me a much broader skill set that has greatly helped me while working in PR. The knowledge of how to research, write, and present papers/theses is useful in many aspects of PR. And like my dad always used to say – knowledge is one thing nobody can ever take away from you.
I went back to get my master’s in communication because I was very interested in the research side of PR. I am now trained in survey methodologies, and whether I conduct the scientifically-valid surveys or hire a consultant, I have a thorough knowledge about developing the questions for what we want to measure, as well as interpreting results and explaining them to management. This was a hard course, and my knowledge was expanded into a new, highly technical realm–a world of advanced statistical math and higher level analytical thinking. It’s not for everyone, but I sure wish it were more common in our industry for PR pros, and journalists, to understand the difference between valid research and the silly surveys that are proliferating all over. I don’t think I could have learned everything I now know on my own, without the structure and experience (thesis, etc.) of a master’s program. Whether you choose a master’s or not, keep learning through some formal education (in addition to industry workshops).
I am currently getting my masters because I don’t feel getting an education ever hurt anybody. If you do go back, research programs. It is a common misconception that courses are A) only PR based B) theoretical based. Like Karen said you can become a master in research and qualitative/ or quantitative methods (very handy for those who need and ROI) My degree is hands on and I learn from the best in all fields. A mentor told me it’s not the degree but how you market i (i.e what it can do for you and your organization.) If you ever want to teach you will need an advanced degree. A friend of mine recently got her masters and did did start out as an entry-level position but negotiated a contract where upon review time she was promoted when she proved her self.
No degree will replace hands-on experience. You need both. A degree is by no means a magic wand. There are people without it who are doing great and people with it doing great. I look at the cost of some of these digital conferences. I learn the same thing in my digital courses, however, it’s more in depth and I get hands-on experience.
Hope this helped
As someone who recently received my Masters in Comm. and is working in the PR industry I think having an advanced degree can be an advantage if you know how to use it. Just having it is not going to make you more desirable overall than someone who has a BA but has been in the industry forever.
But I do think that if you would like to get into consulting in the
long-term, an advanced degree can distinguish you.
Just my two cents.
This is a great question as I have pondered myself. A few years ago I decided to go pursue a certificate in public relations because I had limited training in the area and wanted/needed to learn more. Looking back, I’m so glad I did because it was a confirmation that this is a field I love and want to work in. My decision to not go for the masters was outlined in what several of you laid out in your posts: unnecessary debt, and the real importance of on-the-job training.
Since my certificate, I’ve been given the opportunity to put my skills to work on the job and outside of my job and I’m simply looking to expand upon what I have learned.
Wyatt, I couldn’t agree with you more about networking. As an introvert, I have to act confident and get out there and meet the people like Amanda who can provide genuine guidance on how to get your control of your career. There’s not a day I don’t find myself scoping out opportunities to network and you know what? It does pay off.
Karen F., It’s interesting you mention that exact reason for going to get a masters in pr – teaching. To me it sounds like a great fall back plan. In fact, I plan to do so after my many years of working in communications, lol. I’d like to be that cool professor with the knowledge and to be able to share some clients and causes I have worked with in my lifetime.
This was a great post Amanda!