What to choose: master's or graduate school? What does graduate school provide, the pros and cons of postgraduate professional training.

The training is coming to an end, and you look at some of your classmates with sincere surprise. Why did they decide to go to graduate school? After all, freedom is here, already on the threshold! Meanwhile, they know a little more than you. Let's fill this small gap and find out why go to graduate school.

What benefits does graduate school provide and who needs it?

The main goal of graduate school is to obtain the most in-depth knowledge within the chosen topic, and to scrupulously study problems in the chosen direction. And sometimes graduate school aims to make a discovery. It all depends on your own aspirations and beliefs.

Many people think that the only advantage of the whole event is that graduate school provides a deferment from the army. Well, of course, you can’t argue with that – it is true! But there are other advantages of graduate school:

Cons of graduate school

As we said earlier, studying in graduate school has not only pros, but also cons.

When you get tired of "studying"

The first is a rather long path to the final goal. In addition to regular university education, you will have to study in graduate school for a long time, and then successfully defend your Ph.D. dissertation. And all this time you will need to go to the same classes, spend hours in libraries, study and conduct various studies, work through the problems you study down to the smallest detail, and then also pass candidate exams.

All this can get pretty boring even before graduation, which is why not many people have enough strength and desire to continue this “hell” after university. But if you’ve already decided to do it, then it’s final. We recommend reading about.

And here is another point (pleasant for some, unpleasant for others) of what studying in graduate school gives: in addition to all the above-mentioned activities, the graduate student will have to conduct seminars or practical classes with students.

However, if your planned activity is in no way connected with the world of science, then you won’t have to know what graduate school gives you when finding a job in real life. Sometimes it is enough for students to find out whether graduate school provides a deferment from the army in order to go there to study. And in this case, they will quickly come to your aid - they will take on all the burdens of academic activity, and all the merits will remain with you.

Postgraduate studies, clinical residency

Adjunct- postgraduate studies at universities and research institutions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Clinical residency- a form of advanced training for doctors in medical universities, advanced training institutes and research institutions.

Graduate student

Social guarantees

In Russian legislation, the Federal Law “On Higher and Postgraduate Professional Education in the Russian Federation” provides the following guarantees:

P.S. Temporarily, until the spring conscription of 2012, full-time students of unaccredited graduate school are not subject to conscription into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation if they have Appendix No. 2 and a graduate school license, since the decree on obtaining accreditation by graduate schools was issued relatively recently (previously only licenses were required). Universities were given time to prepare.

Russia

In some European countries the terms graduate student And graduate school correspond doctoral student And doctoral studies.

Ukraine

Candidates and doctors of sciences are exempt from military service.

Benefits of graduate school

First of all, students pay attention to the fact that in graduate school it is possible to get a deferment from the army and a scholarship. If a university or research institute trains scientists in a technical specialty, then the amount of the scholarship can be much higher than the minimum in the country, which is currently set at 2,500 rubles. Other advantages should be divided into three large groups:

Opportunity to improve yourself in your chosen profession. This advantage rarely attracts young and ambitious people, so this formulation increasingly attracts mature and already established specialists to graduate school. During their studies, graduate students have access to scientific libraries, laboratories, and attendance at conferences.
The opportunity to engage in science and make your own discoveries and research. Future candidates of science have the prospect of doing science. Even without defending a dissertation, they can make a name for themselves in the scientific world through publications and presentations at conferences.
The option is to go not only to your chosen specialty, but also to teach students. Completing a master's degree also gives you the opportunity to teach, but you will not be accepted into institutions higher than secondary secondary schools. With a PhD you can give lectures at universities.
They pay extra for a scientific degree in the civil service, and higher fees are often given for publications in specialized publications.
Over time, you can defend your doctoral dissertation, which makes it possible to join the management team of a university or scientific institution.

Most often, those who want to engage in scientific research prefer to choose graduate school.

For this, additional training is ready to provide the maximum number of opportunities.

Who might benefit from additional training?

Graduate school can provide other opportunities. For example, increase your quotes on the labor market. It will be useful for those specialists who are too numerous in the labor market to undergo additional training. Finding a good job is much easier for people with an advanced degree. This saying can be applied to:

to the teacher;
economist;
lawyer.

For representatives of the first profession, a scientific degree is a way to find a better-paying job. There are quite a lot of economists and lawyers in our country, so employers give preference to those who have a Ph.D. When applying for a job, they are more willing to be invited to interviews.

An engineer or doctor needs postgraduate study to improve their knowledge and obtain more complete information about the chosen direction. In addition, while undergoing additional training, it is possible to make a discovery. Everything necessary for this is available in the laboratories of research institutes and universities.

Differences between graduate school and residency

If we look in more detail at the advanced training of doctors, they have their own opportunities to become valuable specialists. One of the ways to achieve a high level is residency. You can enter this stage of training with a diploma from a medical university. After residency, a special document (certificate) is issued, which gives the doctor the opportunity to practice.

Postgraduate study is an opportunity to develop theoretical knowledge. After it, the medical worker is awarded an academic degree, with which you can find a job not only in a medical academy or any hospital, but also do research at a research institute, attend conferences and teach among practicing specialists.

Doctors who have completed all possible stages of training and have an academic degree are more willing to be hired by the largest hospitals in the country. They can apply for leadership positions. Most medical institutions that are willing to accept medical professionals with a scientific degree are developing new treatment methods, which will allow the physician to continue research for a long time.

Many students choose to continue their studies after receiving their diploma. Some people understand that science is close to them, while others do not mind immediately improving their qualifications and becoming applicants for more prestigious positions.

All that remains is to understand the different forms of education. This is what we will do in the article.

A postgraduate school is a special structural unit of a university or research institute that trains first-degree scientists—candidates of sciences. A graduate student is a person who has received a higher education or even a master’s degree, entered graduate school to defend his dissertation and become the holder of an academic degree.

By the way, the word itself "graduate student" translated from Latin as "striving for something".

Of course, they continue to study in graduate school. This can be done on a full-time or part-time basis. In the first case, the duration of study is 3 years, in the second – 4. In addition, they are actively engaged in scientific work: collecting and preparing materials for a future dissertation, consulting with their supervisor.

Postgraduate students will have to defend their dissertation as members of the dissertation council at a particular educational institution.

Also, graduate students must pass the candidate minimum. In fact, nothing to worry about, just regular exams. Among them are exams in the specialty, foreign language and philosophy of science. Another important clarification: if you are a graduate student at a university, you must also engage in teaching activities. Typically, graduate students become research assistants.

Competition is one of the forms of training scientific personnel. Scientists themselves work on their dissertation research and, with good results, can count on receiving a PhD degree.

As a rule, already established researchers apply for a job - people who are already working in higher educational institutions or research institutes, have managed to acquire the necessary knowledge and have even written a Ph.D. thesis.

That is, they actually do not need to undergo postgraduate training, which means there is no need for teaching at the chosen department or participation in conferences.

All their time is spent on preparing and properly filing the dissertation research.

The master's program is for students who have received a bachelor's degree and want to improve their qualifications, study selected subjects in depth and prepare a scientific paper on a specific topic.

Residency is a form of advanced training for doctors. Students complete their studies at medical universities, and then enter residency in order to become highly qualified professionals and have the right to carry out independent medical practice (after completion of residency, a special certificate is issued).

Postgraduate studies are focused primarily on training scientists. After successfully passing the candidate's minimum and defending his dissertation research, the graduate student is awarded an academic degree (Candidate of Science).

Good day, dear reader! This article is for those who can’t decide whether or not to go to graduate school after graduating from university? Many former and current students are afraid of their future uncertainty.

Once they graduate from university, what then? After all, you are unlikely to be hired for a high-paying job straight from the training threshold. So? So. And now no one wants to work for pennies. After all, Russia is a country of opportunity after all. You don’t want to vegetate in a low-prestige job in your younger years, do you?

Maybe it would be better, before joining the ranks of working people, to improve your education in order to be more competitive in the labor market? Let's figure it out, you still need to go to graduate school and, if necessary, why.

For those who are not aware, graduate school is postgraduate education. As they say in English-speaking countries - postgraduate (“after graduation”). Typically, graduate students study for 3 years (sometimes 4). There are budget and paid places, everything is like at a university.

Should I go to graduate school or not?

The life of a graduate student is somewhat different from the life of an ordinary student, although both gain knowledge. Only in graduate school, by and large, will you gain knowledge on your own, for the needs of your PhD thesis, while students, for the most part, receive new information through listening to lectures and attending seminars, i.e. from some teacher.

What actually happens in graduate school, and how can it help you when applying for a job?

A good question that requires a detailed answer. If you go to graduate school, then something like the following awaits you.

If at a university you have to write a graduation project that confirms that you have mastered the skills of your specialty, then in graduate school the bar is raised. There, at the end of your studies, you must present your own scientific work on an issue that interests you.

What does it mean? This means that over the years of your graduate studies you must “shove through” more than one hundred different books, scientific journals, articles, etc.

Then, based on the material you have read, form your own scientific vision of the problem you are working on. Then you present your Ph.D. thesis to the commission, which decides whether to award you the academic degree of Candidate of Sciences or not.

What does their decision depend on? First of all, it depends on whether you can prove that your PhD work reflects a completely new (your own) view of the problem under study, i.e. Is there anything in your work that moves science one step forward on this issue?

If you are at a university, you can, with almost no fear, “copy-paste”, i.e. insert “pieces” of text from different books into your supposed thesis work, then such a trick will not work in graduate school. There are very strict requirements for using other people's thoughts. In short, you are unlikely to be able to pass off someone else’s property as your own. You have to work, and work hard.

But if you defend your work before a strict commission, you will be very far intellectually from most people, i.e. from your potential competitors.

Typically, those people who graduate from graduate school with good or excellent results no longer think about the money problem. It simply won’t exist, so why think about it?

Although there are many examples where candidates of N sciences work as ordinary workers on construction sites, factories, janitors, etc.

Why, you ask? After all, they managed to defend themselves before the commission, which means they have more knowledge than the average person? But no. Most likely, such “candidates” ordered their PhD dissertations from some office (fortunately, there are a dime a dozen of them now, the average price of a PhD dissertation is 25-40 thousand rubles).

Having defended their PhD, they come to work, reasonably expecting that they will be given a well-paid position. Annette! Even if yes, then after a short amount of time, such an ungodly “candidate” will be identified and asked for on all 4 sides.

After all, identifying a false candidate is very simple. It will simply not correspond to the declared competence.

Here is the explanation for the low salaries of the intelligentsia. It’s just that these are not intelligentsia at all, but ordinary people who decided to break through to the top of society through deception. And, by and large, self-deception. The system rarely misses non-conforming items. Like Kaspersky, it blocks viruses.

However, if a person is truly capable and honest, if he has really proven through his PhD work that he is worth something in the scientific community, the system approves of this and “shoves” him into the highest class. Everything is just crazy.

Therefore, the next time they tell you that after graduating from graduate school a person works as an ordinary manager in an ordinary company, hinting that graduate school is a waste of time, remember this article. Maybe the person they are telling you about is the very “virus” that the system does not allow further.

We hope you understand that graduate school is a serious undertaking that requires serious people and a serious approach to learning. Are you that kind of person?

You are strong-willed, purposeful, but still wondering whether whether to go to graduate school or not? Then look at what you will face if you decide to go to study after university. Are you ready for this?

Disadvantages of graduate school

First, let's start with the cons of going to graduate school. There are not as many advantages as there are, however, we want to warn you against hasty decisions. So, let's go!

1. To study in graduate school, you need analytical skills and a desire for knowledge. Do you spend hours poring over books looking for the information you need? No? And this will have to be done if you are going to study in graduate school. In addition to searching for information, you still have to analyze it, “isolate” the main thing, and “discard” the secondary.

How did you get on with higher mathematics at university? It will be very useful to you in graduate school. Do you have a desire to delve deeper into any issue? Be sometimes “boring”, proving your point of view to others?

You will need these and other qualities if you are aiming to study in graduate school. Take a good look at yourself and honestly say: do I have similar qualities, or at least the beginnings of them?

If not, and you are not yet a university graduate, but only a far-sighted student (well done!), but the desire to study there is very great, then you need to try to develop them. How? And it's very simple. Participate in all scientific conferences taking place at your university. “Instill” in yourself the habit of scientific work.

2. Money problem.

If you are planning to study in graduate school, then, most likely, at first you will be faced with the fact that you will be very tight with money.

You will already be about 22-23 years old, and naturally you will really need money. You can, of course, work in parallel, but it will be the same as in the saying about two birds with one stone. Concentrate on one thing (better, graduate school) or look for a job that will distract you from the educational process to a minimum.

It won’t be difficult to find such a job now. For example, working as a freelancer can bring you good income at first.

At the end of graduate school, graduate students are usually given legal permission to earn money. You have to teach students intelligence. Yes, maybe they will pay “crumbs” there, but at least it’s something.

Therefore, if you decide to enroll in graduate school, then think in advance about the options for your financial support during the 3 years of your study. Most young people don't go to graduate school precisely because money worries scare them away.

We hope you are not a “simpleton” who thinks “like everyone else.” In today's world, you can find countless opportunities to make money. Therefore, we very much hope that you will not deviate from your intended path to enroll in graduate school because of a money problem.

If you are talented and smart, then give your talent a path, don’t ruin it in the bud!

3. Long “exhaust”

Well, and probably the most important disadvantage of studying in graduate school is that you will have to reap the fruits of your labor after some time. While your friends and acquaintances are working and earning money, buying different things with it, you will read books. You will learn.

But this minus is, as it were, fictitious. In fact, you will be investing in yourself. And investments are the key to success for almost any rich and successful person. Only few people know that rich and successful people first invest...in themselves. And not money (although there is that too), but knowledge. After all, knowledge is very expensive now.

The modern world is overflowing with goods and services, but people with quality knowledge are not. Information - yes. But knowledge - no.

Damn, now you can download almost any book for free, take any video course without paying a penny. The necessary knowledge is so easy to obtain and “absorb” it into yourself. But it's also easy not to do this. The choice is yours

Therefore, do not worry that everyone around you has money, and you are still like a poor student. Firstly, you are far from poor (in spiritual terms, certainly), and, secondly, you are 1000 times more likely to become a “big and respected” person after graduating from graduate school than your friends without a PhD. The main thing is to remember that you should always devote yourself completely to your favorite activity, then the “exhaust” will happen more powerfully and noticeably faster.

Pros of graduate school

Now it’s your turn to tell you about the advantages that studying in graduate school promises you. There are many more of them than there are minuses. Below we will present only the most significant ones to show you that self-education, which involves studying in graduate school, is the key to your future success.

1.Increasing education.

Today, educated people are valued more than ever. A lot has already been created: there are technologies and experience. There is no main thing - people who can successfully manage and coordinate all this.

Therefore, the demand for highly educated people is now greater than ever. On truly highly educated people, and not on “viruses”. Therefore, if you choose to further enhance your education by enrolling in graduate school, you will likely be one step closer to success.

The experience that you will gain by studying the scientific works of the best scientists on your problem will be very useful to you in your practical activities.

You will be more competent than any average specialist in your field. The time of the Soviet “equalization” has passed, the time has come for successful people and ... “simpletons”. It's up to you to decide who you want to be! Graduate school moves you up the social ladder and it's hard to argue with that. Therefore, if you want your intellectual abilities to meet the needs of modern society, then it is vital for you to study in graduate school.

2. Personal growth.

In addition to the in-depth knowledge that graduate school will give you (and really, your self-education), you will also grow as a person.

After all, during your studies you will have to participate in a huge number of various scientific conferences, where the best minds gather.

And among the best personalities, your personality willy-nilly will grow. You will feel this very soon for yourself. If you become a strong personality, you will be less worried about life's problems. Why do you think powerful people became like this? This is because they have a strong core that successfully resists external threats.

Another proof that personal growth is now a very important component of your life is that on almost every corner you can find advertisements for courses on improving self-esteem, public speaking skills, stress resistance, etc.

All this together is personal growth. Since the Internet is replete with such advertisements, it means that there is a demand for such services. And if there is demand, then it is important for modern people.

After all, now everything is changing very quickly, a lot of new things are appearing. All this leads to the fact that people cannot live normally, because... they are subject to various stresses, problems, etc.

However, this will threaten you to a lesser extent, because after graduating from graduate school you will know how to relate to everything that happens in this world. You will know, the feeling of knowing the functioning of the system (the world) will definitely overtake you.

Therefore, if you are planning to study in graduate school, then you have taken a step towards self-improvement. This quality is highly valued in the modern world.

3. Career opportunities.

Of course, most people go to graduate school in order to later be a person with a high-paying job. Money, of course, rules the world, but that’s part of it.

The world is ruled by intelligent people who make the most responsible decisions. After graduating from graduate school, you will join an unofficial club of “steers.” It is those who manage who always receive more than the common worker. Always!

But money should not be your end in itself. The most important thing for you is that you can apply the acquired knowledge for the benefit of society.

If you work conscientiously, the money will come by itself. Once you gain deep knowledge in graduate school, apply it to benefit people. And then our world will become a little better. It is from such seemingly small things that great things are made. Remember this.

4. Forget about the army.

This point concerns the male part.

Firstly, if you enroll in graduate school immediately after graduating from university, then you automatically receive a deferment for the entire period of your studies (if, of course, this is full-time graduate school).

And secondly, if you successfully defend your Ph.D. thesis, and you are awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Sciences, then you can completely forget about the army. According to the Federal Law "On Military Duty and Military Service" dated March 28, 1998 N 53-FZ, you are exempt from service in the Armed Forces of Russia. Just like that.

Conclusion: In this article we examined a question that interests university graduates - to go or not to go to graduate school after graduating from university.

If you still decide to go there, then you should know what awaits you there. Firstly, upon completion of your studies, you will have to present your PhD thesis on a scientific problem that interests you to the certification commission.

This is about the meaning of learning. Secondly, you must soberly assess your abilities: can you study there or not? And thirdly, we told you about the privileges that graduate school can give you after graduation. The choice is yours!

Do everything conscientiously, and our world will become a better place!