Weighing Grad School as a Photographer

When your job is to press a button all day, graduate school has to be worth the probably massive tuition.

OK, I’m being facetious. Sure, a photography or journalism program can polish your skills and help you reach the next level in your career. But, editors are looking at your portfolio, not your diploma, so what’s a cash-strapped photographer to do?

I have a rule of thumb, one that might be crazy to actually apply, but one that helps keep things in perspective. I try to think of the quality of project, be it a photo essay or something more intensive, that could be produced with the $20,000 that would otherwise pay for two years of tuition at UC Berkeley (which, as Serena recently wrote about, we visited last month).

This $20,000 story would be amazing. On its completion I would have one killer project that I could show to the right people to prove I can tackle a large-budget project, stay focused, and deliver an amazing product.

Alternatively, I could take that $20,000, spend it on food and a roof, and pound the pavement taking photos for a couple years. I imagine I would have just as many projects as I would have completed as homework during a two-year masters program.

The only thing is, I personally would like to advance my writing skills as well as my photography. And undoubtedly there are plenty of complex stories that I know are waiting for me to learn how to cover them.

I’m always going back and forth on the pros and cons of being my own teacher versus paying someone else to show me the way. For a while now, it’s looking like graduate school will be in my future. Maybe in a couple years Serena will be showing me the ropes up at Berkeley.

Before you plunge into debt so you can zone out during a lecture on magazine writing, make sure you’ve weighed your options.