While graduate school is often touted as a way to specialize in a given field and increase earning power, opponents argue it can put students into debt without helping them get better jobs. Here are some pros and cons of going to grad school:

PROS

Gives the job market a few years to bounce back

Opportunity for more specialized student loan debt

Provides more impressive credentials to parents’ friends

Can experience college life anew as mature, wizened 26-year-old

Increases chance of finding perfectly matched partner while staring across piles of paper at law school study session

Will make you stand out among other unpaid interns

Undergraduate degree suddenly good for something

CONS

May be unable to communicate with people who haven’t gone to grad school

No money left to frame second degree

Only small percentage of PhDs actually go on to be featured in History Channel specials

Could be a lot of work

Will have to say thesis topic out loud

Impossible to truly relive glory days of co-ed madrigal singers

Could lead to career in academia