读研一定优于工作吗？

保研or考研，果真就比直接工作更好吗？大学生该选考研还是选工作？你怎么看？

无注释原文：

Should You Go to Graduate School?

Harvard Business Review

Although the rich world is enjoying a long spell of unprecedented job growth and low unemployment, competition for the most competitive roles remains fierce. Tech companies like Google and Microsoft reportedly receive two million applications per year, and banks like Goldman Sachs attract in the thousands.

While these employers, among a growing number of others, are unanimously highlighting the importance of critical soft skills — such as emotional intelligence, resilience, and learnability — as determinants of performance, the most in-demand jobs require graduate credentials, to the point of surpassing current levels of supply.

At the same time, the number of people enrolling in university continues to rise, effectively devaluating the undergraduate degree. In America, one-third of adults are college graduates, a figure that was just 4.6% in the 1940s. Globally, UNESCO reports that the number of students earning a university degree has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

In light of these figures, it is easy to understand why more and more of the workforce is considering going to graduate school. In the U.S., the number of graduate students has tripled since the 1970s, and according to some estimates, 27% of employers now require master’s degrees for roles in which historically undergraduate degrees sufficed.

What, then, are the motives you should be considering if you are trying to decide whether or not to enroll? How can you determine if the time — and especially the money — required to pursue a graduate education will actually pay off or not? Here are some factors to consider:

Reasons You Should Go to Grad School

1. To bump up your salary potential.

It’s no secret that people who have graduate school degrees are generally paid more money than those who don’t. While a 25% increase in earnings is the average boost people see, attending the top MBA programs can increase your salary by as much as 60-150% (whereas a masters in Human Services or Museum Sciences will increase your earnings by a mere 10-15%).

2. To set a career change in motion.

AI and automation are replacing many roles with others and a growing proportion of workers are being pushed to reskill and upskill to remain relevant. There’s no doubt that most of us will have to reinvent ourselves at some point if we want to do the same. If you find yourself in this situation currently, grad school may not be a bad choice. The bigger challenge, however, will be picking what to major in. If you set yourself up to be a strong candidate for jobs that are in high demand, you risk being too late to the game by the time you graduate. For instance, if everyone studies data science in order to fill unfilled vacancies, in a few years there will be a surplus of candidates. A better strategy is do your research and try to predict what the in-demand roles will be in the future.

3. To follow your passion.

It’s not uncommon for people to get stuck in the wrong job as a result of poor career guidance or a lack of self-awareness at a young age — i.e. failing to know their interests and potential when they began their careers. This leads to low levels of engagement, performance, and productivity, and high levels of burnout, stress, and alienation. Pursuing your passion, therefore, is not a bad criterion for deciding to go to grad school. After all, people perform better and learn more when their studies align with their values. If you can nurture your curiosity and interests by pursuing rigorous learning, your expertise will be more likely to set you apart from other candidates, and increase the chances of ending up in a job you love. Note that even robots and AI are being programmed to emulate this free-floating aspect of human curiosity in order to match human’s capacity for autonomous and self-directed learning.

Reasons You Should Not Go to Grad School

1. You can learn for free (or for much less money).

There is a plethora of content — books, videos, podcasts, and more — that are now widely available, at no cost, to the general public. Arguably, much of this free content mirrors (or actually is) the material students are studying in grad school programs. Therefore, if you want a master’s degree simply to gain more knowledge, it’s important to recognize that it is possible to recreate learning experiences without paying thousands of dollars for a class.

2. You may be wasting your time.

Historically, people have mostly learned by doing — and there is a big difference between communicating the theoretical experience of something and actually going through that experience. This is a truth that can’t be changed by a graduate (or undergraduate) education. In fact, most Fortune 500 firms end up investing substantially to reskill and upskill new hires, regardless of their credentials. For instance, employers like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all pointed out that learnability — having a hungry mind and being a fast and passionate learner — is more important than having acquired certain expertise in college. Along the same lines, many employers complain that even the best performing graduates will need to learn the most relevant job skills, such as leadership and self-management, after they start their jobs.

3. You will probably go into debt.

For some grad school programs the ROI is clear, but there’s a great deal of variability. It can be challenging to find a program that is certain to boost your income in the short run, particularly if you also want to study something you love.

It seems, then, that the decision to go or not to go to grad school is as complex as uncertain, for there are no clear-cut arguments in favor of it or against it. To be sure, it is not easy to predict what the ROI of grad school will be, though the factors outlined here may help you assess your own individual circumstances. Like any big decision in life, this one requires a fair amount of courage and risk taking. In the words of Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist who pioneered the modern study of decision making under uncertainty: “Courage is willingness to take the risk once you know the odds. Optimistic overconfidence means you are taking the risk because you don’t know the odds. It’s a big difference.”

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为机器翻译仅供参考，并非一一对应

含注释全文：

Should You Go to Graduate School?

Harvard Business Review

Although the rich world is enjoying a long spell of unprecedented job growth and low unemployment, competition for the most competitive roles remains fierce. Tech companies like Google and Microsoft reportedly receive two million applications per year, and banks like Goldman Sachs attract in the thousands.

尽管富裕世界正享受着前所未有的长期就业增长和低失业率，但争夺最具竞争力的职位依然激烈。据报道，谷歌和微软等科技公司每年收到200万份申请，而像高盛（Goldman Sachs）这样的银行则吸引了成千上万的申请。

熟词僻义，表示“（持续的）一段时间；（某种天气或活动的）短暂发生期”，英文解释为“A spell of a particular type of weather or a particular activity is a short period of time during which this type of weather or activity occurs.”如：a spell of bad luck 一段倒霉的日子，举个🌰：

There has been a long spell of dry weather.

干旱天气已持续很长一段时间了。

表示“史无前例的，空前的；绝无仅有的”，英文解释为“never having happened or existed in the past”举个🌰：

This century has witnessed environmental destruction on an unprecedented scale.

环境在本世纪遭到了空前的破坏。

🎬电影《星运里的错》（The Fault in Our Stars）中的台词提到：You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are. 你太忙于做自己 都没有意识到自己是那么的令人心动。

表示“激烈的；狂热的”，英文解释为“Fierce feelings or actions are very intense or enthusiastic, or involve great activity.”举个🌰：

Consumers have a wide array of choices and price competition is fierce. 

消费者的选择面很广，价格竞争也很激烈。

While these employers, among a growing number of others, are unanimouslyhighlighting the importance of critical soft skills — such as emotional intelligence, resilience, and learnability — as determinants of performance, the most in-demand jobs require graduate credentials, to the point of surpassing current levels of supply.

越来越多的雇主都一致强调关键的软技能--如情商、适应力和学习力--作为业绩的决定因素的重要性，而需求量最大的工作则需要毕业生的学历，甚至超过了目前的供应水平。

unanimous作形容词，副词形式unanimously，表示“一致同意的/地”，英文解释为“When a group of people are unanimous, they all agree about something or all vote for the same thing.”举个🌰：

Editors were unanimous in their condemnation of the proposals. 

编辑们一致谴责这些提议。

The board unanimously approved the project last week. 

董事会上周一致同意批准了这个项目。

resilience /rɪˈzɪliəns/ 表示“快速恢复的能力；适应力”，英文解释为“the ability of people or things to feel better quickly after sth unpleasant, such as shock, injury, etc.”

表示“决定因素”，英文解释为“A determinant of something causes it to be of a particular kind or to happen in a particular way.”

1）一般用复数，表示“（表明某人有资格做某事的）资历；（身份或资格的）证明文件；资格证书；证明书；证件”，英文解释为“Someone's credentials are their previous achievements, training, and general background, which indicate that they are qualified to do something. Someone's credentials are a letter or certificate that proves their identity or qualifications.”如：her credentials as a specialist 她作为一名研究专家的资历。举个🌰：

All the candidates had excellent academic credentials.

所有候选人都具有优秀的学历。

She was asked to show her press credentials.

她被要求出示记者证。

surpass表示“优于；超过”，英文解释为“If one person or thing surpasses another, the first is better than, or has more of a particular quality than, the second.”举个🌰：

He was determined to surpass the achievements of his older brothers.

他决心超过他的几位哥哥的成就。

At the same time, the number of people enrolling in university continues to rise, effectively devaluating the undergraduate degree. In America, one-third of adults are college graduates, a figure that was just 4.6% in the 1940s. Globally, UNESCO reports that the number of students earning a university degree has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

与此同时，上大学的人数不断增加，实际上贬低了本科学历的价值。在美国，三分之一的成年人都是大学毕业生，这个数字在20世纪40年代只有4.6%。联合国教科文组织报告说，在全球范围内，过去20年里，获得大学学位的学生人数增加了一倍多。

表示“（使）加入；注册；招（生）；吸收”，英文解释为“If you enrol or are enrolled at an institution or in a class, you officially join it.”举个🌰：

I was enrolled at the University in 2016. 

我是2016年上大学的。

In light of these figures, it is easy to understand why more and more of the workforce is considering going to graduate school. In the U.S., the number of graduate students has tripled since the 1970s, and according to some estimates, 27% of employers now require master's degrees for roles in which historically undergraduate degrees sufficed.

从这些数字来看，我们不难理解为什么越来越多的劳动力在考虑读研。在美国，自20世纪70年代以来，研究生的数量已经增加了两倍，而且据估计，现在有27%的雇主要求拥有硕士学位的人从事一些在原本本科学历就足够的工作。

表示“根据；考虑到，鉴于”，英文解释为“If something is possible in the light of particular information, it is only possible because you have this information.”举个🌰：

In the light of this information it is now possible to identify a number of key issues. 

根据这一信息，现在有可能发现很多关键问题。

🎬电影《完美音调2》（Pitch Perfect 2）中的台词提到：In light of this embarrassing 鉴于这个让人尴尬的...

📺美剧《硅谷》（Silicon Valley）中的台词提到：Well, in light of recent activities, it appears that I could do a goddamn thing about it. 有鉴于最近的种种 看来我还是有办法的。

suffice /səˈfaɪs/ 表示“足够；满足要求”，英文解释为“If you say that something will suffice, you mean it will be enough to achieve a purpose or to fulfil a need.”举个🌰：

A cover letter should never exceed one page; often a far shorter letter will suffice.

附信绝不应超过一页；通常一封更短的信就足够了。

What, then, are the motives you should be considering if you are trying to decide whether or not to enroll? How can you determine if the time — and especially the money — required to pursue a graduate education will actually pay off or not? Here are some factors to consider:

那么，如果你正在决定是否要读研，你应该考虑的动机是什么？你如何才能确定为接受研究生教育所花费的时间--尤其是金钱--是否真的会得到回报呢？以下是一些需要考虑的因素。

Reasons You Should Go to Grad School

读研的理由

1. To bump up your salary potential. 提高你的薪资潜力

It's no secret that people who have graduate school degrees are generally paid more money than those who don't. While a 25% increase in earnings is the average boost people see, attending the top MBA programs can increase your salary by as much as 60-150% (whereas a masters in Human Services or Museum Sciences will increase your earnings by a mere 10-15%).

拥有研究生学历的人普遍比没有研究生学历的人工资高，这不是什么秘密。虽然25%的收入增长是人们看到的平均提升，但就读顶尖的MBA课程可以让你的薪水增加高达60-150%（而人类服务或博物馆科学的硕士课程仅能让你的收入增加10-15%）。

表示“抬高；增加，提高（数量或尺寸）”，英文解释为“to raise or increase”举个🌰：

The distributors will probably bump up the price of the software.

经销商很可能要对软件提价。

2. To set a career change in motion. 掀起职业变革的热潮

AI and automation are replacing many roles with others and a growing proportion of workers are being pushed to reskill and upskill to remain relevant. There's no doubt that most of us will have to reinvent ourselves at some point if we want to do the same. If you find yourself in this situation currently, grad school may not be a bad choice.

人工智能和自动化正在取代许多其他角色，越来越多的工人被逼着重新学习技能和提升技能以保持自身价值。毫无疑问，如果我们想做同样的事情，我们中的大多数人都必须在某些时候重新塑造自己。如果你发现自己目前处于这种情况，读研可能是一个不错的选择。

表示“在进行中；使…开始运转，启动”，英文解释为“If a process or event is in motion, it is happening. If it is set in motion, it is happening or beginning to happen.”举个🌰：

The current chain of events was set in motion by that kidnapping.

目前的一系列事件都是由那次绑架引发的。

grad school = graduate school 表示“研究生院”，英文解释为“In the United States, a graduate school is a division of a university or college where graduate students are taught.”举个🌰：

She was in graduate school, studying for a master's degree in social work.

她那时在研究生院攻读社会工作硕士学位。

The bigger challenge, however, will be picking what to major in. If you set yourself up to be a strong candidate for jobs that are in high demand, you risk being too late to the game by the time you graduate. For instance, if everyone studies data science in order to fill unfilled vacancies, in a few years there will be a surplus of candidates. A better strategy is do your research and try to predict what the in-demand roles will be in the future.

然而，更大的挑战将是选择什么专业。如果你把自己设定为需求量大的工作的有力候选者，那么当你毕业时，你就有可能来不及了。例如，如果每个人都学习数据科学以填补空缺的工作岗位，几年后就会出现候选人过剩。更好的策略是做你的研究，并尝试预测未来的需求职业是什么。

表示“职位空缺；空职；空额”，英文解释为“A vacancy is a job or position that has not been filled.”举个🌰：

Most vacancies are at the senior level, requiring appropriate qualifications.

大多数空缺在高层，要求适当的资历。

表示“过剩；剩余（的），多余（的）；过剩（的）”，英文解释为“If there is a surplus of something, there is more than is needed.”举个🌰：

We are unlikely to produce any surplus this year.

我们今年不太可能有任何盈余。

3. To follow your passion. 随心所欲

It's not uncommon for people to get stuck in the wrong job as a result of poor career guidance or a lack of self-awareness at a young age — i.e. failing to know their interests and potential when they began their careers. This leads to low levels of engagement, performance, and productivity, and high levels of burnout, stress, and alienation. Pursuing your passion, therefore, is not a bad criterion for deciding to go to grad school.

由于年轻时疏于职业规划或缺乏自我意识--即开始职业生涯时未能了解自己的兴趣和潜力--而陷入错误的工作中，这种情况并不少见。这导致了低水平的参与度、绩效和生产力，以及高水平的倦怠、压力和疏离。因此，追求自己的激情，并不是决定去读研究生的坏标准。因此，随心所欲，并不是决定是否去读研的坏标准。

表示“陷入的”，英文解释为“If you are stuck in a boring or unpleasant situation, you are unable to change it or get away from it.”举个🌰：

I don't want to get stuck in another job like that.

我不想陷入另一份那样的工作中。

1）表示“精疲力竭；过度劳累”，英文解释为“the state of being extremely tired or ill, either physically or mentally, because you have worked too hard”。

2）表示“（火箭）熄火点，燃烧终止”，英文解释为“the point at which a rocket has used all of its fuel and has no more power”。

补充一个说法：

📍burn the candle at both ends表示“劳累过度；起早贪黑而疲惫不堪”（to work or do other things from early in the morning until late at night and so get very little rest）

alienation /ˌeɪljəˈneɪʃən, ˌeɪlɪə-/ 表示“疏离感；疏远感”，英文解释为“the feeling that you have no connection with the people around you”。

After all, people perform better and learn more when their studies align with their values. If you can nurture your curiosity and interests by pursuing rigorous learning, your expertise will be more likely to set you apart from other candidates, and increase the chances of ending up in a job you love. Note that even robots and AI are being programmed to emulate this free-floating aspect of human curiosity in order to match human's capacity for autonomous and self-directed learning.

毕竟，当人们的学业与他们的价值观相一致时，他们的表现会更好，学到的东西会更多。如果你能通过严格的学习来培养自己的好奇心和兴趣，你的专业知识将更有可能使你从其他候选人中脱颖而出，并增加最终找到一份你喜欢的工作的机会。请注意，即使是机器人和人工智能也在被编程来模拟人类好奇心的这种独立自由的一面，以符合人类的自主学习能力。

表示“专门技能（知识）；专长”，英文解释为“a high level of knowledge or skill”举个🌰：

We admired the expertise with which he prepared the meal.

我们很羡慕他那一手烹调绝活。

表示“效仿；努力赶上；同…竞争”，英文解释为“to try to do sth as well as sb else because you admire them；If you emulate something or someone, you imitate them because you admire them a great deal.”举个🌰：

She hopes to emulate her sister's sporting achievements.

她希望在运动成绩方面赶上她姐姐。

Reasons You Should Not Go to Grad School

不读研的理由

1. You can learn for free (or for much less money). 你可以免费学习（或者花更少的钱）

There is a plethora of content — books, videos, podcasts, and more — that are now widely available, at no cost, to the general public. Arguably, much of this free content mirrors (or actually is) the material students are studying in grad school programs. Therefore, if you want a master's degree simply to gain more knowledge, it's important to recognize that it is possible to recreate learning experiences without paying thousands of dollars for a class.

现在有大量的内容--书籍、视频、播客等--可以免费向大众广泛提供。可以说，这些免费的内容大多反映了（或实际上是）学生在研究生课程中学习的材料。因此，如果你想获得硕士学位只是为了获得更多的知识，重要的是要认识到有可能在不支付数千美元的课程的情况下重塑学习经验。

plethora /ˈplɛθərə/ 表示“过多（过量）某事物”，英文解释为“a plethora of sth formal a very large number of something, usually more than you need”，如：a plethora of suggestions 一大堆建议。

作动词，1）表示“反映”，英文解释为“to represent something honestly”举个🌰：

The book inevitably mirrors my own interests and experiences.

这本书不可避免地反映出了我自己的兴趣和经历。

2）表示“与…很相似”，英文解释为“to be very similar to something”举个🌰：

Her on-screen romances seem to mirror her experiences in her private life.

她在银幕上的浪漫故事似乎与她的私人经历很相似。

2. You may be wasting your time. 你可能在浪费你的时间

Historically, people have mostly learned by doing — and there is a big difference between communicating the theoretical experience of something and actually going through that experience. This is a truth that can't be changed by a graduate (or undergraduate) education. In fact, most Fortune 500 firms end up investing substantially to reskill and upskill new hires, regardless of their credentials.

从历史上看，人们大多是通过实践来学习的--而交流某件事情的理论经验和实际经历这种经验是有很大区别的。这是研究生（或本科生）教育无法改变的事实。事实上，大多数财富500强企业最终都会投入大量资金对新员工进行再培训和提高技能，无论他们的学历如何。

For instance, employers like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all pointed out that learnability — having a hungry mind and being a fast and passionate learner — is more important than having acquired certain expertise in college. Along the same lines, many employers complain that even the best performing graduates will need to learn the most relevant job skills, such as leadership and self-management, after they start their jobs.

例如，谷歌、亚马逊和微软等雇主都指出，学习能力--拥有一颗求知若渴的心和快速而富有激情的学习者--比在大学里掌握了某些专业知识更重要。沿着同样的思路，很多雇主抱怨说，即使是表现最好的毕业生，在上岗后也需要学习最相关的工作技能，比如领导力和自我管理。

3. You will probably go into debt. 你可能会负债累累。

For some grad school programs the ROI is clear, but there's a great deal of variability. It can be challenging to find a program that is certain to boost your income in the short run, particularly if you also want to study something you love.

对于一些研究生项目来说，投资回报率是明确的，但有很大的差异性。要找到一个肯定能在短期内提高你收入的项目是很有挑战性的，尤其是当你还想学习你喜欢的东西时。

ROI, return on investment的缩写，表示“投资回收率”。

It seems, then, that the decision to go or not to go to grad school is as complex as uncertain, for there are no clear-cut arguments in favor of it or against it. To be sure, it is not easy to predict what the ROI of grad school will be, though the factors outlined here may help you assess your own individual circumstances. Like any big decision in life, this one requires a fair amount of courage and risk taking. In the words of Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist who pioneered the modern study of decision making under uncertainty: “Courage is willingness to take the risk once you know the odds. Optimistic overconfidence means you are taking the risk because you don’t know the odds. It’s a big difference.”

看来，读不读研的决定既复杂又不确定，因为没有明确的赞成或反对的观点。可以肯定的是，尽管这里概述的因素可能会帮助你评估自己的个人情况，但是要预测读研的投资回报率是多少并不容易。就像人生中的任何一个重大决定一样，这个决定也需要相当大的勇气和风险承担。用诺贝尔奖获得者、开创了现代不确定性状况下的决策研究的心理学家丹尼尔·卡内曼（Daniel Kahneman）的话说：“勇气是你知道了几率就愿意承担风险。乐观的过度自信意味着你是因为不知道几率才去冒险。这是很大的区别。”

表示“清楚的；明白无误的；显而易见的”，英文解释为“clear or obvious without needing any proof”举个🌰：

She has clear-cut evidence that the company cheated her.

她有确凿的证据表明公司欺骗了她。

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