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Skip Graduate School, Save $32,000, Do This Instead

by Chris Guillebeau, September 28, 2010 10:51 AM
Three years ago, I invested $32,000 and the better part of two years at the University of Washington for a master's degree in International Studies. The verdict? It wasn't a complete waste of time and money. Once I accepted that 80% of the course requirements were designed to keep people busy, I enjoyed the other 20% of the work.

If you're strictly interested in learning, however, you may want to get a better return-on-investment than I did. Here's how to save $32,000 (or more) through your own self-directed, alternative program. Feel free to revise, subtract, or drop out whenever it's convenient to you.

The One-Year, Self-Directed, Alternative Graduate School Experience

• Subscribe to The Economist and read every issue religiously. Cost: $97 + 60 minutes each week.

• Memorize the names of every country, world capital, and current president or prime minister in the world. Cost: $0 + 3-4 hours once.

• Buy a Round-the-World plane ticket or use Frequent Flyer Miles to travel to several major world regions, including somewhere in Africa and somewhere in Asia. Cost: variable, but plan on $4,000.

• Read the basic texts of the major world religions: the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran, and the teachings of Buddha. Visit a church, a mosque, a synagogue, and a temple. Cost: Materials can be obtained free online or in the mail — or for less than $50 + 20 hours.

• Subscribe to a language-learning podcast and listen to each 20-minute episode five times a week for the entire year. Attend a local language club once a week to practice. Cost: $0 + 87 hours.

• Loan money to an entrepreneur through Kiva.org and arrange to visit him or her while you're abroad on your big trip. Cost: Likely $0 in the end, since 98% of loans are repaid.

• Acquire at least three new skills during your year. Suggestions: photography, skydiving, computer programming, martial arts — or even the flying trapeze. The key is not to become an expert in any of them, but to become functionally proficient. Cost: Variable, but each skill is probably less than three credits of tuition would cost at a university.

• Read at least 30 nonfiction books and 20 classic novels. Cost: approximately $750 (be sure to support Powell's!).

• Join a gym or health club to keep fit during your rigorous independent studies. (Most universities include access to their fitness centers with the purchase of $32,000 in tuition, so you'll need to pay for this on your own otherwise.) Cost: $25-75 a month.

• Become comfortable with basic presentation and public speaking skills. Join your local Toastmasters club to get constructive, structured help that is also beginner-friendly. Cost: $25 + 2 hours a week for 10 weeks.

• Start a blog, create a basic posting schedule, and stick with it for the entire year. You can get a free blog at Wordpress.org. One tip: don't try to write every day. Set a weekly or bi-weekly schedule for a while, and if you're still enjoying it after three months, pick up the pace. Cost: $0.

• Set your home page to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage. Over the next year, every time you open your browser, you'll see a different, random Wikipedia page. Read it. Cost: $0.

• Learn to write by listening to the Grammar Girl podcast on iTunes and buying Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Cost: $0 for Grammar Girl, $14 for Anne Lamott.

• Instead of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, read The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs, a good summary. Cost: $10 or less.

TOTAL COST: $10,000 or less

Note: The total cost of the self-directed, alternative graduate school program does not include housing or food, but neither does the tuition for traditional school programs in the U.S. and Canada. Freedom and independence, however, are included at no extra charge.

Study hard! See you tomorrow.




Books mentioned in this post

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Anne Lamott

Know It All One Mans Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

A J Jacobs

Art of Non Conformity Set Your Own Rules Live the Life You Want & Change the World

Chris Guillebeau
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53 Responses to "Skip Graduate School, Save $32,000, Do This Instead"

Observer X May 1, 2013 at 07:49 AM
Nice article, except for one thing... I you can read the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran, and the teachings of Buddha, visit a church, a mosque, a synagogue, and a temple, all in 20 hours, you should for get about education, buy a cape and fight crime because you've got super-powers.

7LeagueBoots September 23, 2012 at 08:47 PM
True as far as it goes. If you're in grad school only for personal development, I completely agree that you can do more and better independently. Unfortunately, the grad degree is often a door opener for further professional opportunities, and one of the best aspects of school is the connections you make and the exposure to new things from like-minded people and from people who have spent a large amount of their life sorting through the various resources out there. Grad school, and undergraduate school, in the US is criminally over-priced, but we are living in a global system that imposes strong caps on your professional potential if you lack the requisite pieces of validating paper. Stupid, but that is how it is.

Michael May 29, 2012 at 10:52 PM
Yeah, I did that through out my undergraduate study and still only got a BA. If only I had been the primary mover on writing a book saying this was all you need, I could have afforded that unnecessary master's.

Colleen May 27, 2012 at 02:15 PM
Too bad you can't really put these on a resume. Grad school still necessary.

SparkleBerry September 10, 2011 at 12:50 AM
I've found this post really really interesting. I've started in a similar project a few months ago: reading the key texts, watching important films, weekly reading of The Economist... I have to say though it does take me rather longer than 60 minutes to read The Economist! Thanks for the inspiration to expand my project! www.verysparkleberry.com And here is my little post on your brilliant website: http://www.verysparkleberry.com/2011/09/08/brilliant-websites-on-philosophy-learning-and-speaking/

Sandra August 14, 2011 at 06:51 PM
Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers. The ONLY reason is for a JOB! I know a young man who refused to argue his dissertation based upon his dislike of a board member. What a waste of money, time and effort. He still has the career he would have had, the wife he would have had and is as strange a person as ever. He can program a computer and is a super IQ but would get lost in the parking lot. Five years in a University for one afternoon of I am better than you at this decision.

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