Graduate degrees certainly don’t guarantee a job in the particular area of the south I live in. Of course it depends somewhat on the degree and what you are trying to do with it, but in general graduate degree is not an immediate job puller. I do agree with what G said, though, that a lot of grad degree holders are underemployed. My grad degree is in education and I work in the education field so it is certainly a great ROI for me, as will a Ph.D. be at some point, but not every field is like education. My brother has a very successful, very lucrative management/sales position with a large regional company. He has a high school diploma.
As someone already pointed out, education and intelligence are NOT necessarily the same thing. One of the smartest people I know on this planet went to college for 1 whole semester before dropping by out and moving on with life. One of the dumbest people I have ever known had 2 graduate degrees.
I work with allot of people, used to, that have MIT/YALE/Harvard graduate degrees. They then go to a school where other people are HS graduates. Fail/Pass rate regardless of degree is 40% on average. In all fairness this school is extremely difficult, and 2 years long of nothing but long hrs, extra study and low pay. All suffer there.. Naval Nuclear Power School, Enlisted and Officer alike go through it for Subs/Carrier Nuclear ships. I think the most critical skill is learning a field. I truly believe in the apprentice programs as they move up through their careers with actual on hands and books on the way.. I know medical fields can have people do that, but not required. But many degrees are just business money makers for colleges.
