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Ask HN: Grad School

2 points by bobj ↗ HN
It is approaching about that time where I need to decide on whether I should go to grad school or not (I am currently an undergrad). My future goal is to start a start-up, but I don't feel 100% about anyone else I know right now to be my co-founder. Therefore, I am stuck now on deciding whether it is better worth my time just heading over to Silicon Valley and getting involved there and hopefully meeting a co-founder (I have never been there, is this asking for a miracle?) or going to a school like Stanford or UC Berkeley, which would require me to take out a loan and be in some serious debt. I would probably go for a masters degree as opposed to a PhD since I am assuming a PhD is setting myself up to drop out at some point (I don't intend on it taking 6 years to find a co-founder). Is there any reason I should be thinking PhD instead? Also, how certain were any of you that you knew you had the right co-founder at the time of starting your company? I'm not looking for someone to tell me exactly what to do as much as give me more information about why one option may be better or worse than another from the viewpoint of someone who is currently involved in the start-up world.

2 comments

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xynny
Well, as someone who has worked in startups for three years. I think you should at least take on an internship with a startup to see how much you like working in a startup. There is a pretty big financial cost with going to grad school especially if you do a masters. I know that payrates for a person fresh out of a masters program is comparable to the payrate of an undergrad who worked for 2 to 3 years. My opinion is that getting some real world experience is always good before you start your own company.
daveambrose
I second this opinion, particularly regarding real world experience.

I was in a similar situation when I graduated, deciding whether or not to apply for graduate school. I decided to take an internship after I graduated for two months which eventually turned into a full-time job.

I know it's difficult among our generation (Generation Y) to be patient about something important, i.e. a job, graduate school, your own company, etc, but you'll see it'll pay off down the road.

Also, what did you want to study?

Good luck.