Back to school, again?

Bonnie Flatt was unhappy in her career.

She had gone down a path of almost 20 years in consulting, a line of work that she learned was wrong for her.

Then, seven years ago, she decided to go back to school.

She was immediately euphoric.

“I knew from the first hour of the first class that I’d found my calling,” says Flatt, who is now a Toronto-based leadership coach. She now calls it a “reinvention.”

But it’s not always like that.

If you are among the bored, stalled mid-career professionals who find themselves staring into a cubicle void with a cold cup of coffee on their desk, education can feel the best path to a happier trail.

But is it really a path you should be on? Will it lead you to where you want to be? There are a number of factors to consider before filling out your university or college applications.

Almost 10% of Ontarians aged 25-64 participated in some form of higher education program, according to a 2011 research paper from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. “For many professionals, going back to school for a graduate degree or certification can provide a kind of career reset,” says Dorie Clark, management consultant and author of Reinventing You.

“Going back to school can also introduce them to a new network of contacts who are steeped in this field, and that can be very useful.”

“Don’t enter a mid-career MBA program as a means of finding yourself – there are better and cheaper ways to do that.”

Certain professions – law, for instance – require a degree. So if one of those is your second chosen career, there aren't a lot of options for getting there other than school. But be aware, the majority of careers are not like that. “Don’t enter a mid-career MBA program as a means of finding yourself – there are better and cheaper ways to do that,” says Clark.

For many other jobs, going back to school for a full-time degree program might not be necessary. Short, targeted programs – whether it’s an executive education program, online course or MOOC (Massive Online Open Course, with unlimited enrollment and access) – can be a useful way to provide you with the skills or credentials you need. Clark recommends taking an inventory of what skills you would like to learn and what connections you would like to make. “You want any intervention to be the minimum intervention possible to accomplish your goal,” says Clark. “If you only need to burnish your skills in finance, you don’t need an entire MBA to do that. You could take some evening and weekend continuing education classes and get what you need.”

Opportunity calls, and costs

When thinking about a return to school, it’s important to consider the opportunity cost of checking out of the workplace. “It’s a year or two or three that you could have spent advancing in your career, and in many cases it’s tens of thousands of dollars,” said Clark. The University of Toronto, for example, has the highest law school tuition at over $30,000 a year.

Consider where that money might come from – are you taking it out of savings, out of an RRSP or going into debt? There are potential short- and long-term implications for each of those decisions – especially if you’re dealing with the double whammy of tuition coupled with lost income.

The bottom line on higher ed

There are a lot of angles to consider, but Clark draws a firm bottom line: You should never go back for a full-time degree program unless you’re absolutely confident that’s the career path you want to head down. “If you’re 21 and your parents want to pay for law school and you just think being a lawyer could be fun, it’s probably not the worst choice,” she says. “But when you’re established in your career in your 30s, 40s or 50s, there’s a real cost to these decisions and you have be really certain before you take that leap.”

Being certain about anything can be tough, and Flatt commonly deals with clients who are conflicted about going back to school. She advises them to spend some time examining their values, where they derive a sense of accomplishment, and what they want their future to look like. “A lot of people say a degree won’t hurt. But you could spend a lot of time and money doing something that doesn’t get you any further,” says Flatt.

It’s important to understand, too, that going back to school isn’t your only option when it comes to professional reinvention.

Clark suggests creating content about the new career path you’re keen on – for example, a blog or a podcast to interview relevant people and discuss issues in the industry. Done right, it’s a great way to learn, network with people and establish credibility.

The decision of whether or not to go back to school can be a tough one, but most agree it’s better not to linger in an unhappy situation. “It’s easier to not confront what’s not working so we put Band-Aids over it,” says Flatt.

Image: Self-made millionaire Thornton Mellon, played by comedian Rodney Dangerfield, found merit in getting his degree later in life in the 1986 film Back To School. (Orion Pictures/MGM Studios)