Choosing a Career Path

What you end up doing for a living usually has a large connection with the type and amount of higher, additional, or specialized education you need.

Certain careers require much more education than others — becoming a lawyer, for instance, means you’re looking at three years of law school after earning a four year undergraduate or bachelors degree. On the other hand, you might choose an occupation that requires just a two-year college degree, called an associates degree. Some satisfying jobs don’t even require a college education. It’s all up to you — although it’s important to know that a four-year undergraduate degree is increasingly required for many careers, more so now than ever before.

Yet it’s not that simple. The more years you spend in school working toward a specific degree and professional credentials, the more years you probably won’t be able to work full time, which affects how you’ll pay for everyday expenses.

For instance, if you plan to become a doctor, you must spend four years in college as an undergraduate, four years in medical school, and several years in a residency program. During that period, you may live on a relatively meager income or a stipend that makes it difficult to save for the future or afford extras, such as vacations or a new car.

Yet there is usually a trade-off for all those years of sacrifice. Many — though not all — careers that require graduate school eventually allow you to earn a relatively high salary.