At some point, the undergraduate adventure has to come to an end. And with it, many of the great things about being a student are replaced with the pressures and pains of life out in the real world. While moving on to the challenges of a career can replace many of these perks–whether in terms of providing you job satisfaction or a healthy pay packet–there’s no denying that post-student life will involve more in terms of responsibilities and less in the way of lie-ins, midweek partying and the freedom to devote most of your time to social and intellectual pursuits that truly interest you.

“But wait,” you may be saying, “there is a way to let the good times roll on. It’s called postgraduate study. It’s definitely a real thing; why else would there be people in the union bar who look like they should’ve been slung out a decade ago?”

Well, strictly speaking, you’re right. Postgraduate study is indeed a real thing, with the postgraduate community in the UK getting bigger every year. However, just because something does exist doesn’t mean that you have to do it.

We’re not saying that postgraduate study is a bad idea–far from it. It’s a fantastic way of gaining new skills or scratching intellectual itches that your undergraduate degree couldn’t reach, and for some careers postgraduate qualifications are a basic requirement.

What we are saying, however, is that in considering postgraduate study you have to ask yourself the following question: Am I just doing this to avoid the real world/to continue living the student dream? Because if you are, it could well be that postgraduate study is not for you.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, there is the question of expense. While undergraduate study is expensive nowadays, postgraduate study is also pretty pricey, especially if you take a science or business course. And unlike with your undergrad tuition fees, if you go down the route of postgraduate study you’ll have to pay your fees up front. And there’ll be no cushy government-backed student loan with generous repayment options, either. Secondly, postgraduate study is no walk in the park. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that in many cases the amount of material you cover in a single year of postgraduate study equals or even exceeds what you do in an entire undergraduate degree. And as you’ve probably discovered already, nothing eats into student life like hard work.

So if you’re panicking about finishing university, or are yearning for a return to your undergraduate glory years, postgraduate study may not be the answer to your problems after all. As an alternative, why don’t you have a look at our careers section and start looking for something different though equally rewarding to turn your efforts to?

Having cast a sceptical eye over the suitability of postgraduate study in this blog post, next time we’ll have a look at it in a more positive light, examining its many benefits. So if after reading this you’re still convinced that you’re not just contemplating postgraduate study to avoid the real world, then be sure to drop by later in the week to find out just what it could do for you.