Advice on grad school, please?

I am in desperate need of some advice. I do not care whether your opinion is well-informed; if you have something to say, I want to hear it.

My specific questions are the following:

1. Is a Master's degree worth it if the long-term goal is to start a business?

2. Is a Master's degree worth it now, in this strange economic climate, with universities in budget crunches and a collapse of higher-ed-as-we-know-it looming?

3. What is the goal of graduate education if not learning? If that were the goal, I would do better to stay home and educate myself, right?

4. To what extent does the choice of school, choice of degree program, and choice of advisor (if I am given one) matter?

5. Where on the spectrum of extremely specialized to extremely generalized should I be?

6. Are online degrees a reasonable option?

7. Is it alright that I want to eventually start a business but am completely turned off by the idea of an MBA?

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Below are some additional complicating factors. I would appreciate any thoughts on these as well.

8. The areas of study I am considering are the following: behavioral economics (my 2008 self hates me for this), social psychology, experimental economics, information economics, (health) analytics, information visualization, information design, genomics, and biostatistics. To me they seem closely related but there is slim chance of finding much overlap in a traditional setting. And none in particular stand out.

9. My long-term plan is to support myself primarily on the income from my investments, and the most important factor with investments is time. A Master's would be at least a two year set back, possibly more -- a big deal. One potential solution is to keep my job and do a Master's at night; plus, my company would subsidize the cost if it is work-relevant.

10. I am in a house. It is not much of a financial burden, but it means I am less mobile. I would basically limit myself to Duke, UNC, or NC State (I happen to be close to the geometric center of that triangle).

11. With the entrepreneurial aspect, I have heard mixed reviews. Some say a Master's would help in signaling to potential investors and employees that I am competent, but others say getting a Master's could actually hurt your prospects as an entrepreneur because it puts you in a very slow-moving non-entrepreneurial environment.

12. I have been spoiled by online learning. This is not to criticize my undergrad experience, but I truly believe I learned more the past year than I did in 4 years and 152 credit hours of undergraduate coursework. The reason, I think, is because I approach learning differently when it is not assigned to me. Plus, with online lectures like Academic Earth, I love the ability to watch whenever I want, pause, back up, speed up, and skip lectures if I so desire. It makes a big difference in the learning experience, and I am afraid I would be frustrated going back to a traditional classroom environment.

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Maybe I am over-thinking this -- I am trying to remind myself that no matter what I choose, I will be fine -- but this seems like a decision deserving of careful consideration.

Thank you so much for your attention. If the comments section is not for you, feel free to send thoughts to justinwehr[at]gmail.com.

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