Hi Friend,
A writing or editing instructor hearing the question “Should I get a master’s degree?” is as predictable as the sun rising in the morning. Every time my course is run, at least one learner tosses out the idea that they need to get a master’s degree before they feel comfortable calling themself a writer (or editor).
Usually, it looks something like this, “I just don’t feel I have enough knowledge or experience to be a freelancer, and I’m thinking an MFA will give me the confidence I need to run my business successfully.”
I’m not sure where this idea that people need a master’s degree to be a writer or editor came from. Certainly, some creative writing master’s programs have turned out fantastic literary works. But that’s not what we’re talking about here (and to be clear, I don’t know those writers all that well, but my guess is they were talented writers before the master’s program and maybe they just refined their skills a bit).
But for the most part, to be a successful freelancer, you almost definitely don’t need a master’s degree.
Here’s why
1. They’re freaking expensive
My mom was the poster child for academia. Late in her career as a teacher, she decided she needed her master’s degree, so she signed up for one (albeit from an American university, so there’s a lot more money involved). She justified it, saying it would increase her income—but at the same time her income increased, she was stuck paying outrageous student loans. Eight years after she graduated from her program, she received an inheritance from her mother—most of that inheritance went to paying off the remainder of her student loans, which was still massive even after paying her student loans monthly for eight years!
So although her income technically increased, that was offset by her loan payments. And rather than having her inheritance to invest or put in RRSPs, she gave a lot of it up to pay off the remainder of her student loans. From what I can tell, the result was a massive financial loss.
For what? She didn’t need a master’s degree to do her job—she had already been a teacher for decades. Yeah, she may have learned some new skills, but she probably could have learned those through professional development, in a way that wouldn’t have destroyed her bank accounts.
In “To MFA or not to MFA” Sonal Champsee writes, “I may be a writer, but I come from a very long line of accountants. Never go in debt, or spend money you cannot afford, on an MFA degree. (With the possible exception of teachers who know they will get a pay bump for having a Masters degree.) Otherwise, it’s a lot of money that you will not see back.”
(That teacher part might be good guidance for newer teachers, but for my mom, the overriding factor should have been the lack of finances, given how close she was to the end of her career.)
There are many fantastic university certificate and diploma programs, or courses offered by individuals geared to writers and editors that will give you just as much education as a master’s degree but without the crushing grad school debt.
2. Your clients don’t care
Your clients care as much about your degrees as I do about the Olympics, which is to say, not at all. Maybe when you’re first starting your business they might ask about your schooling if you don’t have much of a portfolio. But after my first client, not a single one has asked about my education. (And I honestly don’t remember if my first client asked. She hired me because I was part of the same writing organization as she was, so she trusted me based on that.)
They care that I can do the work, which my portfolio and my marketing show them. How I got those skills doesn’t matter to clients. Maybe I was born with them, maybe I performed a magic spell and drank a potion while dancing around a fire, and now, boom, I can explain bare trusts to people in plain language.
However I came about my skills is of zero importance to my clients. And yours, too.
3. You can’t charge for it
Because clients don’t care about your master’s degree, you can’t really factor it into your pricing. Yes, you can factor experience and wisdom, but if you’re paying $10,000 a month towards student loans (I assume, because inflation), you can’t just charge $10,000 for a two-hour project because you still owe the government for your master’s degree.
Clients won’t pay it because they don’t care.
Honestly, if your hair stylist wrote a master’s thesis about hairstyles during the French Revolution, would you pay a ton more for your haircut? Probably not, unless maybe as she did your hair she also taught you about the French Revolution, but even that feels like a stretch.
4. Freelancing isn’t just about writing or editing
Yes, those are the main services you provide. But your success also hinges on factors like how you run your business, how you manage your time, and how well you network. Those typically aren’t part of a master’s degree. They’re things you learn by actually doing.
Which brings me to my final point…
5. The longer you stay in academic mode, the less time you have to build your successful business
By continuing with endless education, you’re more likely to set yourself up for failure because you’re delaying starting your business. And you’re likely also building up your debt at the same time, which means you’ll have even greater financial pressure when you start your business. And that means you’ll have even more pressure to find high-paying clients immediately (or burn yourself out serving a lot of low-paying clients).
After you’ve mastered the skills of editing, writing engaging copy, and communicating with clients, everything else can be learned on the job or through one-off courses. Not in a grad program.
Why do you want a master’s degree?
That’s the most important question to ask yourself. Unless you’re planning on becoming highly specialized in a very technical industry that demands its communicators have a graduate degree, there isn’t a practical reason for it (unless you believe universities are more deserving of your money than you are).
Most people who ask me about it exhibit a lack of confidence in their abilities. The problem usually isn’t a lack of knowledge—after all, my course is part of an editing certificate program. So if they’re asking me, they’re already obtaining advanced knowledge in editing and writing.
What is a master’s degree going to give them that this certificate won’t? Probably nothing, including confidence. Because, honestly, there’s a limit to how much education can bolster our confidence. At a certain point, you have to get out in the real world, experience failure, and grow from it.
That’s how true confidence is built. Not by taking program after program to obtain more credentials, but by trying something, faltering, and learning from it.
In her article, “Is Everything an MLM?” Anne Helen Petersen writes about the trap of academia. She’s focused more on PhDs, but her point extends to master’s degrees, as well.
She writes, “But academia — specifically, higher ed — does something different. Like my yoga teacher, it affirms what so many of us wanted to believe about ourselves: that we’re good enough, smart enough, potential-filled enough, to go to grad school.”
And that’s the trap that my mom—and, I think, some of the learners in my courses—fall into. That or the opposite—that they feel deeply insecure about their abilities and tell themselves constantly that the more education they have, the less likely they are to fail. We’re trying to prove something, usually to ourselves but sometimes to someone else.
The thing is, it’s an expensive point to make. And in the case of freelancing, there’s very little you’ll learn in a master’s program that will help you build your business.
So if all you want is more confidence in your abilities—or feeling more secure when you start your freelancing business—just send me a few thousand dollars instead and I’ll forward you daily self-affirmations that will make you feel just as confident without the homework.
If you want a master’s deeply and can afford one, then go for it. But you absolutely don’t need one to be a successful freelancer. There are far better things you can do with your money. Like burying it in a hole in your yard. Or investing in some affirmations.
Here’s to your ongoing freelance success,
Heidi