Should I run college track for another year — or get a real job?
Ask A Decision Coach is Chegg Life's advice column, in which Nell McShane Wulfhart, a professional decision-making coach, responds to readers’ letters about the crossroads they face.
Dealing with a big career, money or life decision? Email Nell at lifedecisions@chegg.com or fill out this form.
Dear Decision Coach,
I’m trying to make a big life decision. I have been a Division 1 NCAA track athlete for three years now. I focused on it all of my undergraduate career. I’ve graduated from undergrad and decided I want to get a Ph.D. in psychology. Here’s the thing: I still have two years of NCAA eligibility left because athletes were given years of eligibility back because of Covid.
I don’t know whether I should prioritize my career, making money and my Ph.D. — or finishing out my track career.
In order to compete for both my last two eligible years of track, I could stay at my undergraduate college for a year-long master's degree while running track. I’d apply to Ph.D. programs for the fall of 2023 and then compete for my last year of eligibility during the first year of my Ph.D. There are some disadvantages to this option. I’m not in peak physical condition, so I’d have to get back in shape. We have a new track coach who I’d have to adjust to. I know Ph.D. programs won’t accept all the credits from my master’s. And while I could work some on the side, I wouldn’t have much income this year. On the other hand, I enjoy competing as a D1 athlete and part of me wants to see through my potential in track and field.
If I don’t do a masters, I would apply to Ph.D. programs this year to start in the fall of 2023. During the year between undergrad and my Ph.D., I could move to a larger city and get a job for a year. This plan feels smarter financially since I’d earn money that year. Moving to a large city where I don’t know anyone is intimidating but will be an adventure. However, this would mean that my track career would be over. I won’t compete during my year off, and then, because I will have missed two years of training at that point (I didn’t run my senior year), it won’t really be possible to do track the first year of my Ph.D.
Either way, I know I want to apply to a Ph.D. program for fall of 2023, I just don't know whether I should start working to make money now or get back to track and compete for the next two years. I don’t know whether I want to prioritize my career and earning money or essentially stall those things in order to do something I love, that brings me a lot of fulfillment. I’m turning 23 in a few months. Part of me wants to start earning good money. Another part of me feels like I have my whole life to work, but I will never have the chance to compete as a D1 athlete again or see how much I can accomplish.
What should I do?
Sincerely,
Confused-but-Dedicated Athlete
Hi Confused-but-Dedicated!
Thanks for writing. I think this decision speaks to a choice we have to make often in our lives: How do we know when to quit?
I get this question from clients all the time. How do you figure out when you should throw in the towel and when it’s better to keep going?
In your particular case, good news! Both your options are great ones. If you keep running track, you get to fully realize your potential as an athlete, do something you love and feel fulfilled. If you spend the next year working in a new city, you’ll get to start making money, and you’ll enjoy the thrill of feeling like a grown-up in your post-college, big-city life.
But! The second option—moving to a larger city and getting a job—has a tremendous number of unknowns. Although you describe it as the financially smarter choice, are you sure that’s the case? Is there a job you could get that would pay rent and expenses, leave you with enough time to get to know people and make friends and that you’d actually enjoy? From my perspective, getting comfortable in a new job and city can take time, often many months, so you might just be starting to feel at home by the time your Ph.D. program kicks off.
If you decide to start the master’s degree and get back to track, there are numerous known benefits. You’ll be making progress on your career by working on the master’s, fulfilling your athletic potential (so you won’t be asking yourself “what might have been” in a decade) and doing something you won’t have the chance to do again. Working is, sadly, something you’ll have to do for the next, oh, 40 years. Possibly more.
There are a few caveats, though. Financially, will doing the master’s degree add significantly to your student debt? Also, what percentage of the credits you’ll earn will count toward your Ph.D.? If a master’s is going to add lots of unnecessary debt and/or the credits won’t be that useful, then the scenario changes significantly. In that case, I’d say go for the job instead.
The decision-making business is really the regret-minimizing business. Humans spend most of their time trying to lessen the possibility of sadness or pain, which makes sense! And so when we make decisions, we try to arrange our lives so that we won’t have any regrets. Now, that’s obviously impossible, but it is possible to minimize your chances of regret. And one of the ways to do that is to choose the option that has an expiration date. Moving to a new city and getting a job? You have a lifetime to do that. You can do that whenever you want! Running D1 track? It’s now or never.
Pushing yourself to the max as an athlete is a chance that won’t come around again. Go for it. Run fast, win medals, study hard. One day you’ll be Dr. Confused but Dedicated, and you’ll be glad you didn’t spend more of your youth at work.
Best,
The Decision Coach
Nell Wulfhart runs the decision coaching service Decide and Move Forward. She has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, T Magazine, Al Jazeera, New York Magazine, Food and Wine, Bon Appetite and Travel + Leisure, among other outlets. She is the author of, The Great Stewardess Rebellion: When Women Launched a Workplace Revolution at 30,000 Feet.
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