-- Studious Samia

A: Thank you for writing, Samia, and thank you for contributing the most concise question of the year. The world of graduate study is vast and various, but I will try to give you a very basic atlas.

There are several kinds of graduate degrees, and they serve different purposes. A master's degree typically involves specialized study in an area you became interested in during or after college. If you study full time, it will take a year or two. A doctoral degree involves that sort of specialized study plus an extensive research project. It can take up to six years or more, so you have to really love what you're studying. If you go to medical school or law school, you'll be earning what is called a professional degree (because in the old days, the only official "professions" in the Western world were medicine, law, and the Church).

There are two types of people who pursue these programs: Some students enter them out of terror at leaving the safe, familiar halls of higher education and joining the "real world." But most students enter them in order to prepare for an exciting career in a particular area of interest - including as a professor. Unless you're independently wealthy, aim to be in the second group!

So how do you know if your dream job requires a graduate degree? This web site will help: www.bls.gov/oco