Job offer or master's? Questions to ask before you decide

Start by writing down what you want your working life to look like in about five years. It does not have to be a precise job. It might be doing deeper technical work, or managing a team, or running something of your own, or earning enough to support your family while you work out the rest. Every other question is easier to answer once this one is on paper, because you can ask of each option whether it gets you closer.

Then read the offer as carefully as you would a contract, because that is what it is. What is the pay, and how much of it is fixed rather than variable? What will actually reach your account each month? What is the probation period, and what changes after it? What is the notice period, during and after probation? Is there a service agreement or a training bond, and what happens if you leave early? What is the joining date, and are there conditions attached to the offer, such as a final result or a background check? What will the role really involve, and what will you learn in the first year? Is the offer valid for a limited time? A genuine employer never asks you to pay to hold or process an offer, so if anyone does, stop and ask your placement cell.

Now read the study option with the same care. Is it a confirmed admission, an offer subject to conditions, or a hope that you have not yet applied for? What does the full programme cost, not just the first year? Has any scholarship, fee waiver or assistantship been confirmed in writing, or only mentioned? How would the rest be funded, and what would repayment look like on a realistic salary? What did the programme's graduates go on to do, and how does the programme measure it? If the programme is abroad, what are the current rules on working during and after study? Those have been changing in several countries, so confirm them on the official government site.

The next group of questions often changes the decision: what can be postponed? Ask the employer, in writing, whether the joining date can be moved or the offer deferred, and for how long. Ask the programme whether an admission can be held for a year. Find out how long your exam scores stay valid. A GATE score, for example, is valid for three years, and a GRE score is reported for five, so a year or two of work does not usually waste them, though a CAT score is valid for only one year. Check the current validity on each official site. Many things that seem to close on a fixed date turn out to be movable, and some do not. You want to know which.

Then test for reversibility. If I take the job and later want to study, what would stop me? If I study and later want to work, what will I have given up? How much borrowing would I carry whichever way I go? Which choice would I regret more if it did not work out? Which one keeps more options open for the next two years? A more reversible choice is not always the right one, but it should be named, because it is often the one people forget to consider.

Be honest about reasons. A good reason survives a second question. I want to study because the job I want asks for it. I want to work first because I want to find out what I like. Reasons that are only defaults sound like reasons and are not: everyone in my group is doing it, my family expects it, I do not know what else to do. Some of these are still fine reasons to study, but it is better to say them out loud, so the cost is accepted knowingly.

Then talk to the people involved. Share the one-page comparison rather than only your conclusion. Ask each person what worries them most, and listen before replying. Separate facts that can be checked from opinions. If the family is paying, agree what the limit is, and who bears what. People often argue about the choice when the real disagreement is about the money or about the fear of falling behind.

Finally, set a decision date and keep it. Write down why you chose, so you can remember it in a difficult month. Tell the other side promptly and politely, since you may want to deal with the same employer or the same programme later. Plan the first three months of whichever route you took. And set a date, six months or a year ahead, to review how it is going, without punishing yourself. Neither choice is final in the way it feels at the time, and a decision made with the facts in front of you is one you can live with, whichever way it goes.