When a listener wrote in about leaving their job to return to uni for a post-grad, I had flashbacks to my own midlife university adventure — and all the mistakes I made.

In this episode, I share why I rarely recommend a full-blown post-grad as the first step in a career redesign, plus the three red-flag scenarios where it’s usually the wrong move. I also tell the very real (and slightly messy) story of my own year back at university, balancing motherhood, academia, and a dwindling supply of energy.

You’ll hear the rare situations where post-grad study does work beautifully, the key questions to ask before you enrol, and some low-risk ways to test your interest without draining your savings or sanity.

If you’re considering going back to uni, this one’s for you.

👉 Join the Fierce Emporium and work through my exact clarity process before you invest your time, money, and self-worth in a huge leap. Explore The Fierce Emporium.

Hi, I'm Lucia Knight and this is the Joy At Work podcast.

Here's this week's question from a listener.

I've been thinking about resigning and going back to uni to

do a post-grad course in something I'm actually interested in.

I know I've heard you say before that you don't usually recommend that route.

Can I ask why not?

ooh, this is a goodie and brings back memories for me.

So let me start here.

If you have the means, the time, and you genuinely love learning, then by all means

go and study something that lights you up.

Do it knowing that it might refresh your brain, add new energy to your

life and bring back a little spark, but also do it knowing it won't

necessarily solve your career problem.

Now, I'm a fully paid up member of the Lifelong Learning Club, so I'm

not against studying a midlife.

Not at all.

But I am against going back to university under three specific circumstances.

One, if you are using it to run away from work you hate.

Two, if it's a way to postpone making real career decisions, and three,

if you haven't properly researched what it will actually lead to.

In those three scenarios, going back to university becomes a very

expensive, very time consuming, totally exhausting escape hatch and escape.

Hatches don't tend to lead to clarity, confidence, energy, or career joy.

I'm passionate about this topic because frankly, I did it all wrong.

I became the poster child for poor decision making about

going back to school in midlife.

At the right bald age of 42, I quit a well-paid job with bonuses,

benefits, the car allowance, the lot to go back to university, full-time

to study a master's in psychology.

And I did it for all the wrong reasons.

Number one, I was running away from a career coma.

Two, I was hoping the course would make the big decisions for me.

Three, I hadn't done proper research on the course, the outcomes, the workload,

or how it would actually fit into my life.

I believed naively that the clarity I needed would arrive once I got there.

It didn't.

Instead, I became a full-time student, 25 hours of lectures a week, 16 exams,

16 assignments, and a dissertation that took eight months to complete.

At the same time, we let our full-time nanny go.

So I also became the default primary parent school run six days, bath

times, dinners, packed lunches.

I rode to lectures on my basket bike like a middle edged woman on the

edge of a panic attack, balancing motherhood, running a household,

academia, and sheer survival.

There were no margins left to squeeze, no time for friends.

Little fun, limited energy to be a relaxed fun or even a mildly pleasant wife.

Life became function over form.

The eyes were on the prize of finishing this year intact.

My husband, who worked long hours and had a decent commute, saw me mostly

asleep and going to bed to deal with the following day's onslaught.

And in the final months, he sole parented most weekends as the race

to the finish and handing in that dissertation became paramount.

We made it through, just.

But I hope you can see that the costs weren't just financial.

They were human.

Now, of course, everybody's situation is different and the listener's situation

may be very different, but the scale of the commitment is what often gets

underestimated when we're blinded by hope.

So here's what I'd encourage our listener to do before clicking the enroll button

or handing in that resignation letter.

First, be realistic about the commitment.

Emotionally, financially and physically, whether full-time or part-time post

grad study takes over your life.

It's not just your decision, it's a family decision, a lifestyle

decision, a self-worth decision.

Second, figure out what exactly you expect to get from the investment.

Most people hope a course of this size and shape will bring

clarity, fresh confidence, career direction, and better opportunities.

But unless you've already done the inner work to understand your values,

your superpowers, the kinds of problems you're excited to solve, and the shape

of the life you want to build, then even a shiny new post grad certificate

may just land you in a new version of the same old stuckness with a side of

student debt and depleted cash reserves.

Over nearly a decade of working with brilliant midlife professionals, I've

seen very few people for whom a full blown post grad course was the right next move.

But let me share two rare exceptions.

First, Carrie, not her real name.

She came from a long line of psychologists, but had ended up in HR.

She burned out twice because her superpowers weren't being used.

She had a deep, longstanding interest in clinical psychology and

knew it was the one thing she had to do, but she did her research.

She knew the market, and she knew she wouldn't be considered without a master's.

Fast forward to now, and she works part-time as an assistant psychologist

and is thriving in work and in life.

Then there's Dan.

He spent over two decades in finance and climbed to partner level in a top

firm, but he had a specific passion in a niche area of international politics.

He saved up and took a career break.

During which time we worked together to map out his superpowers

and to identify the kind of contribution he wanted to make.

He researched the space deeply, spoke to lots of people, and found a

master's course that would directly help him carve out a new niche.

He now splits his time between part-time consulting in his old field

and slowly learning and building something new, and so super exciting.

These examples are rare.

So if you are considering like our listener, a post-grad,

here's a few of my suggestions.

Ask yourself, what do I want my life to look like after this?

What problem is this course solving for me?

What problems could passing this course help me solve for others?

Is there a lower risk way to explore this interest first?

And then start small, tiny, really have short conversations with people

who've done the course, volunteer or shadow, even for an afternoon.

Sit in on a lecture as a guest, sign up for a taster course or multiple

taster courses, research industry norms, job roles, pay skills, working hours.

Map out your superpowers to this new career, are they needed valued?

Are they well compensated?

Because if your new path doesn't need your superpowers, it's likely

to lead to either burnout or just a different kind of dissatisfaction.

If this is resonating with you, we work through the exact process

inside the Fierce Emporium.

Before you invest your time, your savings, and your self worth

in a bigger leap I'll put some details in the show notes for you.

Going back to uni might still be our listeners right next move, but it

needs to be part of a clear confidence strategy for the next decade, not a

short term emotional escape route.

So do the research, ask the questions, test the fit, and if the idea still

stands strong, then by all means.

Dive right in.