And you thought choosing a college would be hard? Wait until you're faced with B.A., M.A., M.B.A., Ph.D. Let's not forget B.S. (bachelor of science, that is.) If you're having flashbacks from Sesame Street, well, this is a bit more serious then figuring out the letter of the day. Soon you'll have to decide just how much education you wish to pursue, at which point this alphabet soup of degree choices will take on new meaning.

Advanced degrees, beyond the plain vanilla bachelor's you earn after a typical four-year college stay, are proving more valuable these days in a challenging job market. According to a National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Job Outlook 2003 survey, college hiring has dropped 3.6 percent in the past year. Marvin Sills, director of admissions at Rowan University in Glassboro, says, "A bachelor's degree is like a high...