My biggest counter to this is the reason I went to grad school (MBA - done on an evening program) After a layoff is a great time to reassess what you are doing

My biggest counter to this is the reason I went to grad school (MBA - done on an evening program) After a layoff is a great time to reassess what you are doing in your career. My wife is an associate attorney, many of whom are getting laid off right now. If she got laid off she's not sure she'd go back in to law. I was an engineer who wasn't sure I wanted to write code for the rest of my life so I got an MBA. Grad school is a great way to get a "second" chance at what you want to do, particularly if you've spent a couple of years working and found that the reality of your career doesn't match the vision you had in college. In fact, regardless of being laid off, I'd recommend taking a couple of years off between undergrad and grad school working before starting a graduate program.