Not all programs are alike. I got a specialized masters in robotics. That opened up a world of opportunity and allowed me to work on very interesting problems. The space is well funded if you go to a good school, so you don't drain your savings to attend for two years.

For PhDs in the field, I've never seen a more interesting set of problems, though I'm biased. A friend is working on rhythm as related to conversation, and studies dancing robots. It doesn't get much better than that. http://beatbots.org/

The drama of a PhD is less than that of normal office politics. If you act like an adult, everything should be fine.

Here is what Monzy says about drama in the PhD for CS: http://www.monzy.com/intro/drama_lyrics.html