American Masters and Public Policy Progams

[jaxx]

Hi guys, in the past I thought that I was going to do an econ PhD but have recently changed my mind and now think that I may eventually apply for public policy programs. This past fall I applied to an assortment of masters programs and have decided to enroll in an economics masters program (MS at UDelaware). I was wondering if you think this would be good preparation for public policy programs (assuming I do well in the masters). I plan on working at a policy organization for a couple of years after I finish the masters as I have heard experience can be helpful. Do you think this plan makes any sense? I have looked at a number of the top policy programs and it is hard to get a grasp of how competitive these programs are. My ugrad gpa was 3.8 and I scored 790 on the math part of the GRE, 560 on the verbal part and 4.5 on the writing section. Thank You.

[Marshall]

Don't underestimate how hard it is to get your first job in public policy. I had a friend also with a masters who had a really tough time finding anything since he didn't have experience. Also, my impression of the top public policy programs is that they really like experience and they like quantitative backgrounds but it's not necessary to have heavy quant background like in econ. With an econ MA if you get good grades you'll probably be a little above the median in terms of quant. preparation. I think, though, because they place more weight on experience and intangibles (research potential) they probably weight letters even more highly.

[OneArmedEcon]

A MA/MS in Econ is really more of a substitute for a MPA/MPP than a complement or prereq. Or are you talking about doing a PhD Public Policy?

[jaxx]

Hi thanks for your responses. I was thinking of masters programs, though I see why you would say that this would be redundant. I guess I was thinking the econ degree would help get my foot in the door in policy but the masters in public policy or administration would lead to more options with greater networking, etc. in policy specific areas. My BS was in econ but I didn't think I had the ability to get good work experience in policy with a bachelors which is what led me to consider this current path.

[Humanomics]

If you do a policy program, make sure it's at a rigorous school. There is just an (expletive) enormous variance in quality of MA's out there, especially in one of these high-demand fields like policy. My DGS told me outright when I was considering policy instead of PhD track as and undergrad, that policy programs tend to be watered down. They have to be -- they get candidates from so many different backgrounds that they can't count on a uniform base of prerequisite skills and knowledge. So apply everywhere that the competition is fierce, or risk ending up bored for two years and without a job after.