MBA or MPA? (or MPP?)

If you're thinking about getting a professional degree after graduation, one of the questions is whether you might focus on business or policy. MBA's are pretty well known, but students are less familiar with the Masters of Public Administration, or MPA. The National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration describes the MPA as follows:

"The Masters of Public Administration (MPA) degree is the professional degree for people who want a public service career in management. These degree programs develop the skills and techniques used by leaders and managers to implement policies, projects, and programs that resolve important societal problems while addressing organizational, human resource, and budgetary challenges. MPA graduates work in a wide variety of public service fields and in all levels of government (federal, state, local, and regional), in nonprofits, organizations, in the international arena, and in the private sector."

A couple of items to follow up on:

• A short piece in the Wall Street Journal on when it makes financial sense to get an MBA. Find it here;
  
• The Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy, "a twelve month program that combines Columbia University's hands-on approach to teaching public policy and administration with pioneering thinking about the environment." Find out more here.
• Finally, and again from WSJ, an article cautioning going to graduate school because you don't know what else to do, miss campus life, or dislike your first job. It can be an expensive mistake. Read more here.

Update: To refine this discussion a bit more, Professor Weinberger points out a nice breakdown of the differences between the MPA and Masters in Public Policy (MPP) degrees that has been provided by George Washington University; find it here, and their broader site here.

Tags:

• gradschool
• employment