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I've already talked to my manager and she said that she would "absolutely be willing" to write me a good recommendation letter for my grad school applications in the future. Remember, I have years (5+) of full time work experience in healthcare which is my biggest selling point to the AdCom. I also have kept in contact with an undergrad professor from before so I am fairly sure I can get a letter from him as well. Since most grad schools require 3 letters, I'll probably just need one more to go. Yes I am aware of those types of papers in grad school. But I don't think I am over thinking it and I believe it's a fair inquisition. Who know's what kinds of formulas each particular MPH grad program uses to accept students, but if it's anything like law or med school: GPA, GRE, experience, and potentially the brand name (to the lesser extent) matters the most over the major. Again, only coming from what I have heard and paroozing the law and med app forums, thus this discussion. Never the less, I thank you for your insight and will consider everyone's input. Thanks. I have decided on Economics simply because I feel I have slightly more interest in it than PoliSci, and perhaps because it will serve as a firm groundwork in my future grad app and job hunt. Something to consider. Although I am talking from the perspective of the grad school AdCom and not job interviews. Say UPenn or Columbia accepts 10 Penn State students to 2 ECU students. I've actually personally talked to a current Columbia MPH student and she said that many of her classmates were Penn State alumni. So even if there are students from lower tier schools in the program, the fact that there were more seats for the bigger brand names takes weight in my decision. I want any "advantage" I can get! But it is fair to consider virtual vs in-class studying. As I am part of the internet generation I feel comfortable using Blackboard and pre-recorded lectures and whathaveyou. My biggest factors now are the in-state vs out of state tuition, but am willing to pay more for the top tier name if it helps me in the future especially since I do not have a lot of semesters left to graduate. No, "online" is not specified anywhere on the degree as I had mentioned in the OP. In fact, both PoliSci and the Econ degrees are in conjunction with the College of Liberal Arts in University Park, the Penn State campus that holds the top tier rank. So yes it is the same degree as someone gets from the traditional program and will display "College of Liberal Arts" on the diploma, but no word of "World Campus" or "Distance Education". I have confirmed this with my enrollment coach.

Forgive me, I was referring it as a placeholder for "Penn+State", obviously not the ivy league school. I agree that the Penn State brand is strong and it is a top 50 school (#46) even if not recognized officially as a public ivy. ECU on the other hand is ranked #199. So with all of my application stats equal, will the Yale AdCom look at Penn State and ECU the same too?...is my question. I have taken a few online courses and have done fairly well, but it would be odd to be out of the classroom full time. Though as I mentioned before I have a full time job and it'll be better for my schedule and I'd have to quit and move if I attend ECU. But at least Econ and PoliSci are less hands on than say Chemistry (my prior major), otherwise it wouldn't be offered as an online degree. Tough call indeed... I'm going off personal antecedents and a quick search on the internet. Two of my friends in undergrad were PoliSci majors and did very well without having to study a lot, while I was working my ass off for a B in Organic Chem II. These were your typical frat brothers who basically bullsh*t there way through school and looked forward to partying and drinking. They are successful now having recently graduated from law school, which of course their high GPAs in PoliSci helped get them to. However, I did not attend the likes of UCLA or Yale where the PoliSci dept is strong, so maybe they had it easier, and am unsure how ECU's or Penn State's are either. Here's a few discussions here, here, here and here. From how I interpret it, PoliSci is similar to any other liberal arts major where you use it as a stepping stone into a grad/professional program, and those are are successful with a lone degree make up the minority. But that is precisely my plan anyhow (to go to grad school) so I am not too worried about job prospects alone on my undergraduate degree. You're right it is not a strict STEM field but I hear it's one of the few liberal majors that can be compared to them. It's not a specific career track like computer engineering of course but ranks well competitively with Accounting and Finance, even supposedly having better prospects and pay. I take no offense and appreciate your perspective and advice. As of this moment I feel the econ degree will give me a leg up even though its "harder" and Ill just have to work a bit more, and thus I am leaning towards it, to answer my own question from the OP. But I feel the polisci degree would be helpful as well and I don't disregard it. I just don't want to write 50 page papers lol. I have taken a Princ. of Macroecon course and did very well, and it helped spark my interest. I admit I have not taken a PoliSci course but AP US Govt and Civics were my favorite courses in high school. And I've done well in similar liberal courses like Western Civilization and Sociology, plus the fact that I want to work in the public sector as a career. I was a science major before, but now that I am older and a non-traditional student, I don't really want to "waste time and money" on taking a few more exploratory classes. Ive already decided I don't want to finish my science degree and am confident I can do well in either PoliSci or Econ....but all things considered equal...I feel the majority of people including myself will say that the Econ degree is harder. Thus, since my only goal is to get a high GPA, it's a matter of less than how I study or the difficulty of professor, but more so the difficulty of the subject itself. Therefore at 100% effort I feel that I will earn a higher GPA in Poli than Econ. But having all that said...I am now leaning Econ anyway!

Thank you all for the insight. I realize I should go for the major that interests me (which is both) but at the end of the day, I want the major that gets me into a top grad program. Technically I have a stronger interest in History but I don't foresee that helping me in anyway for my career as opposed to Poli or Econ. So I wanted to maximize the path to least resistance in terms of GPA from those two majors, which is why I asked those kinds of questions in the OP. Prior to me dropping out of college, I was a pre-health major taking the science courses and did fairly well, so I am sure that I have the classes that correlate with a MPH program. But I no longer care for the strict sciences and am more open to poli/econ, especially now that I no longer want to be a clinician and want to be a healthcare admin. Just from what I've heard from friends who have taken polisci and econ. Also a quick search on the internet shows that polisci is seen as a "joke" major while econ is highly respected and is one of the tougher, STEM majors. But I am starting to lean towards Econ even if its harder and analytical only because I find the theories more interesting. PolySci would only benefit me as someone who wants to work in government one day, but not as a potential public office candidate or anything (nor lawyer). While Econ obviously can apply to almost any real world job, which explains it's prestige as a major. I won't have much research or internship experience but I've been working full time for a few years now at a hospital system. The reason why the online option looked appealing is because I can still work full time at my job and create my own schedule. If I attend the in-state school, I'll have to quit my current job and move to ECU's campus (far from me currently) and perhaps look for a part time job at the hospital system there, or none at all and be subject to rigid in-class scheduling. I may end up doing ECU though for the reasons you stated....but my thinking was, what school has people heard of? Penn State or ECU? Penn is in the top 20 public schools (hence the "public-ivy-esque" nomination) while ECU is a relatively unknown regional school. So would a 3.8 from Penn State beat out the 3.8 from ECU, is what I am saying? And I am looking at the schools in the Northeast where the Penn brand is stronger. But again you make valid reasons with the recommendations and tuition. I'm confident I can get a great recom. letter from my manager but would need a working relationship with my professors. I do believe Penn State World Campus addresses this however, as they advertise their professors' willingness to talk to students on Skype and other Social Media.

Cliffs of cliffs: From perspective of Grad School AdCom, does a 3.8 in Poly Sci beat out a 3.4 in Econ, everything else the same? ---------------------- Cliff notes: -24yo, going back to finish BA/BS. -Healthcare work background -Plan to attend grad school directly after completion. Master in Public Health, concentration in Health Policy/Admin -Career ambition: public health sector administration (VA, military, etc) Q: I keep hearing that the GRE and GPA is all that matters for grad school applications, plus relevant work experience that I do have. But should I want to have an "applicable" but harder degree, or go with an easy major to score a higher GPA? I am thinking of Political Science (easy) vs Economics (relatively harder). I am so-so in math but both majors interest me and apply to my chosen career. For grad school application purposes, will a 3.8 in polysci > 3.4 in econ? Go for the higher GPA or more reputable major? This assumes I won't reach as high GPA in econ as I would for polysci with 100% effort, which I feel comfortable stating. I have interests for personal enrichment in both Polysci and Econ, but concede that Econ looks better and is more desirable. But I do not want to be a lawyer nor economist and am using the degree as a stepping stone specifically to get into grad school, in which case I feel the higher GPA is what counts. Q: I was also admitted to a cheap in-state school (East Carolina U) and an out of state online school (Penn State). Penn State is tier 1 while ECU is a very low tier according to USN&R. Should I go to the cheaper instate school or a public-ivy-esque school? Does undergraduate name matter for grad school applications? East Carolina (in-state) vs. Penn State (public ivy). I should finish my degree in 1-1.5yrs since I have a lot of transfer credits. So I won't necessarily need a lot of tuition to finish my degree, but obviously an in-state school will still be cheaper regardless. It will not say "online" education on the actual Penn degree. I am looking at the top Public Health programs, and assuming I have the stats, would like to attend one of the following: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Dartmouth, Hopkins, UNC. Thank you for any insight!