Agriff

I've been reading that the way an MPP makes sense financially and/or career-wise is in circumstances where grads are able to use it as leverage to the work experience they already had. My situation is a bit different. I have a BA in Psychology, taught English in Korea for a year after college, and have spent the last 3 and a half years in social work jobs- mostly doing case management. I've been a mental health case manager and am currently working as a medical case manager at a community center for people living with HIV/AIDS. I have been in this field because I've been building experience with the eventual goal of becoming a licensed social worker and a therapist. But after seeing the state of social services and "working in the trenches" so to speak, I've realized that I'm not so sure I want to be working on the individual level. Instead of helping people process trauma I want to be able to work on a macro level to influence the systems that cause trauma. Policy issues like access to mental health services, healthcare, affordable housing, etc. That's where my passion is pushing me. I would love to work for my state's DHS, or Dept of Health, or on a national level at HUD or HRSA. My concern is that while I've been working directly with the systems I want to change on a policy level, I don't have any direct policy experience. And I'm hearing from all of these MPP grad applicants who've had internships or jobs on Capitol Hill, or working abroad at NGOs doing development work, or in other arenas that I have no access to. I've been pushing myself to get as much non-professional experience as possible: I volunteered for a city council campaign and now a state house rep campaign, I'm the chair of my neighborhood association and am leading a housing task force to address affordable housing in the area, I was appointed to my Dept of Health's Heath Equity and Advisory Leadership committee where I'll be advising the state on health policy, and I attend monthly Transgender Equity Council meetings for my city (even though I'm not on the council). But it all seems like small beans compared to the stuff that would make a difference in the career options I have. Was my original understanding of an MPP degree correct in thinking that it could give me the kind of traction I need to gain a foothold into the policy world? Or am I setting myself up to waste a lot of money on tuition only to have essentially the same set of career options that I do now?