janaep

Are you getting married soon and do you already have publications? I guess I'm just confused....if you're a new grad student and are getting married, it doesn't seem like name confusion would be a problem (but in my field grad students pretty much don't publish, so maybe you've already got stuff out). I think there could potentially be some confusion among random people looking at your CV or reading your papers, but for anything that matters (tenure reviews, job interviews) I think the people who matter will be able to figure it out.

So, I've been advised by a variety of people in my goal industry that while completing my PhD I need to emphasize a specific skill set (so that I can get a job in Industry X later). I'm wondering whether my graduate advisor is the person who will help me outline a tentative schedule of courses over the next couple of years, if there is someone else in the department who normally does that, or if I am on my own. I just sort of threw darts during my undergrad years and it didn't really work out very well, so I'd like to put more thought and preemptive planning into it this time. But I also don't want to email my advisor to ask for his help if that is a ridiculous request....since I already feel stupid when I talk to him as it is.

Should have mentioned that I am aware that the higher-ranked programs will help my immediate career prospects....it is just not clear how much it will help them, and whether that justifies the extra expense and extra year of time invested.

I received an offer to attend a PhD program in my social science field, with minimal funding. The program is very good, but not great (around 30th ranked, FWIW). The fit is quite good, however. The location is unfortunately not good, but I have very narrow regional needs, so most places will be a struggle in that respect. I'm hoping I can live with that. I've also been accepted to Masters of Public Administration programs, but they would also require a significant investment. My end goal is the PhD and eventual jobs in policy and policy research, for which the phd is necessary. My undergrad grades were a stumbling block for my applications, so doing the MPA first would definitely strengthen my future applications significantly. Is it worth shelling out the money and two years--one of which I definitely won't get back--to get into a better program in 2 years, perhaps with significantly better funding? I'm fairly confident I could get into a better program once I have "proven" myself, but I'm having a hard time deciding whether the additional expense ($30K extra, assuming the eventual phd is funded well) is worth it. Does the MPA or MPP add something to my skill set that is useful enough to justify it, or is it superfluous once one has the phd? Which route would you take?