Difference between Public Policy and Political Science

[Dwar]

Hey Guys!

I know that this is a bit late for this application season, but I was wondering if you guys had any insight into the main differences between a PhD from a Public Policy School (WWS, HKS, Sanford, Harris, Goldman, Etc) and a PhD from a Political Science department? 

I mean besides the obvious difference in major, as the Public Policy schools seem to be more focused on specific topics (security studies or development). But besides the difference in major, is there a major difference in the curriculum or the outcome of the students?

They seem to have pretty similar placements either in universities or in the non-academic field. 

Thanks!

Edited January 15, 2019 by Dwar

[TheBunny]

Public policy is considered mostly a professional degree such as medical degree (MD) or law degree (JD). It is more interdisciplinary which I like. Also, there is a high probability that, not all of us will end up in a T5, T10, or T20 schools which will constrain our chances in the academia because inherently academia is a super elite place. I am not trying to be negative, just realistic. I do not think that I can even get into a T50 school in political science because of the excess competition. 

On the other hand, except HKS, nearly all other public policy departments have less competition because the admitted size of people compared to political science is fairly similar, but the application to public policy departments is less than the applications to a political science department. I believe that public policy is more fitting to real life. Political science is more fitting to academia.

However, as public policy is considered a professional degree, they look for a different profile than the classic academic Ph.D. programs. For example, for academia, if you have published or presented in conferences, it has a great effect on your application. In public policy, if you have prestigious internships or better, a full-time, meaningful work experience it is better. 

My experience with public policy is a bit different. I like the public policy subfield a lot, but you can get a public policy subfield in your political science Ph.D. program, as well. For instance, as far as I remember, UMass Amherst has a public policy/law specialization. Northeastern is good at policy-related topics. 

[Dwar]

6 minutes ago, TheBunny said:

Public policy is considered mostly a professional degree such as medical degree (MD) or law degree (JD). It is more interdisciplinary which I like. Also, there is a high probability that, not all of us will end up in a T5, T10, or T20 schools which will constrain our chances in the academia because inherently academia is a super elite place. I am not trying to be negative, just realistic. I do not think that I can even get into a T50 school in political science because of the excess competition. 

On the other hand, except HKS, nearly all other public policy departments have less competition because the admitted size of people compared to political science is fairly similar, but the application to public policy departments is less than the applications to a political science department. I believe that public policy is more fitting to real life. Political science is more fitting to academia.

However, as public policy is considered a professional degree, they look for a different profile than the classic academic Ph.D. programs. For example, for academia, if you have published or presented in conferences, it has a great effect on your application. In public policy, if you have prestigious internships or better, a full-time, meaningful work experience it is better. 

My experience with public policy is a bit different. I like the public policy subfield a lot, but you can get a public policy subfield in your political science Ph.D. program, as well. For instance, as far as I remember, UMass Amherst has a public policy/law specialization. Northeastern is good at policy-related topics. 

Thanks for your response! and thats my thinking as well, that they are more focused either on professional or academia. Thats not saying that someone with a political science degree can't work in industry or vice versa, but I agree that they seem to put a different emphasis on stuff like that. 

Although I would kinda disagree with your point about easier acceptance to public policy programs for PhD ones at least. A few of the programs that I looked at (WWS and Goldman), both said that they only admit like 3 or 6 students or some number like that. For masters degrees I assume that the acceptance rates are much higher, but generally speaking those cost an ungodly amount of money and besides WWS they offer limited to no financial aid for the majority of the students. 

[TheBunny]

For masters, I believe that Harris in Chicago gives you tuition waiver or scholarship according to your merit and your profile. If you have okay to great GREs, relatable work experience, and interested in public policy master, you may think to apply to Harris in Chicago. I do not have a very informed opinion about the other departments. I am singling out Harris among the others because based on my GRE scores, they e-mailed me like five times, and also sent so many snail mail documents and invitations even though I was not thinking to apply to UChicago, at all. My GREs are by no means great, but they were okay. Harris in Chicago created a very positive image in my mind. If the application season were not over, I would have applied to Harris.