GSPP MPP vs SIPA MPA

[vivekyadav]

I am having an incredibly hard time deciding what course to join. I am a doctor by training. After finishing my medical degree from Mumbai, India last year, I decided i wanted to have nothing to do with medicine. My interests lay in the direction of Economics/Political Science and I had really wanted to apply for an Econ Phd. But after considering how competitive the admission to these were, i figured that i was better off applying to a master's program first. Here are my choices:

1. MPP Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley

2. MPA, SIPA, Columbia University

3. MA Economics, Boston University

Since i really want to pursue an Econ PhD at a top school later, which program would be the best for me? I could really do with any feedback at all about this.

Thanks

[s33]

I am having an incredibly hard time deciding what course to join. I am a doctor by training. After finishing my medical degree from Mumbai, India last year, I decided i wanted to have nothing to do with medicine. My interests lay in the direction of Economics/Political Science and I had really wanted to apply for an Econ Phd. But after considering how competitive the admission to these were, i figured that i was better off applying to a master's program first. Here are my choices:

1. MPP Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley

2. MPA, SIPA, Columbia University

3. MA Economics, Boston University

Since i really want to pursue an Econ PhD at a top school later, which program would be the best for me? I could really do with any feedback at all about this.

Thanks

I strongly recommend the MA in Econ at Boston. This will be viewed much more favorably by PhD admissions committees. Even though I am an MPP graduate, I do not believe that an MPP/MPA degree will be viewed nearly as favorably by Econ PhD AdComs as will a good MA in Economics (which BU certainly is). I don't think this is even a close call.

[Minerva473]

What is your ultimate goal? Do you want to work in academia -- be a professor and do research? In that case my guess is the MA in Econ from BU is your best way forward as I have not seen evidence that a MPP or MPA is the best route to an Econ Ph.D.; certainly not GSPP I don't think (I've only heard good things about GSPP but the vast majority of the coursework won't be relevant to an academic career in economics). SIPA might be worthwhile IF you can get a good recommendation from one of the big-name economists there (I have no idea how realistic this is, how many classes they teach, etc), and focus on economics your whole way through.

Have you tried looking on the Econ boards? The people applying for econ Ph.D.s will probably know a lot about this.

I am having an incredibly hard time deciding what course to join. I am a doctor by training. After finishing my medical degree from Mumbai, India last year, I decided i wanted to have nothing to do with medicine. My interests lay in the direction of Economics/Political Science and I had really wanted to apply for an Econ Phd. But after considering how competitive the admission to these were, i figured that i was better off applying to a master's program first. Here are my choices:

1. MPP Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley

2. MPA, SIPA, Columbia University

3. MA Economics, Boston University

Since i really want to pursue an Econ PhD at a top school later, which program would be the best for me? I could really do with any feedback at all about this.

Thanks

[vivekyadav]

Minerva,

Thanks for replying. There is another thing here.. I wrote to a professor in the Economics dept at Berkeley and he said that it was possible for GSPP students to attend PhD courses in the econ dept (especially in the later semesters). He also said that doing well in these classes might make my PhD application quite strong later on. Plus i shall have the opportunity to get recos from some economics profs at berkeley.

Also considering that the MA at boston is only two semesters long, would you still choose Boston MA over the other two? The long term goal is clearly to pursue a PhD Econ at a top school.

thanks

[vivekyadav]

s33,

Thanks for that. Since i am new to this, could you tell me why do you consider the MA at boston so clearly superior to the other choices. I shall definitely check the Econ PhD forums..

thnks

[s33]

s33,

Thanks for that. Since i am new to this, could you tell me why do you consider the MA at boston so clearly superior to the other choices. I shall definitely check the Econ PhD forums..

thnks

I consider the Boston MA clearly superior for your purposes because all of your courses there will serve as preparation for an Econ Phd. While you may be able to take an Econ PhD course or two in the course of an MPP/MPA, most of your courses in policy programs will be peripheral to your main interest, which is academic-track economics. If you certain about the Econ Phd, I do not see how an MPP/MPA will help you all that much (also, there is the opportunity cost of the additional year of study to consider). Finally, economics courses in policy programs (even very good ones, such as Berkeley) simply do not provide the technical training to prepare you for an economics PhD. If you go to BU, you will be spending an entire year obtaining such training. Policy programs and economics programs serve very different purposes. The former are useful and interesting, but they are not a good substitute for intensive graduate-level training in economics.

[vivekyadav]

I consider the Boston MA clearly superior for your purposes because all of your courses there will serve as preparation for an Econ Phd. While you may be able to take an Econ PhD course or two in the course of an MPP/MPA, most of your courses in policy programs will be peripheral to your main interest, which is academic-track economics. If you certain about the Econ Phd, I do not see how an MPP/MPA will help you all that much (also, there is the opportunity cost of the additional year of study to consider). Finally, economics courses in policy programs (even very good ones, such as Berkeley) simply do not provide the technical training to prepare you for an economics PhD. If you go to BU, you will be spending an entire year obtaining such training. Policy programs and economics programs serve very different purposes. The former are useful and interesting, but they are not a good substitute for intensive graduate-level training in economics.

thanks s33, i see your point.

[Minerva473]

Minerva,

Thanks for replying. There is another thing here.. I wrote to a professor in the Economics dept at Berkeley and he said that it was possible for GSPP students to attend PhD courses in the econ dept (especially in the later semesters). He also said that doing well in these classes might make my PhD application quite strong later on. Plus i shall have the opportunity to get recos from some economics profs at berkeley.

Also considering that the MA at boston is only two semesters long, would you still choose Boston MA over the other two? The long term goal is clearly to pursue a PhD Econ at a top school.

thanks

I think I will echo what s33 said, which is that while the one or two ph.d. level econ courses will certainly help, the rest of the degree just won't be relevant to what you want to do. From what I have heard (I am hardly an expert though), economics departments don't care about anything except how good you are at economics, so it's not worthwhile to spend a lot of time and money to do a degree that's not just about economics.

[Bastille]

I think that the advice in this thread is off the mark. For lower-level econ PhDs, sure, the masters from BU might help. For top econ PhD programs, the admissions actually doesn't care that much about economic background (though it's certainly helpful). In fact, if you search around econ PhD advice forums, you will see that the recommendation for transition over to an Econ PhD from an unrelated field is math.

Given your specific goal, I would actually suggest taking a year's worth of math courses, well beyond Multivariate Calculus if at all possible. If any of the MPP programs have offered you significant financial aid, they may be worth considering to improve your "roundedness." (Econ ad-coms certainly won't look down on your knowing something about how economics are applied -- policy -- and it may help you to identify research interests.) The BU MA may let you take math electives along with PhD level econ classes. If so, that's probably your answer. Otherwise, register as a "continuing ed" student somewhere relatively inexpensive and have at it with the math until the next PhD admissions cycle.

Edited April 4, 2010 by Bastille

[s33]

I think that the advice in this thread is off the mark. For lower-level econ PhDs, sure, the masters from BU might help. For top econ PhD programs, the admissions actually doesn't care that much about economic background (though it's certainly helpful). In fact, if you search around econ PhD advice forums, you will see that the recommendation for transition over to an Econ PhD from an unrelated field is math.

Given your specific goal, I would actually suggest taking a year's worth of math courses, well beyond Multivariate Calculus if at all possible. If any of the MPP programs have offered you significant financial aid, they may be worth considering to improve your "roundedness." (Econ ad-coms certainly won't look down on your knowing something about how economics are applied -- policy -- and it may help you to identify research interests.) The BU MA may let you take math electives along with PhD level econ classes. If so, that's probably your answer. Otherwise, register as a "continuing ed" student somewhere relatively inexpensive and have at it with the math until the next PhD admissions cycle.

Bastille's point regarding the importance of math is certainly correct as far as it goes, but at Boston the OP's courses will consist mainly of applied math (along with the option of picking up a pure math course or two along the way). This will serve two important purposes: preparation for the PhD, and signaling that the OP can handle the rigors of graduate economics coursework at a highly respected program (which Boston University is). Further, because the OP will be evaluated by graduate economics faculty at a highly respected economics program, he will have the opportunity to gain letters of reference he needs to gain admission to a top PhD program. If he goes the 'continuing ed' route with math courses, he will still be an unknown to Econ PhD Adcoms, and his chances of gaining entry to a top program will be minute. In contrast, if he does well in the BU Masters program, his chances will be greatly enhanced.

[researchnerd]

I too wanted to get a PhD in Econ (changed my mind)--and the advice I got from econ profs was: math, math, math, math. You need to take Calc 1, 2, 3, differential equations, real analysis, linear algebra BEFORE applying and you MUST get As. They could care less about the econ knowledge you have. That said, your recommendations for PhD programs are key--and Boston University has top people who you should try and get to know to write your recs.

An MPA is a watered down degree where most people cant take a derivative or derive Beta 1 hat to save their lives. No offense folks. Economists are not fooled and you are better served starting relationships with economists at BU and working on those math skills.

[wooldogg]

I too wanted to get a PhD in Econ (changed my mind)--and the advice I got from econ profs was: math, math, math, math. You need to take Calc 1, 2, 3, differential equations, real analysis, linear algebra BEFORE applying and you MUST get As. They could care less about the econ knowledge you have. That said, your recommendations for PhD programs are key--and Boston University has top people who you should try and get to know to write your recs.

I've heard the same thing. Econ programs care about math and the fact that you understand what economics is, but not much else. A top program will likely see an MPP as a sign that you're not 100% focused on research economics, which is all any professor at a top program cares about. Take a look at the Econ PhD thread at test magic and you'll find similar advice there.