International affairs or Public Policy

[nerwen]

Hi everyone!

I really want to understand how different international affairs and public policy, as graduate courses, are. I am planning to pursue master's in either of the courses but haven't really been able to understand how different the career paths are for each. From what I've learned so far, it seems public policy focuses much more on quantitative skills like statistics, data and economics than IA. Moreover, some people have remarked that IA is too general or vague, especially in terms of profession.

It would be really helpful if any of you could share your own experience.

Some stats about me:

I did my bachelor's last year in computer science engineering with a cumulative GPA of 9.96 on a scale of 10. Currently working as a data science engineer. I don't really have any experience in the relevant fields and am an international student hence I really am confused since most colleges seem to prefer students with at least SOME relevant background and international students may have limited work opportunities in the public sector.