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 st opportunities in the public sector.

[ab1987]

You have not mentioned what your academic and professional interests are. Why you want to pursue either of these courses? In general, public policy programs are geared more towards imparting policy research and analysis skills with an end-goal of evidence-based policy making in your chosen policy domain. International Affairs programs are focussed on providing you conceptual knowledge of a wide variety of interdisciplinary issues such as geopolitics, conflict management, human rights, political economy, diplomacy, sustainable development, etc. You can refer career reports of schools like HKS, UChicago Harris, CMU Heinz and Duke Sanford to get an idea of career opportunities after MPP programs. For IA programs, you can look at career reports of Johns Hopkins SAIS, Columbia SIPA, Georgetown SFS, and Tufts Fletcher. 

[ExponentialDecay]

I'm afraid it's much more difficult than a general definition for either of those terms.

• Career paths: there is no set career path for either of those degrees. It depends on a variety of factors, like your background, what school you go to, what classes you take, what internships you do, whom you meet at this one happy hour... I know tons of people with either degree, and they're employed in anything from investment banking, to the State Department, to random private companies, to local government, to moving back home and working at the supermarket.
• Courses: entirely depends on the school you go to. Regarding quantitative skills, some MPPs are considered STEM degrees by USCIS - and some are not. But at some of the ones that are not, you can still structure your curriculum in such a way that you're doing applied math 90% of the time. If you have specific curricular requirements, you need to carefully go through the course offering of each school you're considering and make the decision from there.
• IA is too general: so is the MPP. It's up to you to structure your courses and work experience. You can come out of either degree a renewable energy financing specialist, or you can come out with a "liberal arts" background and no discernible employability.

 

[quote] I really am confused since most colleges seem to prefer st opportunities in the public sector.[/quote]

I'm not sure why you're confused. You do know that MPP stands for Masters of Public Policy, right? The word "public" is literally in there lol. If you're not interested in working in or substantially with the public sector, it's probably not the right degree choice for you.