Public Policy vs. Specific Discipline

[InquiringMind]

I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts on what the advantages and disadvantages would be of obtaining a PhD in public policy versus earning a PhD in a more traditional discipline, e.g. sociology.

Thanks in advance.

[hunter58]

I have actually been advised against going to a public policy phd program from my economics professors and recommendation writers. The reason was because they viewed it as vague and harder to employ in terms of finding placements in academia. It seems that public policy schools tend to hire candidates who have graduate degrees in specific disciplines (economics, sociology, political science, etc.) than public policy. I was also told by a couple of people at the IMF, IFPRI, etc. that they prefer specific disciplines when hiring, but that if you do a great dissertation that it will be less of an obstacle. It seems that public policy phds are viewed with some skepticism (although I'm sure this depends on the public policy program a candidate was in).

[brlbrl]

I have actually been advised against going to a public policy phd program from my economics professors and recommendation writers. The reason was because they viewed it as vague and harder to employ in terms of finding placements in academia. It seems that public policy schools tend to hire candidates who have graduate degrees in specific disciplines (economics, sociology, political science, etc.) than public policy. I was also told by a couple of people at the IMF, IFPRI, etc. that they prefer specific disciplines when hiring, but that if you do a great dissertation that it will be less of an obstacle. It seems that public policy phds are viewed with some skepticism (although I'm sure this depends on the public policy program a candidate was in).

I think this is generally true in that individuals with a Public Policy PhD will generally be eligible to be hired in a policy school but not in a standard academic department whereas those with a PhD in a specific discipline can teach in both. If you go the Public Policy route, I think it is very important to make sure that you have a strong grounding in a specific discipline (e.g., Economics, Sociology, etc). Take the first-year courses and comps in the home department and acquire additional expertise in policy-relevant research in the policy school. Duke and Michigan both have new Public Policy programs that take this approach. In addition, I'm sure you could fashion your own program in a disciplinary field at Berkeley or Princeton (WWS). Chicago and Harvard seem a little more rigid. If you are able to do so, I think the advantage is that you have both expertise in your disciplinary field and in applied public policy research. Of course, you can always find a way to do this sort of work in a standard disciplinary department though this may not be preferred if you would really like to do interdisciplinary social science research.