Just starting...

[IUJosh]

I am getting ready to enter my senior year of college at Indiana university and really having trouble deciding where to go for graduate school and what to study. I will graduate with an honors degree in sociology and a gpa of around 3.8. I really don't think I want to study sociology though and am more interested in a 2 year, professional masters program. I have been thinking about public policy, masters in health administration, or even a law degree. I know IU's SPEA has a good reputation when it comes to public policy, but, I am really tired of living in a college town....What are some things I should be considering in these areas? Any suggestions, or novel programs I simply am not considering?

Thanks!

[jeffster]

It's hard for us to pick when you don't know yourself! Maybe we can help with questions.

Why do you want to go to grad school as opposed to entering the work force? What didn't you like about sociology? Why masters or jdr instead of PhD? Do you have some career goals? How strong do you feel about not living in a college town again?

With a few of these answers we might be able to come up with some relevant advice.

[OregonGal]

You could also check out the professional programs forums, if you haven't already. MPP folks are gathered in the Government Affairs board, MPH under Public Health.

However... I would advise you that the strongest MPP/MPA programs look for candidates with real life experience. These are professional programs, the terminal degree for most of the professionals, and therefore they want to cultivate people who already know that this is what they want to do and can contribute to the classroom through the lens of their individual experiences. For a senior in college who doesn't really know what field he wants to go into, that might not be the best option for you. As for law degrees, while you do go in straight after undergrad that is a tremendous amount of debt to go into when you're not sure you want to be a lawyer.

Do some research, as Jeffster said; figure out what parts of your sociology degree/university coursework you liked/didn't like, and what you can do with the parts that you did like. Then you might want to consider working for a year or two to test out what you want your career to be in before applying to graduate school.

[ANDS!]

I am getting ready to enter my senior year of college at Indiana university and really having trouble deciding where to go for graduate school and what to study. I will graduate with an honors degree in sociology and a gpa of around 3.8. I really don't think I want to study sociology though and am more interested in a 2 year, professional masters program. I have been thinking about public policy, masters in health administration, or even a law degree. I know IU's SPEA has a good reputation when it comes to public policy, but, I am really tired of living in a college town....What are some things I should be considering in these areas? Any suggestions, or novel programs I simply am not considering?

Thanks!

MPH's are hot ticket items. Do a Google for Public Health programs; there are several in pretty sexy areas.

[TropicalCharlie]

Since you mentioned public policy as an interest, expand your grad school search to energy policy and environmental economics. The job outlook for these fields is very positive as every agency is developing goals, plans and policy to work with upward demands for energy while balancing economics. In addition to governmental agencies, lucrative careers can be made in consulting. I worked for a niche environmental economics firm some time back, and they couldn't hire consultants fast enough to fill project demands.

[imonedaful]

Since you mentioned public policy as an interest, expand your grad school search to energy policy and environmental economics. The job outlook for these fields is very positive as every agency is developing goals, plans and policy to work with upward demands for energy while balancing economics. In addition to governmental agencies, lucrative careers can be made in consulting. I worked for a niche environmental economics firm some time back, and they couldn't hire consultants fast enough to fill project demands.

I will second this. Where I live (Florida) there are quite of few young professionals working in these type of jobs. They seem to be doing quite well for themselves.