Professional prorams for someone with an MA in philosophy

[drewball_s]

I recently received an MA in philosophy with a high GPA (3.9) and two years teaching experience. I'll be applying for PhD programs in philosophy by the end of the year.

However, I'm worried that I should apply to some non-philosophy programs. It's notoriously difficult to get into good philosophy phd prorams and I've been told that professional programs generally like having students from different backgrounds. Is this true? I've been thinking about public policy, education policy, maybe environmental policy, or possibly economics.

I have a few questions: 1. How difficult would a MA in, say, public policy be? Obviously it's not astrophysics, but it's not underwater basketweaving either. 2. How difficult do the math requirements tend to be? I have had a significant amount of logic (and some basic inductive logic) but haven't taken statisitcs or calculus. 3. What turns me off to some of these degrees is that for every class that sounds interesting there seems to be three awfully boring classes (like advanced statistical methods or accounting). How enjoyable are degrees like this? Coming from philosophy, I'm used to really engaging courses that span everything from philosophy of math to aesthetics.

Any thoughts for back-up plans to philosophy phd programs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ridofme]

Are you looking to change directions, or is this simply a stopgap or something you're hoping will bolster your future philosophy PhD applications? I am only in the application stage, but everything I've read and been told suggests that public policy degrees are meant to be professional programs. People go on to PhDs, for sure, but I think they tend to be in more 'practical' fields. (I personally know one who did a PhD in Government at Georgetown and another who is currently applying for Econ programs).

I guess your question strikes me as a little strange. A two-year master's is a huge commitment - financially, time-wise, emotionally, etc. If you're just looking to be a more interesting philosophy PhD candidate, why not spend a year working abroad or tree-planting in British Columbia or living on an ashram or doing pretty much anything else that costs less than 40 grand/year + living expenses?

[drewball_s]

I'm looking for a backup plan if I don't get into a decent philosophy phd program. I enjoyed my MA and even if I don't go on to a Phd, I won't see the time or effort as a waste of any kind. I got a free ride too so that helps!

My idea is that if I don't go to a phd program I'll get a two year degree in a professional program in order to get a job that I don't think is too terrible.

[ELM616]

I recently received an MA in philosophy with a high GPA (3.9) and two years teaching experience. I'll be applying for PhD programs in philosophy by the end of the year.

However, I'm worried that I should apply to some non-philosophy programs. It's notoriously difficult to get into good philosophy phd prorams and I've been told that professional programs generally like having students from different backgrounds. Is this true? I've been thinking about public policy, education policy, maybe environmental policy, or possibly economics.

I have a few questions: 1. How difficult would a MA in, say, public policy be? Obviously it's not astrophysics, but it's not underwater basketweaving either. 2. How difficult do the math requirements tend to be? I have had a significant amount of logic (and some basic inductive logic) but haven't taken statisitcs or calculus. 3. What turns me off to some of these degrees is that for every class that sounds interesting there seems to be three awfully boring classes (like advanced statistical methods or accounting). How enjoyable are degrees like this? Coming from philosophy, I'm used to really engaging courses that span everything from philosophy of math to aesthetics.

Any thoughts for back-up plans to philosophy phd programs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I think you could definitely do a public policy phd program. Its just about finding the right program that matches your interests and qualifications. Not all public policy programs have quantitave requirements, but I think most of the top programs want you to have the basic stuff like one semester of calculus, statistics, and intermediate micro/macro economics. A phd in Econ might be a different story.

I'm finishing up my MA in Economics, all coursework is complete and just have my thesis left and I can tell you that if you are lacking in a math background going for an Econ Phd would be nearly impossible. I only had Calc 2 going into my MA program and I had been out of school for a few years so my math was very rusty and It was a Huge challenge. I finished my MA with a 3.74 gpa, but I'm not evening considering a Phd in Econ. You really need Real Analysis to be well prepared for a Phd in Econ. I'll be applying to Phd programs in Public Policy this winter.

But on the plus side classes like advanced statistical methods are very interesting ( in my opinion). Once you get into the more sophisticated areas of statistics like omitted variable bias, quantile regressions, etc. it gets really neat.

Anyway so I think if you want the option of a MA or Phd in public policy you should just brush up on your math a little bit, and if you're serious about an Econ Phd, you might need to spend a significant amount of time taking math classes at the very least up to the Linear Algebra level.