Law School? MPA?

[vtskier72]

Hello All,

Thank you so much for reading my post. I am currently living in Prague, Czech Republic teaching English primarily to business students and government workers. I will be here for another 8 months or so but I am starting to think (and worry) about my plans for when I return to the U.S.

I went to the University of Vermont and graduated in 2010 with a B.A. in Political Science. My GPA was around a 3.6. Thinking I wanted to make a career in teaching, I then went to Columbia for a M.A. in Social Studies Education. However, after teaching for a little while in the U.S. as well as teaching here in Prague, I have decided that it is not something that I will be able to do for the rest of my life. This was a difficult decision for me, but I don't think that a career in teaching is for me.

I am currently considering getting a J.D. or an M.P.A. I am very interested in law as well as politics and public policy. I am concerned, however, that I am not sure what kind of law I would want to go into or exactly what I would do with an M.P.A., and I don't want to spend the money and the time to be in the same place I am now (but with a lot more debt) in three or four years. Any advice?

Also, does anyone know if my time teaching abroad or my M.A. in teaching will help my prospects of getting into grad school?

Thank you for your thoughts, and I do realize that this is ultimately a decision that I need to make on my own, I am mostly just looking for some outside opinions and some tips.

[texjew21]

I'm in sort of the same situation as you. I cannot decide between a J.D. or an MPA.

Right now I am leaning towards an MPA due to the over-supply of lawyers in the U.S., as well as the high cost of tuition which is significantly higher than getting an MPA and also a year longer.

I'm still undecided.

[juilletmercredi]

Since you already have an MA and some work experience, why not come back to the States and work a few years in government or public policy - perhaps education policy? Then you could spend some time doing some informational interviewing and seeing what degree the people who do the work you want to do have. You have to think about the job first, or the variety of positions that you want to go after, and then think about what degree you need to do that job/variety of jobs - not the other way around.

The other thing is that there are a lot of JD/MPA or JD/MPP programs, where you can get both degrees in 4 years.