Advice on what advanced degree to start pursuing

[talons1025]

I am interested in two things: furthering my education in one of my 3 interests, and working in diplomacy or counter-terror.  I currently have a bachelors in poli-sci and sociology.  I am kind of at a crossroads when it comes to where to go from here….

 

I spent 5 months living in Cairo, Egypt studying intensive Arabic and writing about the political elections going on right as Mubarak was being ousted.  I have many articles on the matter published.  This international experience has made me want to study international relations.  I found this http://bush.tamu.edu/certificate/caia/ which I thought would be a good precursor to an advanced degree in international affairs.

 

But I am not sure if that is the best, safest way to go.  With competition in the government job market, if I was to get a degree in intl affairs, and NOT get a job, what would I do?  SO I thought about my other two passions when it comes to education: finance and computer science.

 

I thought about going on to get a masters in computer science or a masters in finance, and use that skillset to try to get to my goal of either counter-terror or diplomacy (yes, two VERY different fields, but I have extreme interests in both).

 

In terms of my career goals, what opinions can you give as to where I should begin focusing my efforts for advanced education?

[Tupacalypse]

I will preclude this with the fact that I am not very wise when it comes to this, because I have yet to begin my first year of a masters degree, but I can give my (probably misinformed) opinion.
 

In terms of low-risk route in making your way up the international relatiosn ladder, that certificate you posted might be a good opportunity.  It won't really get you an advancement in the workplace, but it will put your foot in the door and most importantly let you determine if you want to pursue a masters in IR or not.  This would also be ideal if you discover that your other two fields of interest are what you actually want to focus on, but with an IR affilliation.

 

I think another thing you may want to look at as well, if maybe you want to get a masters in a shorter amount of time, is completing it in the UK, where a lot of IR programs are only a year long, and (somewhat) cheaper than large, private IR programs.

 

I think both computer science and finance would be useful masters to have as well for counter-terror (can't speak much to the finance aspect, but there are some great international finance programs out there, some which I believe you could do dual degrees with IR programs).

 

I, myself, have recently become interested in computer science mainly as a way to increase my job prospects and pad my resume.  I believe this is something that you don't necessarily need a masters for in order to work with in the future.  There are tons of free places to learn programming out there (MIT open courseware, codeacademy etc.) and what I plan on doing is creating an app or a website or something, gaining a ton of knowledge, and then using the actual product to showcase on my resume rather than a degree, while maintaining my IR master aspirations.

 

I think any of your goals are great for advanced education, it really just depends mostly on what you could see yourself studying in an academic environment the most.  Just because you don't get a degree in one doesn't mean you can't further pursue goals at another later on.

[talons1025]

I have heard that you can (depending on the program) tailor international affairs degrees to have an emphasis in finance.  I am thinking that would be a good way to go.  QUestion is, does this school HAVE to be out east to make it worthwhile for a degree?  I know its all about networking, but sometimes i think it is a little hard to get up and move when finances can be a problem in that respect.

[mrgreen102]

Talon1025,

After reading about your background and and looking at your comments, this is my advice for you.  Take it for what it is worth:

 

1) I completely understand that you are worried about the value of an international affairs graduate degree on the job market.  If you would like to go into diplomacy/counter-terrorism, you should look at programs in D.C.  These programs are near the agencies/companies where you want to work and you would have plenty of internship opportunities.

 

2) I am pretty sure that a Master's degree in Finance will not help you land a job in either diplomacy or counter-terrorism.  Those companies need accountants but it seems like an odd fit.

 

3) Unless you are a true computer whiz or a hacker (like Mr. Snowden), I am not certain that a Master's degree in Computer Science will help you that much either.  But this degree is probably much more helpful on the job market than an IA degree.

[talons1025]

I am actually starting to consider an MPA, but i am not sure if that is really the right direction over IR

[ohcoture]

Talon,

 

I agree with Mr. Green on all his points, and will just tack on a bit from my experience last year.

 

I have interests similar to your own. Ultimately I decided to go for a public policy degree and focus on international finance. This way I will be able to take IR and finance classes to help with marketability in the private sector after graduation. It sounds like you already have pretty outstanding experience, so that should put you a step ahead of many grad students as well.

 

I'm sure you're already well aware, but I'd look at SAIS, Fletcher, SIPA, Walsh, GW, American, HKS, Goldman, Maxwell, UMich, UTAustin

[talons1025]

Talon,

 

I agree with Mr. Green on all his points, and will just tack on a bit from my experience last year.

 

I have interests similar to your own. Ultimately I decided to go for a public policy degree and focus on international finance. This way I will be able to take IR and finance classes to help with marketability in the private sector after graduation. It sounds like you already have pretty outstanding experience, so that should put you a step ahead of many grad students as well.

 

I'm sure you're already well aware, but I'd look at SAIS, Fletcher, SIPA, Walsh, GW, American, HKS, Goldman, Maxwell, UMich, UTAustin

 

What school / program did you wind up going to / taking?  I have actually been thinking heavily about doing a MPA/MPP with an emphasis in finance, but all MPP programs i seem to find dont really have much of a finance emphasis.