[PhD] Harvard KSG Public Policy vs Wharton Applied Economics

[manhong]

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[Sotototo]

No advice.

But Wharton Ph.D sounds more prestigious for business.

[junebug62]

Well, you will have one Harvard degree anyway, so I wouldn't go on name alone. Wharton is equally amazing and probably better for business. Since you are at KSG now, you should have a pretty good idea of what they can teach and offer you. I'd do some outreach to Wharton, and find out more about it to make a better call.

Harvard's PhD in Public Policy seemed pretty diverse in interest judging from the student profiles. You might be surrounded by more like minds in a Business PhD, but perhaps you'd rather have an academically diverse class?

Also, do you want to go into academia or private sector? Seems like Business PhD would make more sense for private sector, but you must already have an awesome profile to get into BOTH of these programs so I doubt you'd lose many private sector jobs offers just because you attended one school over another. Academia, a whole nother story I know nothing about.

If you don't mind, what is your profile? Do many students try to go from the MPP to PhD, and how often do they succeed? Which of the concentrations are more likely to succeed in this? Did you apply in your first year or second?

[stilesg57]

For what it's worth, a good friend of mine is a PhD student at Berkeley for political theory. She has an MPP from LSE, and she told me that three of her classmates have MPPs from Goldman. So yes, an MPP can be a way into a PhD.

I'd probably go for Wharton were I in your enviable position. Jobs in academia tend to value "institutional diversity" quite highly. You already have a Harvard degree, so there's nothing to prove about what programs you can get into. Wharton is such a great business school that you'll have no problem doing anything in the private sector. The biggest benefit I see to staying at HKS is that you've already knocked out some required courses. Any funding discrepancies?

[manhong]

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[junebug62]

Thanks, and good luck with your studies. Sounds like you'd be successful anywhere, and certainly at Harvard.

[manhong]

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