What kind of job do you want?

[Amerikanka]

Hi all,

I just wanted some feedback on the correlation between MPP/MIA/MPA/MID programs and jobs. I assume the greatest benefit of a graduate program is the ability to secure internships and gain connections. What are you hoping to become? Are you willing to take an unpaid internship after graduation?

I am considering graduate programs. I was a foreign language major (Russian) and Fulbright ETA and now I need to figure out a career path. One of the obvious sectors for me is government but I am not sure if I would like it. What are the opportunities with a MPP/MPA.  

Thanks in advance for looking at my question. I'd be happy to know what your career aspirations are!

[alloy]

I would say it really depends on your goals, skills and interests. There are people going to each sector after graduation i.e. I will be going to top management consulting.

[Amerikanka]

Can you describe what top management consulting is? What is your background? Did you have work experience and a strong quantitative background when you applied?

 

As for my goals, I would love to oversee economic and environmental planning in Central Asia. I've heard that international development is a very narrow field and it seems like every university that offers masters degrees offers this program: this meaning there are a lot of unemployed MID graduates. 

I would also love to work with a nonprofit like American Councils that facilitates language education and international exchange programs. My career goals are still murky at the moment: it seems everything I want to do is a really tough market. I was preparing to apply for a history PhD program but after researching the statistics, (there are 100 new PhDs for every 16 new job openings) I am leaning strongly against it. Although I would love academia, I want to build a solid foundation in hard skills and gain at least 2-3 years experience in another market before taking that risk. 

What do you think would be a good career fit for me? I recently graduated with a BA in History and Russian, received several scholarships, and taught English in Russia on a Fulbright. My Russian was middle-of-the-pack on this program. It's about an ILR 2 (you need ILR 3 to work for the federal government based on language alone). I avoided math like the plague in undergrad, but I now recognize that economics, statistics, and accounting are valuable skills to accomplish nonprofit goals. In undergrad, I was attracted to direct service and social work. I even helped fund a new social work organization and organized a Human Trafficking Symposium. The FBI came! (I'm still incredibly proud of this) After taking a digital humanities course, I served as a research assistant to create an online Russian dictionary with computer tags for emphasis on certain syllables. The goals was to automatically highlight rhythm in large amounts of bad Russian poetry. (In the early USSR, men who had just learned to read, wrote poetry that was published every week in newspapers). The program sought to data mine patterns without looking at content. As you can see, I am strongly humanities and social service focused. 

Is it possible to be admitted into a strong program to gain quantitative skills? Should I start auditing these classes at the local university?   

[Amerikanka]

Sorry for the overuse of commas! There are different convention rules in Russian and I mix them up sometimes