Anyone in a MA/MS in Strategic Comm or Political Comm?

[skwaat]

Hi all,

 

I'm considering a MA/MS in Strategic Communications or Political Communications and would like to chat with you about your experiences.  

I currently work in community development for a large chamber of commerce in my market. Housed in the government affairs department and reporting to the VP of Gov Affairs, I work in community development on quality of life issues (think transportation, education, sports, public health, art, etc.). I seek to make these sectors more attractive and supported by businesses and local government in order to make our area remain an attractive metro in which to live and do business.

What I want to do is be some type of community relations/external affairs director (or similar) for a private company and use these skills to interact in the community. A large part of my job is being present and communicating/consensus building, and I believe I am quite good at it, and would like to do it more professionally (I mentioned private sector for the salary, but I suppose consultants do this also).

I've gone back and forth on what to get my degree in, but unfortunately most of my network of folks that I would ask for advice that do the type of work I would like to do "worked there way up to it" and don't necessarily have advanced degrees, if a degree at all. Obviously, and at first thought, MPA or MPP degrees come to mind given my undergrad (polysci and soc), but I'm not entirely sold on getting that degree, exiting with ~$40k-ish in debt and working for $15-$20k salary increase.

Any thoughts on this situation? Are there other degrees what would be more useful that I should consider (and just don't know of yet)? Or would an MPA/MPP serve me in this role?  What are the top schools in strat comm/political comm?

Edited September 9, 2015 by skwaat
additional info provided

[coffeencomputers]

My understanding of these fields, given my exposure to friends in these fields, is that strategic comm won't be focused on politics, but rather public-facing comm (e.g. PR, external affairs, corporate comm).  Contrastingly, political comm might focus on elections, campaigns, etc., depending on school. More than open to answering further questions...

[lyrehc]

My areas of research are policomm, activism and social justice, and group comm.

Policomm focuses on how people talk about politics/political issues. Stratcomm is more PR, where students learn how to talk about crises as they occur. The university I attend is ranked in the top 10 for policomm, but I don't think from what you've described that you would find a program like mine very helpful. I am willing to answer questions in case I've misjudged your interest.

Have you thought about a degree in urban planning? That might be a better fit for you.