Applying to MPA/MPP and PhD in the SAME school in the same application cycle?

[spicysalmonroll]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post here and I'm writing because I don't know where else to ask. My goal is to one day contribute to US policy in East Asia and the two pathways I see are either to get a PhD in Political Science, become a Professor / work for a think tank, and eventually find a non-linear path into government or 2. get an MPP, join the foreign service, work for State or DoD. 

Knowing how competitive it is to join the foreign service or find government work in my field, I do not want to pursue an MPP/MPA unless I have the guarantee of post-graduate foreign service work through fellowships like Rangel and Pickering. But given the competition for these fellowships, it would be ill-advised to apply for an MPA/MPP, only to, then, not get the support of these fellowships and the guarantee of foreign service work afterwards. So I'm tempted to apply for a PhD in Political Science concurrently so that if the Rangel/Pickering were to fall through, I could still pursue a PhD and try to find my niche in that way through research and eventually contribute to policy.

On that note, I want to know if I would even allowed to apply for an MPP and PhD at the same school? For instance, would it undermine my application if I applied to both the Kennedy School  (MPP) AND the PhD in Political Science (Government) at Harvard? 

For background, I graduated from Princeton,  summa cum laude / Phi Beta Kappa from the Woodrow Wilson School.

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2016 by spicysalmonroll