Choosing a concentration/minor in MPA program

[PRbox]

Hi everyone, first-time poster here.

I'm planning to apply for an MPA program at the university I work at. Outside of the core 21-hour curriculum, you're allowed to choose a concentration, create a concentration or fill up with electives. The concentrations are generally about 15 credit hours.

I've already thought about potential careers but I want to just get some ideas about some good ideas to pair with an MPA. If it means anything, my undergrad is in journalism/public relations/rhetoric so I have little quantitative experience. 

The university has four pre-developed concentrations:

• Community/Economic Development (features planning/law/finance classes)
• Information and Communication Technology (networking, voice/data/video hardware, computing)
• Criminal Justice
• Emergency Management/Homeland Security

Community and Economic Development, and IT/Communication Technology interest me the most. You also have the option to design your own concentration (with approval) by taking grad courses in other departments, or you can load up on public administration/finance/related electives.

Did anyone do a concentration with their MPA? I'm not set on a certain kind of career path yet, but some ideas that interest me are city manager, evaluating programs and writing reports, education, social welfare/policy, and I have no IT experience but I've also always been knowledgeable of and interested in tech. The grad program I considered before this was an MA in adult and community education or higher education.

I know this is REALLY broad and vague, which is why I'm interested in knowing what you did or would suggest to do when it comes to electives and concentrations.

 

Edited April 21, 2017 by PRbox

[went_away]

It matters not one bit.

[chocolatecheesecake]

Kind of agree with @went_away in terms of concentrations - they don't really matter. They don't always appear on your diploma, and on your resume, you can just as easily mention courses you took in lieu of a specialized "concentration". A lot of times, programs also have requirements about what you NEED to take to declare a concentration officially, and it could be a waste of credits to satisfy all of those.

What I think you may be asking about is what kind of classes you should take. Given your interest in being a city manager, evaluation, and social policy, I would suggest taking finance, tax, and budgeting classes (really useful for local government/ non-profit no matter what area of policy you end up going into). The community development concentration will probably be promising too. 

I know of two schools of thought about MPP/MPA classes: you can focus on skills-based classes, in terms of learning how to do analysis a certain way, quant skills, budgeting, Excel, STATA/ SPSS/ SAS, and the like. Or you can focus on knowledge-based classes, especially if you can learn it from experts or people who have had a lot of professional experience. Most people I knew were in the first camp, being so practical as to eschew any courses where you can "read a book instead", but if you have very knowledgeable professors, the second is a valid choice, and often makes for a fascinating if not practical experience. Given your interest, I would suggest focusing on the skills-based route, but in general, this can be a good framework to help you think about why you should take one class versus another. 

[PRbox]

22 minutes ago, chocolatecheesecake said:

Kind of agree with @went_away in terms of concentrations - they don't really matter. They don't always appear on your diploma, and on your resume, you can just as easily mention courses you took in lieu of a specialized "concentration". A lot of times, programs also have requirements about what you NEED to take to declare a concentration officially, and it could be a waste of credits to satisfy all of those.

What I think you may be asking about is what kind of classes you should take. Given your interest in being a city manager, evaluation, and social policy, I would suggest taking finance, tax, and budgeting classes (really useful for local government/ non-profit no matter what area of policy you end up going into). The community development concentration will probably be promising too. 

I know of two schools of thought about MPP/MPA classes: you can focus on skills-based classes, in terms of learning how to do analysis a certain way, quant skills, budgeting, Excel, STATA/ SPSS/ SAS, and the like. Or you can focus on knowledge-based classes, especially if you can learn it from experts or people who have had a lot of professional experience. Most people I knew were in the first camp, being so practical as to eschew any courses where you can "read a book instead", but if you have very knowledgeable professors, the second is a valid choice, and often makes for a fascinating if not practical experience. Given your interest, I would suggest focusing on the skills-based route, but in general, this can be a good framework to help you think about why you should take one class versus another. 

Thanks for your reply. Indeed, I am wondering what courses I should take outside the required core. When I say concentration, it's not an official declaration on the diploma, but about 15 credit hours of classes that focus in a certain area. I guess a better way to describe it would be I need at least 15 hours of electives, and you have the option of choosing your own electives or picking one of a few recommended sets that focus on certain subjects. I think with this program the idea is they want you to end up specializing in a certain subject (e.g. criminal justice) so you can apply your MPA experience to your desired field that you want to work in.

On the schools of thought you mentioned, this is my concern: I am worried about gaining all of these skills, which is great, but then not having knowledge of a certain subject in which I would apply them, if that makes sense. Like just an example, I'm worried it would be bad if I knew about stats, budgeting etc. but then I applied to a position regarding environmental policy and I have no courses under my belt about environmental subjects. Similarly, I feel like I wouldn't be suitable for a job in technology if I didn't take courses in IT. I could be completely off base here though!

I am setting up a meeting to talk to an MPA prof about the program. I am hoping that my first year would be core courses so I have time to think about what my electives would be and if I want to go the knowledge route and learn about and focus on a particular subject. The way this program works is, if I wanted to focus on food policy, I would take a few classes from the nutrition/wellness department and not specific MPA courses about food policy, I think. At this point I think I would like to pursue local government opportunities, but I want to make sure I'm employable in many places because I'm probably never going to be moving to a major place like New York or D.C.

[3dender]

24 minutes ago, PRbox said:

Thanks for your reply. Indeed, I am wondering what courses I should take outside the required core. When I say concentration, it's not an official declaration on the diploma, but about 15 credit hours of classes that focus in a certain area. I guess a better way to describe it would be I need at least 15 hours of electives, and you have the option of choosing your own electives or picking one of a few recommended sets that focus on certain subjects. I think with this program the idea is they want you to end up specializing in a certain subject (e.g. criminal justice) so you can apply your MPA experience to your desired field that you want to work in.

On the schools of thought you mentioned, this is my concern: I am worried about gaining all of these skills, which is great, but then not having knowledge of a certain subject in which I would apply them, if that makes sense. Like just an example, I'm worried it would be bad if I knew about stats, budgeting etc. but then I applied to a position regarding environmental policy and I have no courses under my belt about environmental subjects. Similarly, I feel like I wouldn't be suitable for a job in technology if I didn't take courses in IT. I could be completely off base here though!

I am setting up a meeting to talk to an MPA prof about the program. I am hoping that my first year would be core courses so I have time to think about what my electives would be and if I want to go the knowledge route and learn about and focus on a particular subject. The way this program works is, if I wanted to focus on food policy, I would take a few classes from the nutrition/wellness department and not specific MPA courses about food policy, I think. At this point I think I would like to pursue local government opportunities, but I want to make sure I'm employable in many places because I'm probably never going to be moving to a major place like New York or D.C.

Not to be harsh, but if you don't have at least a vague idea of what area you want to eventually make a career for yourself -- Local Gov v. Environmental Policy v. IT -- you probably shouldn't be going to grad school yet.  Why not just get a job in one of these areas for a year or two to see how you like it?  You should at least know what your predominant one or two interests are before applying to school.

[PRbox]

17 minutes ago, 3dender said:

Not to be harsh, but if you don't have at least a vague idea of what area you want to eventually make a career for yourself -- Local Gov v. Environmental Policy v. IT -- you probably shouldn't be going to grad school yet.  Why not just get a job in one of these areas for a year or two to see how you like it?  You should at least know what your predominant one or two interests are before applying to school.

Hi, those were just examples about my concerns using a hypothetical field/situation. My predominant interest is working in city management/local government. I don't have any experience in that, but I've been reading up on it and it interests me. There's two reasons I have for wanting to apply now: 1) I've found the job market very tough since graduating and I think it would be very, very difficult to break into a paid position in local government, for instance, with my non-governmental background. 2) I'm a staff member at the university where I'd apply, so I would get basically a full tuition remission if I'm accepted to the program, as long as I'm still working here (would take classes part time).

For what it's worth, my degree and work experience is public relations/journalism, so even getting a government job with that skillset wouldn't show me at all what a management/policy position would be like, I wouldn't think. Also the program requires an internship, so if I wanted to work in local government I would try to intern in that field to get some real-world experience before graduating.

Edited April 24, 2017 by PRbox

[datik]

23 hours ago, chocolatecheesecake said:

Kind of agree with @went_away in terms of concentrations - they don't really matter. They don't always appear on your diploma, and on your resume, you can just as easily mention courses you took in lieu of a specialized "concentration". A lot of times, programs also have requirements about what you NEED to take to declare a concentration officially, and it could be a waste of credits to satisfy all of those.

What I think you may be asking about is what kind of classes you should take. Given your interest in being a city manager, evaluation, and social policy, I would suggest taking finance, tax, and budgeting classes (really useful for local government/ non-profit no matter what area of policy you end up going into). The community development concentration will probably be promising too. 

I know of two schools of thought about MPP/MPA classes: you can focus on skills-based classes, in terms of learning how to do analysis a certain way, quant skills, budgeting, Excel, STATA/ SPSS/ SAS, and the like. Or you can focus on knowledge-based classes, especially if you can learn it from experts or people who have had a lot of professional experience. Most people I knew were in the first camp, being so practical as to eschew any courses where you can "read a book instead", but if you have very knowledgeable professors, the second is a valid choice, and often makes for a fascinating if not practical experience. Given your interest, I would suggest focusing on the skills-based route, but in general, this can be a good framework to help you think about why you should take one class versus another. 

 

This is one of the best replies on the subject I've seen. Thank you.

I guess what would help here is having a precise idea of your career profile. Then you should have enough credits to get the precise skills you need and getting a few classes with the best theoretical professors in the sub-field of your choice.

Don't think it should be either or.

[PRbox]

4 hours ago, datik said:

 

This is one of the best replies on the subject I've seen. Thank you.

I guess what would help here is having a precise idea of your career profile. Then you should have enough credits to get the precise skills you need and getting a few classes with the best theoretical professors in the sub-field of your choice.

Don't think it should be either or.

If this comment is directed toward me, I'm not sure exactly what is meant by career profile or by it shouldn't be "either or." I guess I need to do more research into what precise skills I might need. My degree is in communications/public relations, so I have lots of courses in theory, soft skills and more graphics-related technical skills, and lots and lots of writing from two years at a newspaper, so specifically for the MPA I'm looking forward to learning about finance, budgeting, management. Those topics will be included in the core and maybe in a few electives. I'll still need to add a few more electives after that, however.

Edited April 25, 2017 by PRbox