MPA/MPP vs MSc Econ

[Uzair2]

Hey guys,

I cannot seem to decide which Masters would be best suited to me.

About me :- 

An Economics Graduate of LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences), Lahore, Pakistan.

GPA :- 3.2

Work Experience :- 11 Months so far 

Job :- External Consultant to University of Oxford.

Past Experience :- Finance Intern at Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan Head office and Analyst at Federal Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform (Worked directly under the Federal Minister of Planning and Development) - placed via USAID. 

Currently working on an IPA (Innovations for poverty actions) funded joint project of University of Oxford and LUMS. The supervisor being Simon Quinn and Meki, Associate Professor at Oxford and PhD candidate at Oxford respectively. It is an RCT designed to test the new financial product. 

Interests :- 

*Primarily Interested in International Economics, Business, Geopolitics, Mega-Infrastructure Projects and to some extent Philosophy.*I

*Ideal career as envisioned :- In 10 years, the ideal version of me should be travelling around the globe advising the Governments of China, Kenya and Ukraine to set up Special Economic Zones in Urumqi, build a railway network to increase Intra-regional connectivity, set up a trade policy and formulate or lead development of industrial estates in Eastern Ukraine to neutralize the secessionist movements.

*At the same time, I would want to work on projects such as formulating a comprehensive strategy for AirAsia’s Expansion into the Brazilian Market, Design the route of Shell’s oil and gas pipeline in Kazakhstan from its oil/gas fields to the port of Aktau on the Caspian.

*Despite the average GPA (mainly due to mathematics courses, I have always topped every group project and did most of the work/took initiative)

 *Marketing Models – Most of the work was done by me and ! Got the highest in project (Demand Forecasting using Marketing Engineering for Excel), same goes with Principles of Finance (Indus Motor’s expansion), Intermediate Finance ( Pakistan Shipping Corp Valuation), Options, Swaps and Derivatives (Designing of Shorting Strategies for Unilever and Air Canada) and more recently, was applauded for the best project ever by the instructor in ACF (Advanced Corporate Finance)  - The merger of BG and Shell’s valuation using SPSS/Advanced Excel and STATA.

The issue that I am facing is I can't seem to decide which Masters Degree will end up opening the aforementioned options for me.

I have considered Fletcher's MIB but it is more inclined towards Management or Corporate Firms and Social Development rather than my interests.

Have looked at SIPA/SAIS/WWS as well as but I am really not sure. Not getting the feeling that THIS IS THE ONE FOR ME !

 

Any insight would be highly appreciated.

Thank you. 

[1%learnings]

1 - you ideal goals section should've been the first thing on your post

2 - a piece of paper / degree would never matter for any significant goals that are outside of academia 

3 - network theory for the route of pipelines, or the route of anything for that matter, but you said you weren't that good with math -- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_theory

4 - you need to focus your goals -- nobody, not a single person in this universe does all this - if there are, link that person to me

5 - there are no best options for all this, experience would be the best choice so far 

let me know what you think / find out

 

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thanks

[Sigaba]

7 hours ago, 1%learnings said:

 

2 - a piece of paper / degree would never matter for any significant goals that are outside of academia 

 

Oddly, the private and public firms posting job openings in the Economist have a different view. 

@Uzair2 I recommend that you look at the resumes of incumbents who have jobs you would want. See if there are patterns between career paths and the academic training they've received.