Public administration degree

[zzguy2]

Hello everyone,

I think I remember reading somewhere on this site that a Public Administration degree is very versatile. I like Urban Planning, but I'm still not entirely sure what i want to do yet, and I don't want to be trapped into a job I hate because of a narrow degree.

The grad program i'm looking at offers a master in Public Policy and Administration with a concentration in Metropolitan and Urban Planning (DePaul in Chicago). I've heard that that degree would allow me to possibly do other things in the public sector because it is broader. What other kinds of jobs can I get? Since Public Administration classes seem to overlap a lot with business, would I be able to possibly get a job in the private sector if i changed my mind in the future? How does the salary compare? How do the stress, hours, etc. compare?

Thanks

[Plan 9]

Human resources, finance (although accounting is better degree), city management (eventually), other admin/analyst kinds of positions in various deparments, like the person that actually makes sure that the public works/roads departments actually stay within their budget.

[Fat Cat]

It is a versital degree
You can be in state, county or federal government as well as local government
You can hold a number of management level positions in each one as well as being a Planner in any one them
You can also be in the private sector working with the levels of govenment
Talk to you professors and get names of people that are working in the various fields and contact them, I think you will find that this will be very helpful
Best of luck

[Chet]

My masters is in Public Admin. I have been a planner for 18 years. It has never held be back, and I feel it is an asset since it is very broad in topic.

Good luck

[Whose Yur Planner]

Like Chet, I'm a planner with a PA degree and have been one for 19 1/2 years now. You will find that it will help out if you ever become a planning director. As for the applicability outside of government service, it depends. We have a lot of business major who didn't make the cut and went into PA. Further, the alumni newsletter is full of people who went into the private sector or non-for-profits.

[WSU MUP Student]

My undergrad is in public policy (virtually the same is public administration - it just depends on the school) and economics.

I had looked at both accounting and political science as potential courses of study but ended up settling on public policy because it seemed a lot more well-rounded than anything in my school's business department (my econ degree is through the college of liberal arts and sciences) while still maintaining more strict of a focus than the political science degree seemed to offer.

I looked into some PA/PP graduate programs and all the ones I looked at had the same sort of well-rounded feeling as my undergrad program (which I considered a good thing). But, in the end, I ended up choosing to work on my masters specifically in urban planning though - and that was probably due to the fact that, man, those folks in the graduate PA program were some pretty dry characters.

[danthonyjr]

My coworker has a MPA from the same university where I earned my MCRP. We're both doing just fine.

[Suburb Repairman]

I just got my MPA three days ago. I intentionally chose it because I felt it gave me tools that complimented my undergraduate planning degree so that I could function better in upper management. It helps a lot with fiscal analysis (such as with a CIP) and helps you better understand issues further beyond the typical planning world.

My MPA was with an emphasis in urban & environmental planning.

I always tell people with an undergrad planning degree to consider a MPA if they want to work public sector. You should also explore getting a dual masters in Planning and PA if it is offered and won't add too much to your degree plan.

[Otis]

I agree with much of what has been said here already. My graduate degree is an MPA and I have been a director for 8 years. It comes in very handy. As pointed out, you can focus your electives on planning and get a lot of what you would get from a planning degree while giving you a broader degree that preserves more options for you in the future. With my MPA I have worked for local government, for the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government, and for private consulting firms.

[boilerplater]

I've been looking into some park planning manager positions, and they state they prefer someone with an MPA or MBA. I've had my fill of the stress, job instability and myopic developers I've found in private sector landscape architecture. Has anyone here had experience with online MPA programs? How long do MPA programs typically run? What is the course load like? Did you find the classes interesting?