Public policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here we go again with the STEM people saying all the liberal arts degrees are useless.

Uh, someone has to understand how government can work, how business and government operate in tandem, how to train an LLM and so on.

We won't always live in a time when using ones brain is seen as a negative.

The problems society is currently face are much more in the realm of public policy and politics than in science and technology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some get a MPA or MPP while working and work pays for it

But what about a bachelor's public policy degree? Useless other than to get a bachelor's degree in something?

UVA has a very strong undergrad PP program through the Batten school plus a Masters program and a joint masters/PhD program. Those I’ve known who have done undergrad and/or the MPP program tend to go on to law school

What makes it very strong. It seems to be useless for a degree if students are just going to law school.

Exactly. It sounds up there with a History major

Your ignorance is showing

[Anonymous]

Yup. I try to limit my interactions with the "why do you need a liberal arts degree" crowd, as well as the "why would you go to a SLAC' crowd.

I spent much of my career as an investment banker, and as long as they could display some basic quantitative aptitude, I loved hiring liberal arts majors. I didn't want a department full of them, but having some around was always helpful. Probably the best hire I ever made was a HYP history major with a minor in studio art. They figured out the Excel part of the job very quickly and ran circles around everyone else otherwise. And as they matured in their career, I felt a lot better putting them in front of a client than the quant geeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some get a MPA or MPP while working and work pays for it

But what about a bachelor's public policy degree? Useless other than to get a bachelor's degree in something?

UVA has a very strong undergrad PP program through the Batten school plus a Masters program and a joint masters/PhD program. Those I’ve known who have done undergrad and/or the MPP program tend to go on to law school

What makes it very strong. It seems to be useless for a degree if students are just going to law school.

What is law if not public policy? Think about that for a minute. Law is public policy at the Supreme Court, the federal level, the state level, and the legislative level. That's why it's such a popular major for students heading to law school. 5-6% of Harvard's incoming JD students typically hold undergraduate social science or public service degrees. A specialized cohort of these students participates in the formalized JD/MPP Joint Degree program with the Harvard Kennedy School.

As for the MPP programs mentioned above re UVA (and also Harvard), are you not aware that 75 to 80% of law applicants have taken off at least one year of law school, most, two. For Harvard, 20% of that 80% of incoming students have taken off more than four years. This allows the students to gain maturity and strengthen their resume and retake the LSAT as many times as they want. An applicant to Harvard Law with an advanced degree is going to look a lot more attractive on paper than one who doesn't have it. 17% of Harvard's incoming classes have advanced degrees.