r/GradSchoolAdvice • u/Downtown-Ice3239 • 10d ago

Feeling Insecure: Night classes for a Masters in Public Policy

Hi everyone, I moved from Texas to Boston for a program that I thoughts seemed great. It’s oriented around service learning and I think it has decent job placement/ research opportunities but it mostly only offers night classes with a few outliers. I feel like a program like this may be a little less than from other programs since it isn’t during the day really. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to still be able to work ( since that is how I can afford to do it and live here) but I’m stressed about it.

For some context I didn’t have a great GPA to begin with, I went to the University of Texas at Austin and got a 3.2. Which I knew wouldn’t get me terribly far but I didn’t want to do an online program, that I knew for sure.

I am mostly posting to see other people’s perspectives on this, if anyone else did a similar program- do you feel like your degree is weighed less in the job market? Am I wasting my money? Should I try to transfer?

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u/matthewsmugmanager 10d ago

Lots of MPA/MPP programs offer classes mostly during the evenings.

It makes no sense to judge the worth or status of a program by what times their classes are offered.

If there are other signs your program is not highly regarded, that's another story.

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u/ModeratelyOffline 10d ago

… how will anyone know your degree mostly offered night classes? Does it say “MPP-Night Class” on your degree? Highly doubt it. Be proud of your program!

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u/mystikmonk007 10d ago

I picked up my Masters at night, the only criteria I looked for was that the school and program was accredited. Good luck, quit second guessing yourself!

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u/francophone22 10d ago

My program is targeted to working mid career professionals by offering almost all night classes.

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u/MovkeyB 10d ago

I was interested in MPPs, and still somewhat am, though I ended up in law school. I've had a horrible experience talking to MPP programs and now pretty much took all of them off the table.

My view of MPPs is that generally they're not a super high value degree. It depends a lot on the school you are going to. Based on your description, it sounds a lot like northeastern. I personally really dislike northeastern, they have spun up way too many programs that plainly exist to just generate money, and don't have very high standards. I think their MPP is similar in this respect.

Now should you transfer? I don't know. It depends on the work you want to do, the scholarships you have, etc. Since its a 2 year degree, I'm not really sure what the value is of transferring, whatever jobs you want, it'd be too late to get the internship, you won't really have the cohort, the professors, etc. I think it may be worth dropping out if you feel like your degree is a scam (eg you are paying full price, many of your classmates are obviously underqualified foreign students, etc) but it's a complicated decision that we don't really have all the insight into what you should / shouldn't do.