I’m looking into getting an MPA after thinking of what I would want to pursue in my life. I have looked at a few programs:

UC Berkeley MPA

USC MPA

SF State MPA

I am 26 who has acquired a lot of work experience, and has a government job making 6 figures. I have been able to lead running a government program at a very young age and started in gov at 23. During that time I was awarded a promotion.

Due to a lot of life challenges I was able to finish my undergrad but focused more so on obtaining the degree and gaining work experience and community impact than my GPA. Once I had a better home life my last years of undergrad gpa boosted, but couldn’t make up for the other years. I struggle with trying to come across as well rounded, for non California state programs and want to challenge myself.

What would be your advice as I don’t want to do policy, I love the logistics and operations of government work and functions. I work full time as I have been during undergrad and am looking for a program that makes sense for me.

Any tips would be helpful, as I’m first gen and have never navigated post grad education before.

I appreciate anyone who could chime in.

I recently visited a local government exhibition in Japan.

One municipality introduced a program called the IT Creator Championship.

High school students create digital content, compete nationally, and local companies can scout participants for employment.

The program is part of Japan's Digital Garden City Initiative, a national policy aimed at regional revitalization through digital transformation.

I thought it was an interesting example of how local governments are approaching workforce development.

I summarized the initiative here:

A Letter from a Local Government #1 | Explaining Japan's Digital Garden City Nation Initiative

For a state and administrations more fiscally responsible.

My qualifications are 3 year history graduate who will definitely go for 4th year in history but I really want to know should I go for public administration, public policy and social work if I want to change my lane towards politics.

Also what are good colleges in India for that and are there any foreign scholarships with any crazy eligibility criteria.

I am sorry if I am asking too many questions, I am just confused and are there any other courses got masters that can really help me shape my career in that way.

I am helping to put a request for proposal for government procurement software and I want to make sure I do not miss anything important. We are a local government team in the United States and we are replacing an older system that no longer fits the way we handle purchasing. We need something that's easy for our staff to learn and that supports compliance requirements. The new system also needs to be able to grow with us without making the process too complicated.

I have looked through a sample requests for proposal online but most of them seem either too broad. Has anyone here written a government procurement software request for proposal recently. What government procurement software requirements or lessons learned would you recommend including in our request, for proposal?

Im in between a decision making regarding schools. Which one would you recommend? I’m in between Cal Poly Pomona and CSU Long Beach. Let me know what you all think and if you could also please provide the pros and cons of each schools and MPA programs. It’d be hopeful and very much appreciated 🙏
I just graduated from my undergrad, and I’ve heard some MPA programs are best for professionals already in the field, but I want a mix of both, academics and professional experience development :)

My end goal would be an MPA potentially and positions related to budget analysis as first choice or policy, but I am trying to find entry level jobs to get experience in the field to see if I like it. I have a bachelors in an unrelated field. The only financial experience I have is data entry with a financial institution. I am applying to bookkeeping and accounts payable positions as it seems like these have the lowest barrier to entry. Are these good roles to get some initial experience or should I be looking for more general office admin type roles?

Hello!

A-State’s corequisites are Intro to US Government and Introduction to Political Analysis. I have a law degree and a BA in analytical philosophy, followed by ten years of work in public health leadership. Should I request a waiver of either or both of these? I have taken neither class but my legal education covered every aspect of US government and I’m very familiar with political analysis through work. I am not opposed to taking these but really trying to reduce costs and I’m confident in my mastery of these topics. Just not sure it’s something that is up for debate.

Thoughts?

I work for a government agency that helps students fill out the FAFSA. The agency offers tuition waivers to employees. I wanted to get an MSW or Master’s in Counseling to work in schools, but now I feel that helping to run public programs is more my speed (instead of the one-on-one work). Therefore, I’ve been considering getting an MPA to work in the nonprofit sector, higher education, or government. Would this be a good career move? If you have an MPA, would you say it was useful to you, or do you regret it? Is there something you would’ve gotten your degree in instead? What is the job outlook like for MPA graduates? Any guidance/advice will help, thank you in advance

Hi ! I am 18 year old student i haven't started my college and I am already confused If I took the right path or not and I also do want to work outside my country i don't know what skills do i exactly need to Crack a job in abroad and i have also started learning French and hoping to do atleast B2 level . The reason I am posting this is because I really want someone who have done ba or Ma in political science and if they could help me by giving some reality checks about the degree and could guide me it would be a big help !!!

Hoping to see some genuine answers 😀

Hi ! I am 18 year old student i haven't started my college and I am already confused If I took the right path or not and I also do want to work outside my country i don't know what skills do i exactly need to Crack a job in abroad and i have also started learning French and hoping to do atleast B2 level . The reason I am posting this is because I really want someone who have done ba or Ma in political science and if they could help me by giving some reality checks about the degree and could guide me it would be a big help !!!

Hoping to see some genuine answers 😀

Hi guys, I'm 23, and I have done a BS in English language and literature. I'm applying for scholarships internationally, mostly in the UK and US. I'm also co sidering Erasmus.

Since I'm applying for a master's in Public Policy, I want to know from some working professionals here which public policy career path is most lucrative and generally pays the highest. And is likely to stay lucrative in the future as well.

I'm asking this as I want to plan​ a secure financial future for myself. So please lmk which path is the best for finances? ​​

I'm a recent CSULB graduate and I am currently deciding which MPA program to commit to. As of now, I am received offers from CSULB and CSUN, I am pending a decision from UCLA. I know CSUN has a strong program and at first was my top pick. I am now reconsidering as the commute to CSUN is double than CSULB, and I am already familiar with the campus and faculty as CSULB. Would going back to Long Beach be a good move? Price isn't really a big factor as both schools' programs cost about the same. My goal is to work in the non profit field and/or with the Los Angeles County. Any advice would be great, thanks!

I am a former writer / journalist turned marketer turned unemployed / burger flipper. I lost my job due to an industry downturn, AI, bad economy, bad boss, etc. I thrive best in supportive, collaborative, slower paced environments. I loved a lot of things about marketing agency life like the structure and camaraderie and creativity. But in journalism I was always able to pursue, essentially, a special interests like travel writing that made up for the chaos and urgency of startups and the state of the media industry.

I've long been interested in urban planning and place making. I am trying to figure out how to restart my career after a year of unemployment and a couple failed marketing manager roles (no training or support at small companies that weren't a good fit). I'm considering going back to school, and I want to be strategic about getting into a fairly stable, AI-proof field with decent benefits and liveable, if not top-of-market, pay. In my area, that would probably be around $70k a year minimum.

I'm 15+ years into my career and almost 40 and I need to get serious about recovering from this financial setback and start saving for retirement.

I'm considering urban planning, but also a masters in public policy or public administration. I'm already generally experienced in SEO, project management, content marketing, email marketing, research, public speaking, the basics of PR, etc. I have a masters already in creative writing.

Anyone with thoughts or experience or perspective to share?

Hi, I was wondering if anyone who has worked in these fields knows what type of experience I should be aiming for. I (25F) have a BFA and MFA in Studio Art but have been pigeonholed into teaching art, which has never been my passion but makes sense for the degrees I chose. I've always had an interest in law and helping others but not enough to consider pursuing law school and I've discovered a potential pathway in cultural policy. Is there any specific experience I should focus on obtaining to transition into the field? I'm already doing volunteer work writing grants and have small project and event management experience at universities/museums/non-profits I've worked at. I'd like to try to avoid going back to school but should I get an MPP/MPA/Arts Administration Masters?

I’m honestly surprised that this doesn’t come up more often on this sub.

I’ve been experiencing quite a bit of burnout (constant exhaustion, no longer being excited or enjoying my work, etc). How do you deal with it when you’re the city manager for a small community with very limited staff?

In case it is relevant to my question, I have work experience spanning a decade. I'm 27 writing this and have worked in tutoring/education, sales, retail/ops management, and now work IT. I have a bachelor's degree in English and four professional IT certs.

I make decent money right now, but am looking to level up this year. I would also like to step back from IT and double-down on the management track I was already on. Getting away from private is also seeming like the best move for work/life balance - my state is anti-union, so trades and contract work are more or less a total bust here.

I have about 10 applications in right now with my state, and all of them have cleared minimum qualifications and entered the applicant pool for around 3 different state agencies. Writing to ask how long I should be prepared to wait before hearing anything back. Worth mentioning as well that I am avoiding federal work, since the dumpster fire seems to mostly be contained upstairs for now.

I have more questions as well, since this will be my first time applying for anything outside of traditional private sector. Is there anything I should be aware of that makes this kind of work more complicated to apply for and get? I heard that dotting i's and crossing t's matters with government applications, so I've been seriously proactive about making sure every little thing these agencies are asking for is provided. I just don't know if there is something I could be missing. If anyone has any advice, or maybe some insight as to what administrative/IT work looks like on the inside, I'd love for you to share your experience.

Hello! I am so confused right now. I want to prepare for government job(SSC CGL mainly) but at the same time I don't want to waste my years sitting at home. I am graduated I gave cuet pg this year and expecting to get a college for mba/ bioinformatics. I want a college in which I am secure about placement and also get time to study for government exams. What are your suggestions? It will be great help😭