5 year combined undergrad/grad programs followed by PhD?

Graduate School
1

<p>I am currently in the process of selecting an undergrad school to attend, however, some of the schools that I am considering have a 5 year combined undergraduate and graduate program available. I am interested in economics and government, and would like to someday get a PhD in economics. I want to know your opinions on taking such a 5 year program with econ as my undergrad then a masters in a government subject such as public administration, policy, etc, then applying to an economics PhD program afterward. </p>

<p>My logic is that doing this would only require an additional year of study and both options are state universities, therefore the marginal cost of this masters would be relatively small. And between this government related masters degree and my economics PhD, I would be very well prepared to someday take on a high level position in the government. </p>

<p>Is this a reasonable idea? Or am I underestimating the costs/benefits of this plan over simply going straight from undergrad to PhD program? Obviously on top of the 1 year of tuition there is the 1 year of lost earnings potential, however I assume that the 1 year of entry level salary that I could earn with only a Bachelors degree would be lower in value (Note that by value I do not only mean earnings) than what I would get out of the additional degree. </p>

<p>(Notes: Both of my top choices have these available, are low enough cost for me to not have to worry about debt, and have a wide enough variety of majors that if I have a change in tastes I can switch majors. So do not worry about me making decisions based on things I shouldn't be worrying about yet. (not worrying) This is This is more to get an idea of what options I can reasonably consider throughout my college career.)</p>

2

<p>So I don’t see any reason why doing a BA/MA 5-year combined program would be a bad idea or change your PhD program plans. By spending the extra year - your earnings may be higher BUT more importantly, as you seem to sense, you will be eligible for a whole range of jobs that you wouldn’t have been with just your BA. There are many jobs in government that require a master’s.</p>

<p>I honestly can’t think of any benefit to just doing the BA and going straight to a PhD program over earning the BA+master’s, other than saving the money on that one year of school. And you’re right in that you’ll make back the opportunity cost + the cost of the extra year in 5-7 years, depending on how much you pay for the last year out of pocket and how much extra money you make with your master’s than you would’ve made with the BA (which you can never know for sure, but you can guess - I would imagine that with your bachelor’s and no experience you couldn’t expect to make much more than $40,000).</p>

<p>Personally, I think these are great programs and I say go for it. By junior year (usually when you have to apply for these things) I was already reasonably sure what I wanted to do, or at least knew what master’s degree(s) would get me where I wanted to go. I think that’s true of a lot of undergrads, so I think these programs are a great way to save $$$ on an extra year of a master’s,</p>