<p>I am currently a freshman studying International Business and Finance with concentrations in Chinese and Economics. Naturally, I will be going on to get my MBA. However, I am torn over Law School with a joint program. </p>
<p>Basically, what I want to do is help developing countries create programs to finance their problems and set up programs that will work, that is where the business part will come in maybe a little Investment Banking type of work etc However, as I learned on a recent trip to Guatemala, knowing the culture,history,social aspects, and ways other citizens deal with problems is crucial. Would International Law be beneficial? </p>
<p>Harvard's Joint Program of three years feels like something I would be interested in, I want a law degree, concentrating in international development to know the policy, and gain skills to negotiate. Best option? I am only a freshman though haha so its just a seed to plant really.</p>
<p>Don’t spring for the law degree unless you want to practice law. For what you want to do an MBA should be sufficient - a JD would be a waste of time, money, and energy. As an alternative, you might be interested in a Master’s in Judicial Studies (it goes by different names at different schools - essentially, it’s a background in law for nonlawyers). American has a pretty good program, for instance.</p>
<p>thank you for the feedback, the time and money are factors which interested me in programs such as Harvard’s that cuts down the cost by reducing tuition in your third year and eliminating the fourth year, </p>
<p>some of the work I want to do will crossover into the political field and working for the united nations,IFC,or something like that would directly involve knowing policy and applicable ways to use a law degree when negotiating with political figures with a clear extensive background in policy, that was my whole thought going about the idea</p>
<p>If you’ll be dealing in international policy I honestly think an MPA, MPP, or MA in International Relations would be more beneficial than a JD. A law degree teaches you how to think in a certain way, not how to analyze policy. Especially if you’ll be working internationally a law degree will be largely useless because of its heavy US focus, whereas a policy-oriented degree will allow you focus your skills more specifically at the international arena.</p>
<p>That makes alot of sense and is a real answer nobody has really given me thank you! Combining an MBA and MPP is an idea.The program at Harvard and I’m sure many other schools is flexible and will allow the same type of three year concept I just didnt know WHAT to combine really thank you</p>
<p>It looks as if Harvard’s MPP program has a specific focus on International Development as well! I was not aware of MPP MPA etc programs really</p>
<p>Honestly, you don’t even need the joint degree program. A 3-year combined program, while it sounds desirable, is very, very rigorous. Most people I know who undertook a 3-year joint program were killing themselves with work. For what you want to do an MBA really isn’t necessary - you’ll acquire the same skill set with either the MPA or MPP. If you really want an MBA, I’d suggest that you wait until after you’ve had some work experience and then apply for a one-year accelerated MBA program. But again, I doubt it’ll be necessary.</p>
<p>Will just undergraduate work in Business be competitive enough? I suppose I can always go back for an MBA, Is an MPP program “easier” to get into than and MBA program right out of undergrad, I know top school require a good deal of experience what are the qualifications to enter MPP programs?</p>
<p>A strong MPP program will be just as difficult to get into as an MBA program. A background in international business will be good, as will the background in economics. I’m not sure how your school works specifically, but you might look at majoring in Economics rather than doing an emphasis. For what you want to do a stronger understanding of macroeconomic concepts will be very helpful. Political Science or Public Administration would also be helpful undergrad programs, or at least it would help to have some coursework from these disciplines. Both the MPP and MBA will require advanced coursework in economics (quantitative analysis and in some programs microeconomic theory) and statistics, though, so be sure to prep yourself for that.</p>
<p>Economics interests me greatly and probably my best classes, but I want to keep the International aspect to my degree the line between finance and economics is still something that confuses me, International Relations seems great, but a relatively hard degree to apply to a job right away if necessary. My question really is work experience for an MPP program?</p>
<p>Is work experience necessary? No. Will it help a great deal, especially for programs like Harvard’s? Absolutely. You might want to take a few years off to work for an NPO that deals wih the third world. This will give you a lot of valuable experience and let you find out if this is what you REALLY want to do with your life.</p>