<p>I was just wondering as far as job outlook, what type of jobs could be clustered for each of the two degrees? Are they alike? Thanks alot for any input.</p>
<p>anyone have info?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I'm afraid I can't be too helpful, but I can offer a few tidbits, I guess.</p>
<p>I'm coming from a journalism program known in part for a strong advertising/P.R. program. With P.R., you'll be grooming yourself for a strong resume if you're looking to work ... well, public relations. I know that sounds incredibly stupid, but the point is, a P.R. degree is likely to equip you with the skills you'd need for jobs as a media spokesperson, liason, press release copywriter, etc. A strong P.R. program will help you learn to mediate and persuade; public policy, political science and international relations may foray into those lessons, but with P.R., it's the core of your education. The especially nice thing about the P.R. degree is that the skills you'll learn are practically universal. If your political job field's looking dry, someone out there is bound to need a well-educated P.R. guy/gal.</p>
<p>With Public Policy, I speak with far less authority. (I've only gleaned this info from my own haphazard looks at potential master's programs.) Anway, with a master's in Public Policy, the emphasis is less on teaching students how to be the intermediary between the candidate/group and the media/public and more on guiding students down a path of active public service. If you'd like to be a city manager, councilman/woman, or want a job where you'll be organizing and implementing policy rather than helping the press and the public understand that policy, I'd give a strong look at the M.P.P. I look at it this way. If you want to write the speeches, go for the P.R. master's. If you want to be the one delivering said speeches, opt for P.P.</p>
<p>Poli Sci and I.R. are both (again, from my limited understanding) more theoretical. I don't know much about I.R. But most of the Poli Sci M.A. programs I've looked at share a common thread: You have a lot of wiggle room to choose an area of focus. That wiggle room would, presumably, sculpt your job obtions. Focusing on crunching numbers and learning about political polling trends would make you, say, a killer pollster, but keying in on political sociology and rhetoric would prepare you for a career writing speeches or working campaign strategy.</p>
<p>With every single one of these avenues, IF you're pursuing a master's only, having a strong "practical" undergraduate degree could be helpful. Depending on the school, an M.A. in poli sci alone may not lend itself to a specific set of career options, but when fused with, say, a business or journalism B.S./B.A., it could help custom-tailor your skillset for some pretty specific fields you migh have your eye on. (With me, I'm looking to blend journalism and poli sci together to work the "punditry" side of the media or work spin/PR for campaigns or causes.)</p>
<p>I'd definitely seek out as much more advice as you can. I'm not pulling any of this out of my backsie, exactly, but I bet you already knew a lot of the gibberish I just spewed. I'm definitely no expert. (Just another kid who's terrified of the economy and wants to hide in graduate school for a few years.)</p>