MPP!

Ok so I have to confess.  It has been almost a year since I graduated from college and I still have no job, and I haven't accomplished anything that I thought I would have by this time.  I panicked about the job thing and convinced myself that I would go to law school.  I spend about $700 that I should have put towards my credit card on LSAT classes and registering on LSAC.  My family really liked this idea.  They've always pushed me towards law school, and my mom is not happy unless I'm obsessing over going to school.  She's really just scared that I'll be like her and never finish anything.  Except that I already finished college.  That's the thing she didn't finish.  I also suspect that she just wants to compete with her sister.  My aunt has 3 kids.  One is a doctor, the other is a professional, accomplished MBA.  Both have houses.  They did it "the right way."  They both embrace the backwards Jamaican culture.  One really did it right - she got a career, an advanced degree, a house, a husband, another house and a baby.  That is the only acceptable way to live according to my family.  In fact, when we found out that this cousin was getting married, my mom was overly excited and she said to me, "I'm just so excited, *name* is like my first child, you know?"  I'm her first and only child, so no, I don't know.  My aunt and uncle's youngest daughter messed up.  She did everything wrong, in the eyes of my family.

Anyway, I've been back and forth between the job search and deciding that I would go back to school for something...and I keep coming back to the same thing.  The one thing I am certain of, is that I love studying economics and public policy and applying theories and concepts to real situations.  How can I do this, earn a professional degree AND develop a career?  Well pursuing a master's degree in public policy.  That is the one program that I would really like to do, and I'm confident that I would enjoy it, and could really apply myself and succeed.  The one thing that I can't seem to do though, is develop a plan to get there and focus on completing it. 

The big obstacle in my way is the GRE and being disciplined enough to study for it.  I didn't spend all day studying in college.  When I needed to work hard, I did, believe me, and my transcript and membership in 4 honor societies shows that.  But I didn't major in science or math...I majored in economics, and when you're studying economics, you either have the intuition or you don't, it seems, and then you develop it.  I discovered that intuition, honed it, and found that I really have a passion for the subject.  So I think that this might be the step for me.

So they offer MPA and MPP degrees.  Masters of public administration or masters of public policy.  I'd really like to go the MPP route.  The MPA seems to be the public service equivalent of an MBA, in that it is a professional program that prepares you for the administrative side of public policy, where you are a manger and/or responsible for implementing policy recommendations and programs.  The MPP prepares you to be the person that analyzes the policy, makes recommendations, and looks at how policies would affect your constituency/state/organization/etc.  THAT is what I want to do.  But being the person I am, all I can focus on, is how I should have been doing this instead of pretending to prepare for the LSAT and research law schools.  But I guess that's not a waste, because it led me to what I really want to do, before I got saddled with student loans and a "deserter debuff."  Wow reference.  So in general, I know that I am too late for fall admission and financial aid, and maybe I'm doing this backwards, but I am going to do it.  I am going to begin researching individual schools today and find out I have to do to get in, and when I would be able to start.  Even if its not until January or next fall, I want to do this.