public administration

Author: Katherine Jurak, Kent State University

A Master of Public Administration career, and others in the nonprofit sector, present incredible opportunities to identify specific needs in a community and find ways to solve them.

There are many reasons to choose to pursue a career in the public sector rather than in the business world. Often, people are drawn to public or nonprofit careers because doing so gives them an opportunity to do good and enact change for the better.

Pursuing a graduate degree usually means a big payoff for your future but it can feel counterintuitive to take off a whole year or two from your career. That’s where part-time degree programs come in. Earning your degree as a part-time student means you can continue to work while you gain relevant skills to move your public sector career forward. But there’s more to it than just avoiding a break in your resume.

When you think of nonprofits, what organizations first come to mind? You might initially think of Doctors Without Borders, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Red Cross or UNICEF. According to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), nonprofit organizations include any organization that is not organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, and does not promise any net holdings to the benefit of any private shareholders or individuals.1

If you’re looking for a graduate degree that could help you on your way to establishing yourself as a leader in a compelling field, have you looked into the Master of Public Administration (MPA)? While it might not be as common as its private sector counterpart, the Master of Business Administration (MBA), it can help you build comparable skills for leadership in nonprofit organizations, the government as well as many for-profit businesses.

Grad school can open a world of opportunities. It’s wise to do your research and make sure you’re pursuing the right degree and program to reach your career goals. People interested in strengthening skills to head an organization might need to make a decision between more than one degree, specifically: a Master of Public Administration (MPA) or Master of Business Administration (MBA).

As with jobs in all industries, jobs in the public sector have certain advantages and disadvantages. While each person might have their own opinion of what constitutes a positive or negative aspect of any career, read on for our take on the pros and cons of working in the public sector.

Get to know Kent State University even more through our vast array of blogs.

If recent newspaper headlines are to be believed, many people are wondering if the U.S. government is getting too large. While it’s true that over 15% of the workforce is involved in the military, public and national service, the size of the U.S. government proportionate to the total population has actually shrunk in the last 50 years. Beyond that, we’re facing an aging government workforce, of which one third will be eligible to retire by 2025.1