Just a very quick comment: if you’d like to get involved in politics/policy, the standard route is to try to network your way directly into a job as staffer, on a political campaign, in the exec branch or at a think tank—though this often takes a few years (and is easier if in DC), so in the meantime people normally focus on building up relevant credentials and experience.
In the second category, grad school is seen as useful step, especially if you want to be more on the technocrat side rather than party politics side of things.
Note that an MPP or Masters in another relevant subject (e.g. Economics) is enough for most positions, and that only takes 1-2 years, rather than 3-6. (PhDs are only needed if you want to be a technical expert or researcher.) It could be at least worth applying to see if you can get into a top ~5 MPP programme, or having that as a goal to potentially work towards.
Hi Brad,
Just a very quick comment: if you’d like to get involved in politics/policy, the standard route is to try to network your way directly into a job as staffer, on a political campaign, in the exec branch or at a think tank—though this often takes a few years (and is easier if in DC), so in the meantime people normally focus on building up relevant credentials and experience.
In the second category, grad school is seen as useful step, especially if you want to be more on the technocrat side rather than party politics side of things.
Note that an MPP or Masters in another relevant subject (e.g. Economics) is enough for most positions, and that only takes 1-2 years, rather than 3-6. (PhDs are only needed if you want to be a technical expert or researcher.) It could be at least worth applying to see if you can get into a top ~5 MPP programme, or having that as a goal to potentially work towards.
A little more info here and in the links: https://80000hours.org/key-ideas/#government-and-policy https://80000hours.org/topic/careers/government/