| Some advice would be greatly appreciated!
I'm glad I found this site. Here's my story, and please bear with me as it is a little lengthy and I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ranting...
I am 23 years old and I graduated from a "state school" University last May. I'm not sure how other states work but the state I live in has a System of Higher Education or something and there are like 14 univeristies run by the state. I went to the one that was considered "the ivy league school of the state schools", which is stupid and means absolutely nothing because its not really and Ivy League school. I got my B.A. in Political Science and I had a really good internship one summer at the State Capitol working for a Legislator. But during most of my years and after graduation I didn't make much of an effort when it came to job hunting and I didn't try to get in touch with any contacts or anything. I was just lazy and unmotivated and not sure what to do. I moved to NYC with my girlfriend and couldn't find a job for 2 months. I moved back to my current state and found a job working at an Engineering Consulting firm. I thought about going to law school and this company wanted someone with that interest for this positon. Its considered a Paralegal but its strange because I don't work with any lawyers, just engineers. I handle all the documents for certain projects and I manage them, research them, make graphics with data from them. I also do a bit of marketing for the company as well. I think the job is boring. I've decided I definitely don't want to be a lawyer so law school is out of the question. I've always had an interest in politics and working for legislators so I just recently I tried to get in touch with people I know in politics to network with them to see if there are any jobs out there. Haven't heard anything back yet but I decided that maybe I should go to grad school and get a Masters in Public Administration, as I am interested in a career in public service. I haven't researched the program that thoroughly, but from what I gather its sort of like an MBA but geared toward the public sector rather than the private sector. My dad has the same degree and he is making a decent salary of $130,000 a year as a director of public relations for a certain state organization. I was talking to my dad the other night and he said to me that I should get an MBA instead of an MPA because with an MPA I would be limiting myself and with an MBA there would be more opportunities. He said an undergraduate degree in Political Science and an MBA would be a good mix. My cousin interned for President Clinton and then went to Harvard Business School and now has a really great job as a VP for a company in London. I know that I am not getting into HBS even though that would be great. My cousin was 28 when he started Business school and worked for a bunch of years after his undergrad years. I'm really torn between the MBA or the MPA. I understand with the MBA it is good to have work experience, but what exactly does that mean? Is the job I am doing now considered good experience? Is my internship considered experience? Do Business schools want people who have had jobs with a lot of responsibility because my job right now doesn't seem to have that much responsibility. I feel like I don't know where to go from here. If I worked one "real world" job after college for like 2 years would Business schools look down on that? Do they want you to work a variety of different jobs before getting an MBA? I really don't know what to think, I just know I don't want to be working this job forever but at the same time I am unclear about which steps to take to improve my career. I also feel like the job I am doing now isn't really giving me practical experience. Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it very much.
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