Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am looking into a masters in public administration degree. The NASPAA is an accrediting body for MPA programs. Not being very familiar with this program of study, I am wondering in this case or in general, what is more important: a highly ranked school that IS not accredited by the NASPAA or similar special accrediting body, OR a lower ranked school that IS accredited. I am not talking about general accreditation with the US Dept Of Education. I am referring specifically to specially additional accreditation, in this case of the National Ass'c of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. Some schools offering MPAs are nationally accredited by the U.S. gov't and some are additionally accredited by this organization.
In applying I dont know which to put at more important, this special accreditation by lower raking or higher ranking and no special NASPAA accreditation?
Thank you!!
p.s. I dont know how important it is to begin with to graduate from a high ranking school for a MPA.
Well I am not familiar with the Public Administration career field nor the degree associated with. But I did look at the NASPAA site. It was nice to see that my school, FGCU was on there and that their online program was recognized as well. However I couldn't really find any clear evidence that NASPAA accreditation was highly preferred or mandatory to those who are seeking careers in public administration.
However my opinion is that you should shoot for the highest level if possible. If you can get into an NASPAA program, and it will work for you...I think you should go that route. You will only be pursuing the degree once. Why not get one that has this stamp of certification?
Thanks for your reply.........I live right near FGCU, just concerned that the school is so new, no one will have heard of it etc., however it is accredited by NASPAA whereas Nova for instance is not. Thanks for your reply!
Looking through the list of accredited schools, a number of top tier schools like Yale, Cornell, Georgetown, and U of Michigan are not listed on their site. So given some pretty significant gaps, I'm inclined to see NASPAA as very much a work in progress and would go with the usual rankings instead.
Thanks for your reply.........I live right near FGCU, just concerned that the school is so new, no one will have heard of it etc., however it is accredited by NASPAA whereas Nova for instance is not. Thanks for your reply!
No problem! I've been at FGCU for a year now. The quality of the instruction is fine. The biggest issue I see is the fact that the alumni network is so small. However it really helps that FGCU has pretty much cornered the market on public higher education in Southwest FL (Edison is public, but not one of the FL state schools). So it has a lot of respect from the local businesses and industries; in that the school fills a much needed void that was empty before.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
