My Education
I have always felt that my greatest learning has occurred outside the classroom. This page is about my formal education. If you want to read about all of my learning experiences, in and outside the classroom, check out my Insights blog.
That said, my formal education has been excellent.
That said, my formal education has been excellent.
- USC School of Policy, Planning and Development, Masters of Public Administration, 2009 - 2011
- Teaching science in Afghanistan, 2006 and 2008
- UC Davis, International Relations and Economics, 2003 - 2007
USC, Masters of Public Administration
.I received a full scholarship to attend USC's School of Public Policy and Development (SPPD) for a Masters of Public Administration (MPA). I began the two-year program in September, 2009, and will graduate in May, 2011. I continue to work at Senator Steinberg's office.
For more information about my experiences and thoughts at USC, check out my blog posts on it.
This program is an intensive program tailored for full-time professionals. We don't meet every week. For any given class, we meet only once a month, for an intense, 4-day session. We meet from 9-5. In between these sessions, we read assigned readings, write papers, and work on group projects.
"Intensive" is a good description of the program, as it requires a lot of energy and concentration. It also requires excellent discipline to accomplish work in a timely manner. With a month's worth of work to complete, and no deadlines or oversight, it would be easy to fall behind on the work. One excellent result of this type of program, besides the fact that it enables students to continue working, is that almost all the students work in highly relevant jobs, and bring that experience to bear in class discussion. I have never had class discussions that come close to rivaling the discussions we have regularly at USC. As the type of student who asks lots of questions and tries to engage with the professor a lot, I'm glad to be in an environment where everyone does the same.
These are the courses I have taken so far:
For more information about my experiences and thoughts at USC, check out my blog posts on it.
This program is an intensive program tailored for full-time professionals. We don't meet every week. For any given class, we meet only once a month, for an intense, 4-day session. We meet from 9-5. In between these sessions, we read assigned readings, write papers, and work on group projects.
"Intensive" is a good description of the program, as it requires a lot of energy and concentration. It also requires excellent discipline to accomplish work in a timely manner. With a month's worth of work to complete, and no deadlines or oversight, it would be easy to fall behind on the work. One excellent result of this type of program, besides the fact that it enables students to continue working, is that almost all the students work in highly relevant jobs, and bring that experience to bear in class discussion. I have never had class discussions that come close to rivaling the discussions we have regularly at USC. As the type of student who asks lots of questions and tries to engage with the professor a lot, I'm glad to be in an environment where everyone does the same.
These are the courses I have taken so far:
- Public Administration (introductory class)
- Public Financial Management & Budgeting
- Human Behavior in Public Organizations
- Inter-sectoral Leadership
- Leadership in the Nonprofit and Public Sectors
- Political Leadership
- Budgeting
- Policy and program evaluation
- Nonprofit Management and Leadership
- Advocacy in Public Administration
- Professional Practice of Public Administration
- Political Management
UC Davis, Economics and International Relations
I entered UC Davis in 2003, and graduated a quarter early, in March of 2007. I had taken between 5-8 units more than the average almost every quarter (33% to 53% more than the average), because there were so many interesting classes. I decided to leave early because despite my great love for school, I wanted to get into the real world where I could learn through experience instead of through lectures.
Leaving early was the only reason I was accepted as an intern on the office where I am currently employed, Senator Steinberg's district office. The only reason I was even willing to consider going back to school for my Masters of Public Administration at USC is that one of my professors assured me that MPAs were very focused on practical, nuts-and-bolts knowledge. (I have found that to be completely true.) I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, as a double major in Economics and International Relations. I had a cumulative GPA of 3.81 (out of 4.00). I was placed on the Dean's Honor list six quarters, more than half of my time at UC Davis. For more information about my experiences and thoughts at USC, check out my blog posts about it. Classes I took at UC Davis
Economics:
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