Question about a University

I've come into a situation that has captured my interest. Penn State offers an online Master of Homeland Security in Public Health Preparedness. This, of course, is a very daunting degree to contemplate. It will be online and is a certified Master's degree from the honest to goodness Penn State; not some send me $500 and you have a Master's online thing. This will be expensive, but about the same price as the MBA I'm thinking of taking down the street this next August from Oklahoma Christian Univerisity. Of course, the degree won't say "online" nor will the diploma show Penn State World Campus, Online; just the Penn State logo and information. This is a true degree that could launch me into a multitude of jobs in either public or private situations. With a Certified Public Manager's Cert, a Dual Bachelor's in Business Administration and Management, and over 8 yrs of management experience with 19 yrs, total, for the same Agency, I'm weighing educational and future career decisions. Question: Should I stay with a safe MBA at a local private Christian University or go out on a limb with Penn State for Homeland Security in Public Health Preparedness? I mean, I've spent almost 20 yrs in the public sector and this would be a great way to move into my next career and at a federal level instead of just a state level. Geez, can you see the sweat on my brow? I mean, serious reprecussions of this type of degree is that I could be the person that either has the plan to save a portion of the US from natural or man made disasters or screw it up like the Katrina abomination. Price wise, Penn State is only about $150 more per credit hour. Any and all suggestions, opinions, silly comments, telling me I'm silly, telling me I'm an idiot, etc is appreciated. My gpa was 3.49 when I graduated and is above their required entry gpa. My work background will give me a push to the front of the line with this very competitive program. I'm scared, can you tell? This idea came up this afternoon from a fellow Cert. Public Manager and had talked about me with a "person" in the program as an advisor. She said my name came up on her end and he said she'd make a great candidate. HELP!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh... if you can afford it. Penn State. No question. Wow. The school is great... and the work you could get afterwards would be so rewarding.

Penn State is a great University; however, I would like to play the devil's advocate. Many University's have rolled out specialized degree's focusing on the "issues of the day." I have no idea about the program; however, I would want to "Know" what their graduates are doing. Are there any jobs out there that require this degree? Good luck.

Sorry, folks, I got sidetracked this weekend (in fact 10 minutes after I posted this) because my mom's BF had to be in the hospital all weekend and the news was all over the spectrum. Long story short, after I best friended his night nurses and day staff, he was treated well. I flirted with his doc and he dropped the attitude he flew in with on Saturday. I was fine until today when he was released. We waited 45 minutes after his discharge for someone to wheel him out. There were 3 patients on the floor and 8 techs, nurses, etc. I found a wheelchair, put him in it, told them I could birth a baby quicker than they could take a coffee break and out the door we went. We were on 7th floor and about 6 steps from the front door a tech caught up with us. Still, that was unacceptalble to me. My family or people I have in the hospital will NOT be treated that way. Anyway, the devil's advocate asked about jobs in the field and it's really odd that I can give you an answer. I have three good examples. The first starts with my current position. If the state office building of my agency had an emergency, my location would become the contingency site for full function and I would become Interim Executive Director. By them choosing this, they believe my coordination, delegations skills, and effectiveness in an emergency is up to Governors' standards. Second, Katrina and New Orleans. Fema dropped the ball. One of the disciplines in this degree is Disaster prepardeness or HR and a few other detail oriented things. I actually dreamt about testifying in front of a House Committee in Washington and telling them what went wrong and what should have been done. However, they would have shut me up since one of the first things out of my mouth (in my dream) was "if a 14 yr old boy could hot wire a school bus and move 300 people to Houston with 3 or 4 trips before they drowned, why couldn't Ray Nagin get the transit buses down to the dome? Why, because FEMA was placed under Homeland Security and somebody didn't secure our Homeland". Ok, hindsight in that situation, but if a 14 yr could figure out how to move folks, then "the" folks in power should have had very little to no deaths because of Corps of Engineers ineffeciency and failure to plan for levee breaks back when Betsy struck in the '60's. Thirdly. There was a FEMA "press conference" today where staged "reporters" asked four or five questions and the rest of the press was ignored. The guy walked off stage after that. Reality and real people with assets to get things done need to come back to that and other Emergency Readiness Agencies. So, in a brief answer, yes. I probably would be able to write my ticket for the second career of my life if I did this degree. I'm pretty sure I'll do it. Even if I graduate in 2 yrs, each state has a new Department of Homeland Security, so I could work there and not move. It would go on my state retirement, which I only have 11 yrs to get full retirement. Then after that, I could apply for federal positions and move to Bethesda or somewhere else close to Washington. Ok, I think I've talked myself into this...

I just got some literature on this, too. The degree will come from Penn State's College of Medicine. I really have a scared on happening plus a headache. All I can do is try. I won't do t his in January (work and life is just too busy), but will make myself fit it into the schedule in August. That is if my grad test grade is high enough and they even let me in...they may hate me.