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Libby McCardle, MPA 2010: Second year student with a concentration in Social Policy concentration
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Libby McCardle is a second-year SIPA student pursuing an MPA degree with a concentration in Social Policy. Within her concentration area, she is focusing on health policy and has taken a number of courses at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia. She holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania. Prior to attending SIPA, Libby worked at JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York and London for four years as an operational risk manager and commodities product controller.
What experiences do you think prepared you at attend SIPA?
"Perhaps more so than my undergraduate studies, I think my work experience in finance prepared me well for my time at SIPA. I was prepared to do a great deal of group work, function in a team environment, and manage my time well. After spending four years in the private sector, pursuing an MPA at SIPA was an opportunity for me to shift my career to something different but still use the skills I had learned in banking and finance. I think it’s really important that SIPA recruits candidates from diverse backgrounds and with several years of work experience."
Have you taken classes at other Columbia Schools?
"Yes, I have taken a number of courses at the Mailman School of Public Health in the department of health policy and management as well as in socio-medical sciences. These courses counted towards my Social Policy concentration. The cross-registration process is fairly efficient, and the staff and faculty are extremely helpful. I like that SIPA partners with the other graduate schools to offer us a broad range of perspectives and the opportunity to interact with students and professors from different backgrounds."
How did you obtain your internship?
"I obtained my summer internship using SIPAlink. The job agent feature is extremely helpful. I knew that I wanted to do something with health policy and spend the summer in New York City, and the job agent simply sends you email alerts based on the filters and criteria that you provide.
When you find something that you’re interested in, SIPAlink has all the details in one place: detailed job description, location, qualification requirements and contact details. I submitted my resume and cover letter directly to the organization I was interested in, and they contacted me for an interview shortly after that."
Can you please talk about your internship experience?
"During the summer of 2009, I interned at Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) in New York City. PCDC is a not-for-profit community development institution that helps health centers in low-income and medically underserved areas of the city as well as New York State obtain affordable financing and consulting services to maintain, or expand and improve their operations. I worked on the external affairs and development team writing grant proposals and press releases, helping plan the annual gala fundraising event, and revamping their new website."
Did you choose to attend SIPA to change careers, or to gain experience in a career path you already had experience in?
"I chose to attend SIPA to change careers. After four years in the private sector, I decided to pursue my interest in non-profit work and the study of social welfare. I like that SIPA caters to career changers not only in the coursework that is offered, but also from a career services perspective. It’s important to me that even though I am switching careers, I can still use the skills that I learned in my undergraduate studies, and my previous four years of work, as a complement to the work I’m doing at SIPA."
What advice would you give a first-year student?
"My advice is to be as proactive as possible in your interaction with the deans and concentration directors. Students are not assigned individual advisors, so it is very important that you are well informed before choosing a concentration area. Also, some concentrations and specializations have very structured and specific requirements that you must begin work on during your first year of study, thus making it more difficult to switch in to certain concentrations after your first or second semester. If you are well-informed about the concentration that you want to choose from the outset, you will be better able to make the most of your time at SIPA."
[July 2010]