I want you to help me decide why I need to study Public Administration and what can I achieve if I choose to study it.

A good place to start would be looking at what sorts of careers people with degrees in Public Administration tend to go into.

Typically, these careers tend to be involved in government in some way, often starting out as internships but moving on to become consultants or civil servants. A few even run for political office. Some go on to private sector careers, but that's not the main path.

The typical terminal degree in Public Administration is a Master's of Public Administration or MPA. The quality of programs varies tremendously, so choose your school carefully. I've linked the US News rankings.

Public Administration differs from related fields like Political Science, Economics, and Public Policy in that Public Administration is much more focused on the practical implementation of policy. In Public Policy we ask, "What should we do?" In Public Administration, we ask, "How do we actually get that done?" Where an economist would be most interested in what sort of tax policy would optimize economic efficiency and a political scientist would be interested in which voters and interest groups would support that policy, someone in public administration would be asking what sort of political maneuvers it would take to actually get that tax plan passed in Congress.

In many ways, Public Administration is similar to Business Administration, and an MBA and an MPA will open similar doors, with the MBA more focused on the private sector and an MPA more focused on the public sector.

I think Public Administration is a good field to go into for people who are pragmatic idealists, or perhaps idealistic pragmatists. If you're a pure idealist, working in civil service may seem too mundane and inconsequential; if you are a pure cynic, you'll go into finance or business to make more money for yourself. But if you want to change the world, but you also understand that the world is complicated and change is hard, you may find that the best place for you to make a difference is working for the EPA or the SEC or the NSF---and that's where an MPA would serve you well.