Another week down and the first  impressions I wrote about last week are holding.  It’s a good mix of courses and the two that stand out the most are PUBP 804 and PUBP 805.  So this week’s focus is on the “superlatives” … most interesting and most challenging.

Most Interesting – PUBP 805: Public Policy Systems and Theory
There is considerably more reading in this course than the other three.  But the readings so far have been really enjoyable and this has made it much easier to cover them.  The discussions in class have aligned closely to the readings without being a direct reiteration of the assignment.  We started out with tobacco policy in the United States and are now covering the origins of public policy (how do policies get their start?) and the various stakeholders involved.

Most Challenging – PUBP 804: Multivariate Statistical Analysis in Public Policy
Although this course doesn’t require the amount of reading that 805 does, it is currently my most challenging.  I can see myself spending a lot of time wrapping my head around the concepts we will cover.  We just finished the first week of a two-week block on “factor analysis”.  Huh?  Yes, that’s my take on it as well.  I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it; it’ll just take extra effort.