Public Affairs

The Master in Public Affairs (M.P.A.) offers rigorous preparation for international and domestic policy careers.

This two-year, full-time residential program cultivates among its students and graduates a lasting commitment to public service.

Through its core curriculum and a wide variety of elective courses, students learn analytical skills that address the political, economic, quantitative, behavioral and normative aspects of complex policy problems. The program also promotes understanding of the distinctive historical, institutional and cultural contexts of domestic and international policy making.

Each M.P.A. candidate selects a policy field in which to specialize from the school’s four fields of concentration: international relations, international development, domestic policy, and economics and public policy. Students may also earn a joint degree in public affairs and law (M.P.A./J.D.), or other professional degree programs, by special request. Certificate programs offer additional areas of specialization in fields such as demography; health policy; science, technology, and environmental policy (STEP); and urban policy or urban policy and planning.

Significant financial aid resources are dedicated to permitting the majority of WWS students the opportunity to receive graduate degrees without incurring loan indebtedness and to launch them into public service careers in the public and nonprofit sectors.

Courses:

The curriculum of the M.P.A. program includes six required core courses that address skills and techniques needed for the systematic study of public policy problems. The courses cover political analysis, quantitative methods, and economic and behavioral analysis. 

Additional Requirements:

Policy Workshops

Graduate policy workshops are a unique part of the Woodrow Wilson School graduate curriculum.

Policy workshops provide students with an opportunity to use the analytical skills they have acquired in the first year in the program to analyze complex and challenging policy issues, usually for real clients. Each workshop consists of 8 - 10 students who work in teams to evaluate a policy challenge.

The workshops emphasize policy implementation, and it is this emphasis that distinguishes them from regular courses. The goal of the workshops is to understand a policy issue in great depth and to make policy recommendations that are both creative and realistic, given the relevant institutional and political constraints.

Integrated Policy Exercise (IPE)

In January, at the end of the first semester, first-year M.P.A. students are required to take part in a policy project called the Integrated Policy Exercise, or IPE.

The IPE requires students to apply the skills they acquired in the fall term analytic courses. They are given briefing materials to review in advance and are then required to submit a comprehensive memo in response to a set of specific policy questions. The IPE is a trial run for the qualifying examination or QE1.

Qualifying Examination 1 (QE1)

In May, at the end of the first year, students are required to take a qualifying exam, the QE1, a graded exercise that closely parallels the IPE.

The QE1 requires an integrated use of analytical skills acquired in the core curriculum during the first year, and it also includes behavioral analysis of the policy issue.

Qualifying Examination 2 (QE2)

Second-year students are required to take and pass a second qualifying exam (QE2) in May in their chosen field of concentration.

• Application Fee: $90
• Statement of Academic Purpose
• Resume/Curriculum Vitae
• Recommendation Letters
• Transcripts
• Fall Semester Grades
• Prerequisite Tests
• English Language Tests
• Statement of Financial Resources
• GRE : The general test is required for all Ph.D., M.P.A., and M.P.P. applicants.
• Course list. 4 page policy memo. Applicants applying to a joint degree program are required to submit a 2 page joint degree statement. Applicants are required to select a field when applying.

• Assistantships
• Global Education