Program Overview

Public Policy Master's Program

The Public Policy Master's program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of public policy analysis, design, and evaluation. The program is offered by the Department of Political Science at North Dakota State University.

Program Information

• Credential Offered: Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.)
• English Proficiency Requirements: TOEFL iBT 71, IELTS 6, Duolingo 105
• Application Deadline: Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis

Curriculum

The program requires a total of 36 credits, consisting of core courses and electives.

• Core Courses (24 credits):
  • POLS 623: Public Policy Analysis
  • POLS 710: Global Public Policy
  • POLS 705: Policy Design and Evaluation
  • POLS 724: Public Budgeting and Finance
  • POLS 726: Harm Reduction for Policymakers
  • POLS 633: Law and Public Policy
  • POLS 701: Quantitative Methods for Public Policy
  • POLS 670: Quantitative Methods for Political Science and Public Policy
  • POLS 702: Qualitative Methods for Impact Evaluations
  • POLS 703: Advanced Policy Analysis
  • POLS 780: Masters of Public Policy Capstone
• Electives (12 credits):
  • POLS 622: State and Local Politics
  • POLS 644: International Law
  • POLS 650: Politics of the Developing Countries
  • POLS 652: Comparative Political Economy
  • POLS 653: Environmental Policy and Politics
  • POLS 654: Comparative Democratic Institutions
  • POLS 670: Quantitative Methods for Political Science and Public Policy
  • POLS 762: New Institutionalism in Political Science
  • GEOL 680: Geographic Information Systems Pattern Analysis and Modeling
  • ECON 661: Economic Development
  • ECON 670: Public Economics
  • ECON 675: Health Economics
  • ECON 681: Natural Resource Economics
  • ECON 682: Environmental Economics
  • ECON 762: New Institutional Economics
  • EMGT 610:
  • HDFS 719: Youth Policy
  • HDFS 760: Aging Policy and Advocacy
  • PSYC 653: Organizational Psychology
  • SOC 605: Community Development
  • SOC 733: Organizations and the State
  • BUSN 690: Graduate Seminar (IDEAS Research Workshop)

Admission and Application Requirements

In addition to the Graduate School admission and application requirements, the following are required:

• A statement of purpose answering the question: Why does the applicant wish to pursue a MPP at NDSU?
• A current resume or CV
• An academic writing sample this writing sample might be a paper written for an undergraduate or graduate-level class or could be written specifically for this application
• Optional statement of extenuating circumstances if there is anything the applicant would like the admissions committee to know about their circumstances, that is not discussed elsewhere in the application

Accelerated Program

Accelerated students can take 15 credits towards the MPP in the course of their standard undergraduate career. During the fifth year, students would take the remaining 21 credits from the curriculum above.