Degree
School
Overview
The Master of Public Policy (MPP) program engages students interested in a range of policy areas, including urban policy, environment, transportation, economic development, international policy, disaster policy and homeland security. This program emphasizes policy research, evaluation and evidence-based decision-making in a collaborative environment.
Students will enhance and sharpen their knowledge and skills through the development of various core competencies: public policy and governance; economic principles; research methods and tools; policy and program analysis and evaluation; organization management and network analysis; public leadership and the decision-making process; and specific courses dedicated to unique topics within policy research. This program is an ideal fit for students seeking an interdisciplinary approach to face today’s policy challenges.
Curriculum
The Master of Public Policy program is a full-time cohort research program that requires 36-credit hours. Students complete a core of six courses (18 credits), three general electives (nine credits), two policy specialization electives (six credits) and one policy analysis capstone course (three credits).
- This course provides an overview of statistical methods and hands-on application to managerial decision-making in the public sector.
- Course topics include program evaluation, data collection and measurement in public policy and administration, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, index variable construction, regression analysis, and an overview of selected other statistical and quantitative methods applied to problems of public administration.
Students must achieve a minimum grade of a B- (80%) or better for each core class and the capstone experience, and they must maintain an overall program grade point average of 3.0.
For more information, please visit the UCF Graduate Catalog.
Certificates
Students accepted into a graduate program within the School of Public Administration may apply some applicable credits toward a graduate certificate. Students must apply separately for the certificate program. View the graduate certificates offered by the School of Public Administration.
Admissions and Advising
Applications are accepted in the fall. Apply online through the College of Graduate Studies. To be considered for admission, the following documentation must be on file with UCF by the appropriate application deadline date:
- An official, sealed transcript of each college or university attended, showing a GPA of at least 3.0
- Fall 2022 applicants are not required to submit GRE scores.
- Three letters of recommendation specifically for the MPP program evaluating scholarly and professional capacity. Letters from professors from the colleges/universities attended are preferred, but if that is not feasible, letters from current or past supervisors will be accepted. The recommender must address the applicant's work ethic and ability to succeed at graduate-level academic work.
- Current professional resume including public service experience (paid or voluntary)
- Goal statement no longer than two pages double-spaced (500-800 words) that addresses the following:
- Personal background and career aspirations in public service
- Reason for pursuing graduate study in public policy, including future career goals and plans
- Specific areas of public policy that interest you
- Applicants applying to this program who have attended a college/university outside the United States must provide a course-by-course credential evaluation with GPA calculation. Credential evaluations are accepted from World Education Services (WES) or Josef Silny and Associates, Inc. only.
- All international students must meet university minimum TOEFL score requirements regardless of the language in which the undergraduate program was completed.
For more information on admissions, please contact our graduate advisor, Edlira Dursun.
Application Deadlines
Fall
Spring
Jul 1
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Jan 15
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