Lead Edit: The Fifth-Year Degree
October 20, 2006 — The University created a five-year master's degree in program in public policy. A master's in public policy was a program conspicuously missing from the University's repertoire of academic offerings, especially for a school with good programs in politics and foreign affairs. Many of the University's rival schools already offer such a program, and with great success.
An MPP prepares students for a variety of careers in public administration. Many students feel compelled to go to law schools, even if they aren't interested in becoming a lawyer, simply to make their bachelor's degree in the humanities or social sciences into something practical. The MPP gives students another avenue to get a practical type of training without law school. Coupled with the degree is a mandatory internship the summer after students' fourth year, which further emphasizes the practical nature of the degree.
Students in the program will apply during their third year and do mostly graduate course work during their fourth year. The one potential problem with the program is that it compresses the undergraduate experience, meaning that students must fulfill all their requirements and complete a major in less time than it would normally take. In this way the program seems a more viable option for students with a significant amount of advanced standing. But with more and more students entering college with advanced standing, the program is a good way for these students to make the best use of their undergraduate time and graduate with a degree that won't prompt those annoying questions: "What are you going to do with that?"
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