MA in Public Policy & Administration

Prerequisite Courses

In view of the special needs for research and management tools in the public-service field, applicants must have a level of knowledge equal to or greater than the level that is obtained by completion of Baylor's courses in the following areas:

Administration/Management3 sem. hrs.
MGT 3305 Fundamental Concepts of Management, or
PSC 3312 Principles of Public Administration
American Government3 sem. hrs.
PSC 1305 American National Government, or
PSC 1306 American State and Local Governments
Economics3 to 6 sem. hrs.
ECO 1305 Survey of Economic Principles, or
ECO 2305 Principles of Economics I
ECO 2306 Principles of Economics II

Applicants lacking prerequisite courses may be admitted to the program. However, they must combine a schedule of non-credit prerequisite coursework with coursework that counts toward the degree. Thus, they must have completed all requisite and prerequisite courses before receiving the graduate degree. Level of knowledge must be validated by successful completion of an equivalent course with a grade of "C" at an accredited college or university. It is the candidate's responsibility to ensure that they complete these courses in a timely fashion. Graduate students receiving a Fellowship will not receive funding for these prerequisite courses.

Program of Study

The minimum requirement for the Master of Art graduate degree is thirty-six hours, which must include twenty-one semester hours of 5000-level graduate coursework. These twenty-one hours may include six hours of thesis coursework. A Master of Arts candidate may transfer up to six hours of graduate credit from another accredited college or university's Political Science program. The candidate must have completed the hours within five years of entering Baylor's Graduate Political Science program and the candidate must have earned a grade of B or above in the classes.

There are four components of the M.P.P.A program:
Primary Core Courses 12 sem. hrs.
PSC 5320 Seminar in Comparative Public Policy
PSC 5321 Seminar in Public Law
PSC 4322 Seminar in Public Administration
PSC 5323 Seminar in Research Design & Research Methods

Secondary Core Courses 9 sem. hrs.
PSC 4300 Political Behavior
PSC 4310 Political and Communication
PSC 4321 Administrative Law
PSC 4330 Urban Political Processes
PSC 4380 Government and Business
PSC 4390 Reading Course (Public Policy and Administration topics)*
*Reading Course many only be taken once

Elective Courses 9 sem. hrs.
(including at least one 5000-level graduate course) selected from:
1.Courses listed above.
2.Other Political Science courses.
3.Relevant graduate-level courses in cognate fields (e.g., Accounting, Church and State, Economics, Environmental Studies, History, Management, Quantitative Business Analysis, Sociology).

Professional Internship/Research6 sem. hrs.
•Internship: Students lacking significant (at least one year, full-time, paid) non-profit or public administration experience may take PSC 5V12, Graduate Internship. This option involves a WRITTEN REPORT on at least three months of full-time, supervised employment with a public-service agency.
•Professional Paper: Students with significant non-profit or public administration experience may take PSC 5392, Professional Paper in Public Policy and Administration, research under the supervision of a member of the graduate faculty for Political Science with the appropriate specialization, and one additional graduate level course.

Total required 36 sem. hrs.