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What are policy master’s? (Part 1)

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About this guide

Getting a policy master’s degree (e.g. MPP) can help you pivot into or accelerate your policy career. This guide explains what policy master’s programs are, where and how to apply, as well as how to fund your degree. It consists of four articles, discussing:

  1. What are policy master’s degrees and why should you get one? (this article) explains what makes these degrees distinctive. 
  2. Which policy master’s programs should you apply to? explains the criteria for where to apply and recommends particular schools.
  3. How to apply and get into top policy master’s programs? outlines the application process for policy master’s degrees and provides tips to strengthen the different components of your application. 
  4. How to fund a policy master’s degree? explains these costs and how to make them  more manageable through careful planning and research.

We encourage you to read the articles that seem most useful to you, skipping material you’re already familiar with.

We also have a US policy master’s database for those who want to compare program options.

What are policy master’s degrees?

The two main types of policy master’s degrees1 are the “Master of Public Policy/Administration” (MPP/MPA) and the “Master of International Affairs/Relations/Security Studies”2 (MIA). These degrees are often (but not always) offered by different university departments. For instance, Georgetown University has the School of Foreign Service (SFS) offering MIA degrees in “Security Studies” and “Foreign Service” while the McCourt School of Public Policy offers MPP degrees.3 

Universities do not always use terms like MPP and MIA consistently, making it difficult to infer much about the degree’s content from its title alone. This makes it important to dig deeper when comparing degrees, such as by talking to current or former students and looking at mandatory and elective course work and the job paths of alumni and faculty (e.g. how many come from policy versus academia?). Similarly, Chris Blattman, a professor at a policy school, comments: “I honestly don’t know the difference between an MPA, MPP and MIA. I don’t think there is a systematic [difference]. Rather it varies by school.”4 Some even mix titles, such as Yale’s “Master in Public Policy in Global Affairs.”

Insofar as generalizations are possible, MPPs usually focus more on the US domestically while MIA degrees—as the name suggests—take an international angle. MPPs also typically include more mandatory economics, statistics, and management classes, while MIA degrees are more likely to include international relations, history, and military affairs.5 Within MIAs, degrees in “international relations” are usually more academic and broader than those in “security studies”. There is no general rule about whether MPP or MIA degrees are “better” (or rather, more appropriate); it depends on the degree specifics and your career goals. For example, an MIA-type degree is especially attractive if you want to work on foreign policy or security policy topics. 

In contrast to MPPs and MIAs, master’s of public health (MPH) are often more STEM-oriented and technical. They often combine (i) medical and technical classes preparing you to be a public health worker and (ii) policy classes setting you up for future policy work—the emphasis on (i) versus (ii) varies a lot by program. Anecdotally, path (i) seems more common, and a lot of MPH professors, current students, and alumni are (aspiring) public health workers at the state, national, and local levels. We don’t generally recommend MPHs as highly as other policy degrees, but they might be a good option for some people interested in biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. However, if your professional goal is to prevent future pandemics, there are some more specialized DC-based biosecurity policy programs that we recommend more highly than MPHs (see footnote).6 

Course structure

Most full-time policy master’s degrees require two academic years to complete and a summer internship between the first and second year. Often the first year is devoted to completing required core courses. The second year may include concentration courses, electives, and/or a “capstone” project. Such capstones are usually student-directed group efforts to respond to the problems an outside client presents. 

There are also dedicated mid-career policy master’s programs that are more likely to allow students to study part-time and have less stringent coursework requirements.7 Mid-career programs may omit the internship and/or the “capstone” requirement, recognizing the students’ prior work experience and accomplishments.

Academic versus practitioner-oriented degrees

Policy master’s fall on a continuum from highly academic to highly practitioner-oriented, the latter preparing you better for a policy career. Academic degrees emphasize theory and research methods, preparing students for future academic research. In contrast, practitioner-oriented policy degrees are typically very practical, more optimized for networking with policy professionals, have a lower academic course load, and offer more opportunities for students to work.

For example, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government is practitioner-oriented while Harvard’s separate Department of Government is very academic, focusing on training in formal theory and quantitative methods. Like Harvard, many universities offer academic master’s and PhD programs in subjects like international relations, but these don’t usually feed directly into the DC policy world.

Why (not) do a master’s if you want to work in policy?

See our article on Why do a graduate degree if you want to work in policy? for general advice on why to attend graduate school, such as a policy master’s, to prepare for policy work.  

In brief, completing a graduate degree is often (but not always) necessary for advancing in a policy career, depending on the specific institution and role. Second, it helps your professional development, including the policy-relevant credential, network, knowledge, and skills you gain. Third, graduate school can help you explore different policy fields, whether through relevant classes, work experience, or research projects. 

Specific reasons for doing a master’s

  • Exploration: Policy master’s programs allow you to quickly explore different policy areas by choosing classes from a wide range of topics. While we recommend only doing a policy master’s if you’re reasonably confident you want to work in policy, within policy you don’t need to have fixed priorities when you start graduate school.
  • Relatively short duration and high flexibility: Most policy master’s cost relatively little time compared to the alternatives (like STEM degrees, law school, or PhDs). They often involve a comparably lighter workload, can take as little as 9 months to complete (though most top programs take 2 years), offer part-time options, and allow students to hold a part-time or even full-time job. In contrast, STEM master’s typically take 2 years and have a high course load, law school takes 3 full-time years, and US PhDs often take 5-6 years.
  • Ease of admission: Many of the top policy master’s are relatively easy to get into—compared to academically-oriented or STEM degrees—with acceptance rates typically between 15-50%.8 You can also typically make up for worse grades through professional experience.

Why not do a master’s for policy work?

The general arguments against doing a graduate degree also apply to deciding whether to complete a policy master’s program. In addition, there are some master’s-specific arguments to consider: 

Aiming for a US PhD: If you want to do a US PhD, it usually doesn’t make sense to get a master’s degree first. In contrast to Europe, in the US master’s degrees and PhDs are usually substitutes—you do one or the other but usually not both (since the 5-6-year US PhDs usually include an initial mandatory 1-2 year course phase equivalent to a master’s program). Master’s curricula focus on applied topics relevant to professional careers rather than a PhD’s more theoretical and technical emphasis. 

Finally, for a critical perspective on public policy and international affairs degrees, see this article (though it is mainly concerned with salary and employability rather than impact potential, and is focused on the average program rather than the top programs that we recommend).

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Footnotes
  1. Please note that this guide focuses on:
    (1) Master’s degrees for people aiming to work in policy. Thus, it will be much less relevant for those pursuing technical or other non-policy careers.
    (2) Master’s degrees rather than other graduate degrees, like law degrees or PhDs. This section does briefly compare policy master’s with law school and PhDs. 
    (3) Master’s programs for policy careers in the US, especially in/with federal government. Some of the advice may apply to policy at the US state-level or other countries, but much of it will not since DC policy institutions and paths may differ substantially from those not in DC or the US. ↩︎
  2. Security studies is usually treated as a subfield of international relations, which itself is part of political science. ↩︎
  3. Similarly, George Washington University has both the Elliott School of International Affairs and the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration; and American University has both the School of Public Affairs and the School of International Service. In contrast, Columbia University offers both IR and MPP degrees in its School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). ↩︎
  4. Similarly, this MPP guide states: “Today the general differences between the MPA and the MPP often are few. Over the past twenty years, their respective curricula substantially have converged and now it is important for students to look past the degree titles” ↩︎
  5. One MPP student explained to us that “a lot of MPP core classes are basically aimed at teaching basic econ and stats to people with policy work experience but who didn’t major in something quantitative. It’s been pretty redundant for me, having majored in applied math.” This MPP guide explains: “In general, an MPA/MPP program will offer all students advanced instruction in public policy analysis, public management, leadership, economics, and quantitative methods, along with courses on specific policy and administration topics.” ↩︎
  6. Here are several great biosecurity and health security-oriented master’s that combine policy with technical classes:
    (1) Georgetown University, MS Biohazardous Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases
    (2) Georgetown University, MS in Global Infectious Disease
    (3) George Mason University, Master’s in Biodefense (also available as PhD) ↩︎
  7. Examples include Harvard Kennedy School’s Mid-Career Master in Public Administration and Georgetown University’s Master of Policy Management. ↩︎
  8. This is also a way to get access to courses in programs you might not be competitive enough to get into outright, e.g. law school or economics classes. ↩︎