Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy

Benchmark Requirements

Students are expected to demonstrate continuing progress in their major by successfully completing the following courses in the specified timeframes:

Benchmark Requirement 1 

Must be completed by the end of two semesters into the major

• PLCY100 Foundations of Public Policy
• PLCY101 Great Thinkers on Public Policy

Benchmark Requirement 2

Must be completed by the end of four semesters into the major

• PLCY200 Introduction to Research Methods for Policy Analysis
• STAT100 Elementary Statistics and Probability or higher (STAT100 equivalent accepted)

Core Requirement

• PLCY201 Public Leaders and Active Citizens
• PLCY203 Liberty and Justice for All: Ethics and Moral Issues in Public Policy
• PLCY300 Governance: Collective Action in the Public Interest (Pre-req: PLCY100)
• PLCY302 Examining Pluralism in Public Policy
• PLCY303 Public Economics: Raising and Spending the People's Money (Pre-req: ECON200)
• PLCY304 Evaluating Evidence: Finding Truth in Numbers (Pre-req: STAT100 or equivalent)
• PLCY309 Policy Internship (or research credit or approved study abroad)
• PLCY400 Senior Capstone (taken after 90 credits; Pre-req: PLCY200)
• PLCY401 Making Policy Work: Contemporary Challenges and Solutions (taken after 90 credits)
• ECON200 Principles of Microeconomics
• HIST201 Interpreting American History: From 1865 to the Present

In addition to the required core courses for the Public Policy major, Policy majors must take four policy elective courses. Students have two options when it comes to selecting electives: 1) They can choose to declare a focus area, working with an advisor to select a focus area (listed below), or (2) they can choose general policy electives from either within or outside the School of Public Policy.

General Elective Plan

Students who wish to take a variety of public policy courses and not declare a focus area may select four electives to round out their policy curriculum. Each student must take one of the introduction to public policy focus area courses, which includes the areas of sustainability, science and technology, social policy, global and foreign policy, and philanthropy and nonprofits. The remaining three electives are chosen by the student.

• If all electives are PLCY courses, no approval is needed. In addition to the introduction to public policy focus area, students may choose any three electives that interest them from the School of Public Policy.
• If any of the electives are outside of the School of Public Policy, students must have their course plans approved by their academic advisor and should complete the Using Non-PLCY Courses as Electives Form.

Focus Areas

Students may choose to continue to build their electives around a public policy focus area after taking one of the public policy focus area introductory courses. Students work with their advisor to create a plan. Examples of elective focus areas are:

• Education Policy
• Global and Foreign Policy
• International Security
• Nonprofit Leadership and Social Innovation 
• Public Leadership 
• Racial and Gender Justice
• Sustainability 
• Create Your Own

The foundation of undergraduate education at the University is its general education program, with all students taking series of courses within specially designed categories. The general education program provides you with fundamental skills, broad knowledge and approaches to intellectual inquiry that will benefit you regardless of your area of study.

Fundamental Studies

Fundamental Studies courses ensure that you have the basic skills in written and oral communication, in mathematical analysis and in critical thinking that are important to your success across the curriculum and in your career.

Distributive Studies

Distributive Studies courses expose you to a variety of disciplines even as you concentrate in your chosen field. They offer insights into the methods of different disciplines, the kinds of questions disciplines asks, and their standards for judging answers.

Big Question

Big Question (formerly I-Series) courses form the signature of the UMD General Education program. A signature course could take students inside a new field of study where they may glimpse the utility, elegance and beauty of disciplines that were previously unknown, unwanted, disparaged or despised.

Diversity

Diversity courses investigate the complexities of human difference and commonality, emphasizing the promises and problems of plural societies and the challenges that must be addressed to achieve just, equitable, and productive societies. 

Learn more about the General Education Program at the University.

The public policy major includes an experiential learning requirement to allow students to explore public policy outside of a traditional classroom. Students can fulfill this requirement by earning at least 3 credits through one of the following options below. Many students do more than one or all three.

• Internship
• Research
• Study Abroad