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Career Services and Placement
A compelling reason to consider an MPP from William & Mary is the tremendous success that our graduates have on the job market. Our approach is to begin thinking about job placement from the first day that our students arrive on campus. In other words “career services” isn’t something our students learn about during their last semester on campus, but rather it is central to their learning and the advising they receive throughout their time in the program.
Our multi-pronged approach
We approach career services and placement from many angles.
Mentoring program: In their second semester, we pair our MPP students with distinguished mentors from our alumni community and our Board of Advisors. Mentors help students identify their professional goals, develop a plan for achieving them, and offer more general advice about how to thrive in a competitive professional environment.
Networking opportunities: Students have many opportunities to meet with policy professionals during their time in the MPP program. Some occur in our Policy in Practice course, which includes on-campus 
lectures and discussions with policy experts as well as trips to DC and Richmond. Others emerge through meetings with invited guests who often will meet with MPP students in an informal setting before giving a presentation to a larger audience. Students will also have a chance to network during the required summer internship between the first and second years of the program. In addition, our graduates benefit from the high loyalty of our MPP alumni and the more general support
from alumni across the university who are always looking to help fellow graduates with their career pursuits.
Robust placement resources: Students searching for internships after their first year in the MPP program
or those who are ready to enter the job market after graduation receive substantial support from program staff and faculty, our robust alumni community, as well as professionals at the university's Cohen Career Center.
Evidence of success
Our efforts to marble into our MPP program multiple opportunities for students to advance toward their career goals has produced powerful successes over the years. Recent job placements include MPP graduates obtaining positions in local, state, national, and international settings across the public, non-profit, and private sectors, including the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, Deloitte, Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission (JLARC), U.S. Department of Justice, Virginia Management Fellows, Brookings Institution, Avalere, Economic Innovation Group, McDermott+, City of Newport News, Virginia Department of Planning & Budget, Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank, York County Planning Commission, Delaware State Senate, among others.
Check out these links for a fuller picture of where our Public Policy graduates and undergraduates are working: