Accelerated Master of Public Policy (BA/MPP)
Get your MPP by adding just one year to your W&M bachelor's degree.
Click here for a brief informational video. And read below for additional details.
W&M Public Policy offers an Accelerated Master of Public Policy in which a small number of current W&M undergraduates of any major may earn both a Bachelor's degree and a Master of Public Policy in a total of five years. Accelerated students will undertake a collaborative research project with a faculty supervisor or a policy relevant internship in the summer following the junior year, and are eligible for merit-based financial support (including tuition waivers, tuition reductions, and research assistantships) during the fifth year when only MPP courses will be taken.
Eligibility
Students apply for the five-year BA/MPP option in the junior year. Admission is highly competitive and successful applicants will have done well in any Public Policy, Economics, and Government classes they may have taken. Applicants must reasonably expect to have earned at least 90 undergraduate credits with a 3.0 overall GPA (or a 3.3 junior year if a recent transfer student) and a 3.3 in their major by the end of the spring semester of their junior year to be eligible for the program.
- Before applying, students should begin implementing preliminary work for the summer research project or finalizing details of the summer internship. If a research project is considered, the project may be conducted for-credit or not-for-credit. If a student elects to conduct the project for-credit and the faculty advisor agrees to this, they may earn up to six credits and the project should be conducted either full-time during one of the summer school sessions or half-time over the course of both summer school sessions.
- If admitted, students must also prepare and sit for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in the summer following their junior year. NOTE: Due to COVID-19 and resulting challenges to taking the GRE, W&M Public Policy will not accept GRE scores for consideration as part of an application for 2024 admission.
- In the fourth year BA/MPP students are required to participate in mandatory MPP Orientation, which begins the week prior to the official beginning of the undergraduate school year. Students should plan accordingly.
- In the fourth year, students must complete via coursework or placement the first year MPP curriculum (25 credits) in addition to completing any remaining undergraduate requirements (college and major/minor). Up to nine graduate credits may count as electives toward reaching the 120 credits required for the undergraduate degree.
- In the fourth year, BA/MPP students must also formally apply to the graduate program by the annual February 15 priority deadline (typically done before the end of the fall semester). The BA or BS should be awarded at the end of the fourth year, and, conditional upon satisfactory completion of accelerated degree requirements (graduate course grades of B or higher), the student will be formally admitted to the graduate program pending approval of the graduate application by the Dean of Graduate Arts & Sciences.
- Students will participate in an MPP internship in the summer following the fourth year. The Director of Graduate Studies of W&M Public Policy must approve this internship in the spring of the fourth year. As with all MPP students, students in the accelerated program may be eligible for supplemental summer funding if they accept unpaid or very low-paying summer internships.
- In the fifth year, students will enroll in the second-year MPP curriculum.
