Ask me about the Batten School's new Public Policy Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
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<p>Hey all! I'm a rising Third Year at Uva and will be starting the new Public Policy major in the fall. Because there is not very much information about the program on CC I figured that I would start a forum so that information is readily available. Feel free to ask me questions on here and I will do my best to answer them. </p>

<p>Here is a little background info. Applicants typically apply to the major during the spring of their second year for entrance as a third year. The two prerequisites are social psychology and microeconomics. Once you are in the program, there are 40 credits that you must take of ppol courses. Again, feel free to ask me any questions that you have!</p>

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<p>My son graduated with his MPP in May of 2012. His undergraduate degrees were in foreign affairs and French. He is currently working as a policy analyst in Raleigh for the NC State Legislature. Others who graduated with him are working for the World Bank, for JLARC in Richmond, various consulting companies and other governmental agencies. I don’t know if all the graduates had jobs at graduation but I know that most did and many had several offers.</p>

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<p>Here is a list compiled from the website of jobs that recent graduates of Batten have attained: </p>

<p>[What</a> Can I Do with a Batten Degree? | Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, U.Va.](<a href=“http://www.batten.virginia.edu/content/career-student-services/career-services/what-can-i-do-batten-degree]What”>http://www.batten.virginia.edu/content/career-student-services/career-services/what-can-i-do-batten-degree)</p>

<p>As for test scores, I am not 100% sure as to why they ask for them. Maybe they want to make sure that all students are proficient. That would be a question for the admissions office.</p>

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<p>The school has not released statistics. A rumor was that the acceptance rate was around 50%. Not sure how accurate that is though.</p>

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<p>My son is applying to UVA and considering civil engineering, but also has liberal arts interests. Do you know if someone could begin in engineering and then apply to Batten?</p>

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<p>Engineering majors do not have 40 credits of electives outside of engineering, spacecoastmom. It sounds like a masters program would be better for him.</p>

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<p>When my daughter was a 3rd year in Biomedical Engineering she applied and was accepted into the Masters Program from the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She started her master’s coursework as a 4th year, will graduate in 2013 with her BS in BME/minor in public policy and then next year will graduate w/a Masters in Public Policy. She had many AP credit hours so she was able to start her masters in her 4th year. It was a very rigorous application process.</p>

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<p>Surfwakesnow, D is interested in this program. What are your thoughts of the BA PP major vs the Accelerated BA/MPP program?</p>

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<p>Didn’t realize that this thread began several months ago and has just resumed activity. Can I get some recent thoughts/advice regarding the BA PP major vs the Accelerated BA/MPP program?</p>

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<p>My son was just accepted to the BA program. He was told that if he wants to apply to the joint Bachelors/Masters program in his 3rd year, and he is accepted, he would need to surrender his Batten bachelors major. Therefore, he needs to have a backup major in place.</p>

<p>As a result, an undergrad student does not need to decide until the end of their 3rd year whether they want the Bachelors program or the joint Bachelors/Masters program.</p>

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<p>are transfer students from community college eligible for applying for the public policy program?</p>

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<p>You need to email the new admissions director for Batten for an answer.</p>