<p>thanks in advance</p>
<p>I think the first question to ask is what schools offer public policy. Not every school offers it as a major for undergraduates. (I did a little digging around and I found that Harvard, Michigan, Brown, and Stanford do not offer a major called "public policy" for undergrads, but I know Chicago does offer it).</p>
<p>Princeton's Woodrow Wilson school is probably the best for an undergrad. The trick is first getting into Princeton and then getting into the program after (I believe) freshman year.</p>
<p>Princeton University
Stanford University
Duke University
Pomona College
University of Chicago
Brown University
University of Pennsylvania
Northwestern University
Cornell University
Carnegie Mellon University
Vanderbilt University
University of Southern California
College of William and Mary
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Trinity
Dickinson</p>
<p>thanks guys</p>
<p>The Maxwell School at Syracuse is strong, and SU is probably at least a bit easier admit than most of the schools noted before.</p>
<p>Oh my god. unalove just said that Brown and Stanford don't offer a public policy major, and collegehelp posts both those colleges. Sigh...</p>
<p>rdh:</p>
<p>What are you asking?</p>
<p>a) Are you looking only for colleges that label a major "public policy"?</p>
<p>b) Or are you looking for schools that are very strong in public policy related fields and send a large number of graduates to public policy government, NGO, and think-tank type careers?</p>
<p>If it's b), then your phrasing and the interpretation of your question here just eliminate a lot of really good schools that you probably should be putting on a list to check out.</p>
<p>Berkeley offers an undergraduate public policy minor program.
Goldman</a> School of Public Policy - Undergraduate Education in Public Policy at GSPP</p>
<p>Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy graduate programs are ranked highly by US News:
Sort by Rank | Name | Score<br>
1 Syracuse University Syracuse, NY Score 4.5<br>
2 Harvard University Cambridge, MA Score 4.3<br>
2 Indiana University--Bloomington Bloomington, IN Score 4.3<br>
4 Princeton University Princeton, NJ Score 4.1<br>
4 University of Georgia Athens, GA Score 4.1<br>
6 University of California--Berkeley Berkeley, CA Score 4.0<br>
7 University of Kansas Lawrence, KS Score 3.9<br>
7 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI Score 3.9<br>
7 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Score 3.9<br>
10 Carnegie Mellon University (Heinz) Pittsburgh, PA Score 3.8<br>
10 Duke University Durham, NC Score 3.8<br>
10 New York University New York, NY Score 3.8<br>
10 University of Chicago Chicago, IL Score 3.8</p>
<p>interesteddad: I am looking at B, with that in mind what schools would you consider, thanks</p>
<p>Brown offers a major called "Public Policy and American Institutions" under the Taubman Center for Public Policy</p>
<p>Stanford offers an interdisciplinary major called "Public Policy"</p>
<p>Michigan offers an undergraduate public policy degree through the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy. It's a very new program, as the school previously offered graduate degrees only. You apply to the program in the Spring of your Junior year, so there is no guarantee of admission. I believe only 50 students per year are admitted.</p>
<p>Dartmouth offers a minor in public policy, internship funding and training, opportunities to do policy research for the NH and VT state legislatures, a D.C. internship program for the summer after freshman year, and a few other programs through the Rockefeller</a> Center.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I am looking at B, with that in mind what schools would you consider, thanks
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's what I thought you were probably asking. I thought the answers you were getting (which clearly include some great schools) were taking you a bit too literally.</p>
<p>I'll put in a plug for my daughter's school Swarthmore, which is one of the strongest social sciences and "public policy" schools around and sends incredible numbers of students to public policy type careers in Washington and around the world. But, honestly, there are so many great schools with excellent political science and econ departments that I think it be better to give more general advice.</p>
<p>a) Look for schools where "public policy" issues are more a way of life than the province of any one department. You can find "public policy" in the traditional departments (poli sci, econ, sociology), but also in history, religion, and other departments. For example, I think the most intense "public policy" course my daughter took was a religion course called Religious Ethics in which they studied every hot-button policy issue (abortion, capital punishment, affirmative action, gay marriage, and so on and so forth) from the perspective of contemporary theologians. So for each topic, they would read the theological underpinnings for both sides of the issues -- from Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Evangelical Right Wing perspectives. The classes were discussions of each issue. The written assignments were in form of a letter to the editor of the NY Times (for the short papers) and a full-blown NY Times op-ed piece (for the major paper).</p>
<p>So, look for schools where public policy pervades the course catalog.</p>
<p>b) Look for schools where the student body is actively engaged in current affairs and policy issues. Some schools are. Some schools aren't.</p>
<p>c) Look for schools that send large numbers of students to Washington think tanks and advocacy groups after graduation. These are the stepping stones to careers in goverment, advocacy, politically oriented lawyers, NGOs, etc.</p>
<p>d) Look for schools that emphasis the study of foreign cultures. In the 21st century, it is crazy to just think of public policy as occuring in the United States.</p>
<p>e) Also, consider your study abroad options for junior year. My daughter did one that was a giant serving of public policy. Cities of the 21st Century, her group travelled to five megacities (NYC, Buenos Aires, Beijing, Shanghai, and Bangalore) to study urban planning, urban housing, urban poverty, urban art, urban transportation, and all of the public policy issues surrounding globalization and the migration to giant cities worldwide.</p>
<p>thanks for all of the help interesteddad</p>
<p>I think you'll find that if you want to pursue Public Policy in the future then it might be better to get a liberal arts education and then get an MPP.</p>
<p>That's what I plan to do at least...</p>
<p>Johns Hopkin's SAIS is the top master’s degree program in international relations (IR) for students looking to pursue a policy career, according to a recent survey of scholars in the field.</p>
<p>JHU SAIS is ranked among the top along with Columbia's SIPA, Princeton's WWS, Harvard's KSG, Tuft's Fletcher, etc..</p>
<p>Interesteddad's response got me to thinking -- Brandeis is a school with a strong social policy emphasis across a number of disciplines. While a highly competitive school, all things equal it would be a bit easier to gain admission to than most of the schools previously mentioned. Even a bit easier would be the aformentioned Syracuse.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has a strong public policy major and also leads into the reputable Heinz School (5 year program).</p>
<p>thanks everyone</p>