The program is organized around two levels of study including foundations courses in the basic disciplines of management and electives. Electives permit the student to pursue an area of concentration in public sector management, private sector management, or health care management. Students with a superior record who meet all admission criteria for the MPPM program, which include three to five years of supervisory experience, may apply for the Dual Degree Program. The undergraduate senior year and the first graduate year overlap. A prerequisite is that the student must have earned 27 units creditable for undergraduate degree purposes, including completion of at least one course in statistics and eight units in accounting, business administration, economics, or political science.
Considerable emphasis is placed on the quality and course distribution of undergraduate preparation.
When a student is accepted into the MPPM program, a list of courses is designated as replacements for his or her remaining undergraduate requirements. When the replacement courses have been taken, the student will be awarded the B.A. or B.S. degree. The MPPM degree is awarded on completion of graduate requirements. Students take two academic courses during each term and complete a three-term externship. The program of study involves eight courses that may be completed in one year.