Students are required to concentrate by taking at least two courses out of the group in addition to the lead course that is listed in the core. The remainder of the hours for the major can come from any group or from a series of courses that are electives. A core course that must be taken as a prerequisite to the other courses in the group. PSC 130, U.S. Government, and CJ 205, Introduction to Criminal Justice, are prerequisites for all Criminal Justice courses. It is open, however, to other qualified students as well.
Students entering the program come from varied academic and vocational backgrounds.
Accordingly, no specific undergraduate major is required for admission to the MPA Program. However, certain course prerequisites must be satisfied prior to enrollment in any of the required core courses of the curriculum. Students in the program who are not already employed in the public sector should, if possible, serve in government internships, discussed below. The GRE requirement may be waived for holders of earned advanced degrees on the recommendation of the program coordinator. In addition to the minimum standards required by the Graduate School, the student must have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 2.7 and submit GRE general test scores.