Mar 14, 2025  
2016-2017 Graduate Catalog 
    
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2016-2017 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Concurrent B.A./B.S. in Political Science and Masters of Public Administration

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Students who successfully complete this program will receive both a BA or BS in political science and a Masters of Public Administration (MPA).

The Master of Public Administration is a flexible professional degree designed for those who wish to hold administrative positions in a wide range of administrative environments in the public and nonprofit sectors. Graduates are trained for employment with government agencies at the federal, state, or local level, and with regional or sub-state organizations. Opportunities are also available for graduates of the program with non-profit organizations, public interest groups or commissions, private corporations that work with government agencies, and international organizations. For all relevant details concerning this Master’s degree, please return to the home page.  

This concurrent degree has the advantages of decreasing the amount of time required to earn an undergraduate and graduate degree and also reducing overall tuition costs. With careful and early attention to undergraduate course scheduling, this concurrent degree can be completed in six years and opposed to the usual six and one-half needed to obtain the degrees independent of one another. Since a total of nine credit hours can be applied to both degrees, overall tuition cost is reduced by a corresponding amount.

Admission Process/ Requirements

The application process is the same as for the traditional MPA degree except that completion of the bachelor’s degree is not required. The following requirements must be met before an individual can be admitted to the program.

  • The student must be seeking a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.
  • The student must have completed a minimum of 90 credit hours towards the bachelor’s degree in Political Science.
  • The student’s cumulative undergraduate GPA and their GPA in Political Science courses must be at least 3.0.

Program Guidelines

  • The program requires a total of 160 credit hours including 120 undergraduate hours and 40 graduate hours.
  • However, a maximum of 9 credit hours from the graduate degree can also be counted towards the undergraduate degree, effectively reducing the total number of hours to 151.
  • The 9 credit hours to be counted for both undergraduate and graduate credit must be chosen from among the “core courses” described below.
  • Graduate courses must be completed with an overall GPA of at least a 3.0 GPA.
  • At least 24 of the hours on the graduate program of study must be at the 700 or above level.
  • The bachelor’s degree may be awarded at any time following the completion of undergraduate degree requirements. Alternatively, the BA/BS and MPA degrees may be awarded concurrently.
  • In the event that a student enters the program but does not wish to finish the Master’s degree, he/she must change the nine credit hours of graduate credit and then will receive a bachelor’s degree once all other requirements are met.

MPA Core Courses

Eligible for concurrent credit.

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