MPA Degree Requirements

To earn an Evans School Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree, students must complete 72 quarter credit hours of coursework, including core courses, electives, and a capstone project. At least 60 quarter credit hours must be completed within the Evans School.

The Evans MPA combines a strong analytic foundation with the flexibility to shape your own path. Core courses build essential skills in policy analysis, management, economics, and data analysis, while early access to electives allows you to explore the topics and skills that matter most to you.

This balance of rigorous training and customizable pathways prepares you to navigate an evolving policy landscape and lead across public, nonprofit, and cross-sector environments.

During the first year of your Evans School MPA, you complete a set of core courses that build the analytical, leadership, and communication skills required for effective public service.

These courses combine theory with real-world application through case studies and policy examples drawn from organizations across sectors and geographic contexts. Together, they provide a shared foundation in policy analysis, public management, economics, and data analysis, while preparing you to deepen your expertise through electives aligned with your professional goals.

The core curriculum ensures that Evans graduates leave with the tools to understand complex public problems, evaluate policy options, and lead organizations that serve the public good.

The Evans MPA begins with MPA Launch: Cornerstones of Public Policy, a two-credit foundational course that introduces the ideas, institutions, and values that shape public service leadership.

Financial Management and Budgeting focuses on how organizations manage resources, make budgeting decisions, and navigate financial constraints while advancing their mission.

You will learn frameworks and tools for budgeting, financial analysis, and strategic resource management, while also examining the broader financial and political pressures that influence organizational decision-making.

Building upon introductory microeconomic theory, you will examine consumer choice, market behavior, and the role markets play in allocating scarce resources. Courses explore both the opportunities and limitations of market-based approaches in addressing public challenges.

The Data Analysis sequence prepares you to become a thoughtful consumer and producer of policy relevant research. Emphasizes mixed-methods thinking, these courses emphasize practical application, teaching you how to develop answerable research questions, identify appropriate data sources, and apply analytic methods to real policy and management challenges.

The goal of Public Policy Analysis is to equip you to rigorously assess policy responses to public problems. This course develops a framework you can use throughout your career to be a better consumer and creator of policy advice. Program Evaluation explores the values and assumptions of using empirical information to assess and improve the efficacy of public or nonprofit programs and policies. The bulk of the course focuses on a variety of empirical approaches to program evaluation, and on causal inference methods in particular.

Elective coursework allows you to personalize your study and focus on topics that matter to you. Students can count up to 12 graduate-level credits in other UW departments toward the MPA.

A unique Evans School program, the Student Consulting Lab is a hands-on, immersive experience that serves as the capstone to the MPA degree program. Second-year students, under faculty supervision, are matched in teams to work with regionally based public and nonprofit sector clients to solve key organizational issues. Students work 10-12 hours per week for a period of five months (January – May) to produce program evaluations, strategic plans, policy analyses, and new program proposals for 40+ nonprofits and public agencies. These projects support students in applying classroom knowledge, building community networks, and creating a portfolio of work.

Gaining professional experience is a cornerstone of the Evans School MPA program because it allows you to apply classroom skills in professional settings.

We strongly recommend that students without at least two years of relevant professional experience, those changing fields, and those seeking professional experience within the US context complete a professional experience during the program. Professional experiences may include graduate internships, research, part-time, or full-time employment opportunities.

This applied experience directly supports career goals, boosts competitiveness in the post-graduation job market, and increases skill proficiency in policy development, implementation, or evaluation.

Our Career Development team evaluates all incoming student applications to ensure that we help you build your professional skill set within the field.

For questions and more information about the application process, contact us at evansadm@uw.edu or set up a meeting with our Admissions team.