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Program Description:
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The purpose of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree is to prepare individuals for positions of leadership in governmental and non-governmental public service organizations. Since the scope of public services is wide and highly diverse, we seek to serve a range of students by providing a generalist degree in a compact program taught by professionals contributing to the region and the discipline.
The MPA curriculum at Arkansas State University combines a mix of the theoretical and the applied and is representative of mainstream graduate public affairs programs. Due to its compact program size, ASU’s MPA program builds on its strengths by making teaching a priority with the majority of classes capped at 15 students. The faculty, likewise, bring specific strengths to the program by being able to mix the theoretical and the applied through their scholarly and service activities.
To accommodate working students, most MPA courses are offered once per week in the evening. A full time student can expect to complete all the degree requirements, including an internship, in less than 2 years. The Master of Public Administration requires 42 semester credit hours, including 21 hours of core courses and 21 hours of electives, including the internship. A comprehensive written examination is taken during the student’s last semester.
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Admission Requirement:
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To be considered for admission to the MPA program, in addition to meeting Graduate School admission requirements applicants must provide:
1. three letters of recommendation
2. a 2-3 page statement of purpose discussing why they chose the MPA program, what their professional goals are and how the MPA program will enable them to meet those goals. Moreover, an applicant's undergraduate background must include courses with grades of "C" or higher in American national government and principles of economics or their equivalents. If the student is deficient, these courses must be taken in addition to the graduate course requirements. Such undergraduate deficiencies must be completed prior to or during the first graduate enrollment period.
For unconditional admission, a student must have a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (or 3.2 in the last 60 hours).
For conditional admission, academic proficiency must be established by a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 2.5 or higher plus a score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) adequate to indicate the potential to do well at the graduate level.
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