B.S. in Public Policy Curriculum

To view course titles and descriptions, visit the USC Catalogue here.

Core Curriculum (30 units)

Includes 2-units of internship and 4-units of capstone

• PPD 225 – Solving Public Problems – 4-units (fall, spring)
• PPD 240 – Citizenship and Public Ethics – 4-units (fall, spring)
• PPD 300 – Social Justice Issues in Public Policy and Planning (fall, spring)
• PPD 301 – PPD Practices: Internship Seminar – 2-units (fall, spring, summer) (see below page for more information)
• PPD 303 – Statistics for Policy, Planning and Development – 4-units (fall, spring) (pre-requisite, Math 117)
• PPD 315 – Analytic Foundations for Public Policy – 4-units (fall, spring)
• PPD 373 – Public Policy and Planning Analysis – 4-units (fall, spring) (pre-requisite, PPD 225, PPD 303, and ECON 203)

USC Price B.S. Public Policy Tracks

20 units of required track courses, 8 units of track electives

Select one of the following tracks:

• Public Policy and Law
• Public Policy and Data Analytics
• Urban Environmental and Sustainability Policy
• Health Policy and Management
• Philanthropy, Nonprofits and Social Innovation

Cross-cutting topics courses (required)

Students will be required to take 4 units of a cross-cutting topics course. It is taken preferably junior year after completion of the core curriculum. Students may select a course from the list below. If a student uses a course to satisfy a requirement or elective that has already been taken in the track requirements, it cannot be double-counted as the cross-cutting course. The cross-cutting course must be a different course.

• PPD 313 – Finance of the Public Sector (fall)
• PPD 314 – Public Policy and Law (spring)
• PPD 325 – Fundamentals of Health Policy and Management (fall, spring)
• PPD 342 – Crime and Public Policy (fall)
• PPD 353 – Philanthropy and Social Change (fall)
• PPD 357 – Government and Business (fall, spring)
• PPD 371 – The Nonprofit Sector and the Public Interest (fall, spring)
• PPD 400 – Topics in Public Policy and Urban Studies (fall, spring)
• PPD 404 – Empirical Methods for Public Policy (fall)

Capstone

Students must have 90 units to pursue the capstone options.

1. PPD 431 Undergraduate Policy, Planning and Development Studio (4-units) — Studio class, four-units, designed to be project based, experiential or service learning, and integrative across multiple tracks.

2. PPD 497a (Fall) and PPD 497b (Spring) Senior Thesis (2-units each) — Students engage in a track-spanning research project, with a professional or academic paper as the final deliverable. Students wishing to enroll in PPD 497a and PPD 497b must have a 3.7 GPA in PPD courses and an overall 3.5 GPA.

Pre-Major Requirements (8 -units)

• Math 117 (Introduction to Mathematics for Business and Economics)
• PPD 203 (Economic Analysis for Public Policy)

Writing Courses (8 units)

General Education

Students beginning college starting in Fall 2015 or later (32 – 40 units)

Internships

• PPD 301 – PPD Practices: Internship Seminar – 2-units (fall, spring, summer)

Public Policy majors are required to complete 140 hours of internship by enrolling in PPD 301.

PPD 301 and the internship in a position provide numerous opportunities to develop and formulate future career goals, as well as to gain personal and professional experience while completing the undergraduate degree.