Dual Degrees

Master of Public Policy / Master of Urban Planning

Students presenting in a conference room.

The USC Price Master of Public Policy / Master of Urban Planning dual degree program gives students the opportunity to develop advanced analytic and design skills with which to effectively address issues facing urban communities. The MPP/MUP dual degree program enables qualified students to earn the MPP and MUP in three years.

The MPP program requires a foundational background in statistics for all students. Incoming MPP students must complete three prerequisites: a college-level statistics course and two pre-semester program labs.

Statistics Prerequisite

All entering MPP students are required to demonstrate proficiency in foundational statistical methods. The statistics prerequisite can be satisfied in one of two ways:

Statistics or Econometrics Course Taken Prior to Enrollment in the MPP

Completion of a college-level statistics or econometrics course with a grade of “B” or better within three years of matriculation. At minimum, prior coursework must have included essential topics in descriptive and inferential statistics such as measures of central tendency and precision, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing. If relevant statistical coursework was completed more than three years prior, a waiver may be granted based on the level of statistical training completed and the degree to which currency with this material was maintained through subsequent professional use.

PPD 504 Essential Statistics for Public Management

If a student has not completed a college-level statistics course with a grade of “B” or better within three years of matriculation, they will need to complete a summer course prior to starting the MPP program. USC offers PPD 504 Essential Statistics for Public Management each summer; a grade of “C” or better in PPD 504 is sufficient to satisfy the statistics prerequisite. Students may also choose to satisfy the requirement by taking a summer course at another institution. The course must be for a grade and earn a grade of “B” or better.

Pre-semester MPP Labs

The Professional Fundamentals and Statistics/STATA Labs provide an introduction to the program, acclimate students to skills that will be further developed in their first-semester courses, and help to create a genuine camaraderie within the first year student cohort. Entering MPP students are required to participate in the Statistics/S TATA Lab as well as the Professional Fundamentals Lab. The labs meet the week before the start of the fall semester. The Professional Fundamentals lab will lead directly into PPD 554 Foundations for Policy Analysis, while the Statistics/STATA lab will provide initial exposure to the statistical software that will be utilized extensively in PPD 558 Multivariate Statistical Analysis.

Statistics/STATA Lab topics include:

Brief review of inferential and descriptive statistics
Introduction to STATA software
Creating graphs in STATA
Introduction to datasets in STATA
Importing and manipulating datasets in STATA
Data management
Do-files

Professional Fundamentals Lab topics include:

Research tools and fundamentals
Essential policy communication skills
Policy writing fundamentals
Effective presentation and PowerPoint tools
Developing a learning community

Public Policy Lab Series

Throughout the program, MPP and MPPDS students are invited to attend labs which are designed to introduce various professional skills and topics considered fundamental to public policy analysis. Labs are available to attend iThroughout the program, MPP and MPPDS students are invited to attend labs which are designed to introduce various professional skills and topics considered fundamental to public policy analysis. Labs are available to attend in-person and also recorded to enable online viewing.

Prior lab series topics include:

Introduction to Tableau
Effective Team Management
R for Statistical Computing
Introduction to GIS
Intermediate and Advanced Excel
Using Census Data for Social Science Research
Survey Design and Analysis I & II
Visual Representation of Data
Salary Negotiation
How to Leverage Data Stories to Improve Strategic Outcomes

MPP/MUP Degree Requirements

The Master of Public Policy/Master of Urban Planning dual degree requires 72 units of graduate work, with 40 public policy units and 32 urban planning units. The public policy units include 20 units of core courses, the 4-unit Policy Analysis Practicum, and 16 additional elective units divided between analytic and policy elective areas.

Public Policy Core Courses (20 units)

PPD 503 – Economics for Public Policy
PPD 554 – Foundations of Policy Analysis
PPD 555 – Public Policy Formulation and Implementation
PPD 558 – Multivariate Statistical Analysis
PPD 560 – Methods for Policy Analysis

Policy Analysis Practicum (4 units)

PPD 561a – Policy Analysis Practicum (1)
PPD 561b – Policy Analysis Practicum (3)

*Students are not permitted to simultaneously enroll in PPD 561a or PPD 561b and PPD 629)

Analytic Electives (8 units)

PPD 542 – Policy and Program Evaluation
PPD 587 – Risk Analysis
PPD 647 – Finance of the Public Sector
PPDE 636 – Urban Spatial Ethnography and Critical Cartography
PPDE 660 – Environmental Policy and Design Analysis
PPDE 661 – Methods for Equity Analysis
PPDE 665 – Economic Impact Analysis: Methods and Applications
PPDE 668 – Applied Econometrics for Program Evaluation
PPDE 671 – Economic analysis of Education Policy
PPDE 672 – An Exploration of the Intelligence Community – From Policy to Cyber Espionage
PPDE 673 Foundations of Public Policy
COMM 650 – Survey Construction and Validation (Annenberg)
SSCI 581 – Concepts for Spatial Thinking (Spatial Sciences)

Public Policy Electives (8 units)

Students choose two policy-related electives from among those courses managed by the MPP Program. The MPP program administrator can provide guidance on these courses. Note that a given course cannot count as both an Analytic Elective and a Public Policy Elective.

MUP Requirements

PPD 522 – Planning Theory and History for a Just Society (2 units)
PPD 523 – Urban and International Development
PPD 528 – Physical Planning: Urban and Community Design (2 units)
PPD 529 – Planning Law and Legal Frameworks of Planning (2 units)
PPD 531L – Planning Studio
PPD 534 – Data, Evidence and Communication of the Public Good
PPD 629 – Capstone in Urban Planning
*Students are not permitted to simultaneously enroll in PPD 561a or PPD 561b and PPD 629).

Concentration Courses (8 units)

Students choose one of the six available concentrations in the MUP program: Arts and Culture, Design of the Built Environment, Environmental Planning and Analysis, Housing and Real Estate Development, Economic Development and Mobility and Transportation Planning. Students are required to complete the concentration gateway and methodology requirements (8 units) specific to their selected concentration of study.

Master of Urban Planning Concentration Options

Additional Requirements Internship
MPP/MUP dual degree students, like all Master of Urban Planning (MUP) students, must fulfill the internship requirement.