College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Syracuse University
• American University
• George Washington University
• Harvard University
• University of Southern California (USC)

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of Georgia—Athens, Indiana University
• University of Washington—Evans
• University of Wisconsin—Madison

Classes in the Major

American Public Administration. This is your welcome-to-public administration class. You'll learn how America administrates its public: how it organizes its systems, how it finances itself, how it manages giant government bureaucratic systems, and whether or not you'd actually want a career in public administration at all. You might start off totally ready to get a job in public administration and then, halfway through your introductory course, decide it's really boring. That's okay. Most schools don't require you to declare a major until the end of your sophomore year, so you've got plenty of time to change your mind.

Public and Non-Profit Budgeting. Numbers are a huge part of public administration. Even if you aren't working for a non-profit organization, chances are still good that there will not be a lot of money to go around. City grants will only take you so far; a lot of public departments rely on donations, fundraisers, and volunteers to make ends meet. You'll need to know how to stretch a budget without cutting corners, how to prioritize your projects, and how to turn out enough quality work that your department's funding doesn't get cut down.

Administrative Law. If you're going to be the boss, you need to know the rules. There are a lot of laws and procedures surrounding government administration. In this class, you'll learn what all of those laws and procedures are. How do you legally hire and (more importantly) fire somebody? What kinds of wage and power gaps within hierarchies are okay? How much emphasis should you place on workplace diversity? Maybe it's not the most fun course you'll ever take in your life, but it's definitely going to be one of the most useful.

Terrorism: Preparedness and Response. Let's face it: a lot of people are worried about terrorism, and rightly so. Since public administration officials are the ones who care for a city, it stands to reason that they should have some kind of terrorism response plan alongside their disaster relief plans (and there's an entirely separate class for those). Terrorism preparedness and response classes will teach you the history and patterns of terrorism. You'll come out of these courses knowing how to properly aid your citizens in recovering from such attacks. Go you.

Public Service Internship. Take your learning out of the classroom and into the big, bad world of public service and administration. Because public administration is such a hands-on job, a good program will require you to work a semester-long internship for credit. This will come fairly late in the game (often in your senior year), so you'll have plenty of time to decide what you want to specialize in and where you'd like to intern. Think of it as a bridge between school and the real world. You'll still have to write papers about what you've learned and report back to your teachers, but the desk you'll be sitting behind is a professional one. You know, with drawers and a cushy chair. Nice.