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Internships

To ensure that students have the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom to the real world, as well as to develop a basis for their major policy research paper, the School requires that MPP candidates participate in a 400-hour field internship with a government agency, nonprofit group, private firm, or other organization on the approved list of fieldwork placements.

The potential for internships is limited only by the interests of students, who can draw on the extensive opportunities of the Los Angeles region and on the diverse interests of the faculty, Senior Fellows, and the School's research centers. While many students complete internships in Southern California, Sacramento, and the San Francisco area, opportunities also are available nationwide--particularly in Washington, D.C.--and overseas. Students have interned with:

  • United Nations Development Programme, Viet Nam
  • U.S. Department of State, Malawi
  • U.S. Embassy, Cairo, Egypt
  • Office of Management and Budget (OMB), The White House
  • Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, D.C.
  • U.S. Department of Education
  • U.S. Department of Treasury
  • U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), Seattle, WA
  • Alameda County Board of Supervisors
  • International Business Council for Sustainable Development, Austin, TX
  • California Legislative Analyst's Office, Sacramento, CA
  • CBS News, New York City
  • Broadcast Standards and Practices Department, 20th Century Fox Broadcasting Co.
  • Culver City Transportation Department
  • Motorola, Inc.
  • Los Angeles City Council
  • Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department
  • Greenlining Institute
  • PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Other students have interned with organizations that deal with health care, nonprofit funding, municipal fiscal policy and local government, child care, cultural policy, school violence, the international criminal justice system, emergency and disaster relief, and transportation policy.

The School's Career Services Coordinator works with MPP students to identify the internships that best match their interests and goals. Examples of internship opportunities can be found here. Students entering the MPP program with substantial prior experience—defined as a minimum of two years of full-time work in a policy making government agency at the local, state, national, or international level—may petition for a waiver of the internship requirement. (The research paper requirement cannot be waived.) Experience with the private or nonprofit sector usually will not count toward a waiver. Petitions will be considered case-by-case.

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