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Founded in 1970, the Pardee RAND Graduate School was one of the eight original schools to provide graduate programs in Public Policy. IT is also still the only school based at a think tank, the RAND Corporation, which invented many of the tools used in public policy analysis. The school provides advanced study in such disciplines as economics, statistics, political science and the social sciences.

Pardee RAND Graduate School students are known as "fellows," rather than students, as the school believes strongly in the fellowships that students receive for research completed at the school. Fellowships are provided to students by working part-time on RAND's interdisciplinary research teams. Fellows may choose from over 500 projects on which to work.

RAND is best known for its work in the field of international security, but fellows at the school can also work on such topics as education, science and technology, civil justice, health, labor and population, drug policy, enterprise analysis, child policy, homeland security, environment and energy and criminal justice. The school accepts about 25 new applicants per year. Fellows who study for 3-5 years earn a doctor of philosophy degree in public policy. The master of philosophy degree is awarded after two years of study and a partial completion of the doctoral program.

Quick Facts:

All students at Pardee RAND complete 10 multiple disciplinary core courses each year in studies such as mathematics, economics and the social sciences. Fellows also examine policy issues including health, education, energy, environmental issues, public safety, labor, population and workforce demographics, as well as national and international security.

The On the Job Training (OJT) program at the Pardee RAND Graduate School requires fellows to complete over 400 days of work on a research project. By the time fellows graduate from the program, most have the equivalent of at least two years of experience in the fields of policy analysis and consulting.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School is a founding member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Just under 50 percent of Pardee RAND Graduate School fellows are from outside of the United States. The school enrolls more than 95 fellows each year from more than 20 countries around the world.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School's acceptance rate is approximately 25 percent of its applicants. Fellows who are accepted have a wide variety of educational backgrounds, including economics, business and social and behavioral sciences. The median age of students entering the program is 27. Roughly one-third of those students are married and more than 10 percent have children.

This school profile has been compiled and updated by The CollegeBound Network. The school is not affiliated with The CollegeBound Network and shall not be considered a sponsor of this program.