MASTER OF SCIENCE IN
SOCIAL Policy
Create policy solutions that increase equality, promote equity, and forge enduring social change.
The Master of Science in Social Policy (MSSP) Program empowers you to evaluate, create, and execute critically oriented, evidence-informed policy solutions in government and non-government settings. You’ll experience an innovative curriculum, gain access to expert faculty, and engage in intensive real-world experiences that will prepare you to drive meaningful change in health, housing, education, immigration, and beyond.
For students interested in enhancing their MSSP with a certificate that prepares them to leverage data analytics to address economic, educational, and health inequities, SP2 also offers the MSSP+Data Analytics (MSSP+DA) program.
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World-Class Faculty
The MSSP program faculty are here to help you shape your own area of policy expertise, drawing on decades of scholarship, teaching, and experience in areas including education and social policy, homelessness, integrated database systems, the labor market, and global culture.
The SP2 Difference
Complete your degree full time (11 months) or part time (2.5 years)
Gain hands-on, career-focused experience through a 150-hour policy internship
Tailor your studies through interdisciplinary electives throughout Penn
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Acquire skills in research and evaluation, quantitative and qualitative reasoning, and policy communication
Receive highly individualized advising and attention
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Become part of a diverse global alumni network
Curriculum
Through the coursework, you’ll learn a combination of theory, policy analysis, policy research, and evaluation methods using a variety of analytical tools. You’ll also gain real-world, practical experience through a 150-hour policy internship. Through the MSSP Program, you’ll become a socially minded and justice-oriented policy professional able to instill effective, positive change.
Core Courses
- MSSP 6280: Policy: Analysis of Issues, Strategy and Process
- MSSP 6290: Research & Evaluation Design
- MSSP 6300: Quantitative Reasoning
- MSSP 6310: Law and Social Policy
- MSSP 8970: Applied Linear Modeling
- MSSP 6680: Economics for Social Policy
- MSSP 6320: Capstone I: Policy Communications
- MSSP 6330: Capstone II: Policy Internship
- MSSP xxxx: Theory Elective
Electives
You may choose three elective courses to maximize breadth in multiple substantive policy areas or to specialize your degree in an area of social policy analysis and conduct further research. One of your three electives must be an MSSP Theory Elective, which enhances your critical thinking and analysis skills and enables you to apply critical theory within the realm of social policy analysis.
Your other elective courses may be identified in SP2, the Fels Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Wharton School of Business, Graduate School of Education, departments in the School of Arts and Sciences, and other Penn Schools and departments for possible approval.
Social Policy Internship
You’ll hone your policy analysis skills and gain valuable work experience through a 6- to 8-week, 150-hour policy required internship, typically completed the summer after you finish your coursework. This internship is tailored to your interests and past social policy experiences and can be completed anywhere in the world. You may even be able to complete the internship at your current place of employment.
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For years, Loran Grishow-Schade, MSW ’20, MSSP ’21, has proven to be a prolific leader and fully-immersed pioneer in work around gender identity, and this year has been no different. […]
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