Admission to Program
To be admitted into the dual degree pathway, students must have completed at least 60 hours of credit completed or in progress (of which at least 30 need to be UGA resident credit), at least 9 hours of the 21 required BBA Economics credit hours completed or in progress, and hold at least a 3.5 UGA GPA at the time of application. Most students meeting the admission requirements above will apply for the program in the fall semester of their third year at UGA. To be approved, a preliminary plan of study must be approved by the BBA Economics undergraduate advisor and the Public Administration and Public Policy graduate coordinator.
Curriculum
Graduate-level courses that may be used to satisfy undergraduate and graduate program requirements.
Although both programs have an interest in similar social themes and issues, the two curricula provide complementary rather than overlapping knowledge and skills. No courses in the Master's of Public Administration program are equivalent in content or focus to the required BBA Economics courses. A baccalaureate degree program in BBA Economics requires 36 hours of coursework, including 21 semester hours of upper-division courses in BBA Economics. In addition, students have 24 hours of general electives, 12 upper-division general electives, and 12 university-wide electives. Students may use up to 12 credit hours in graduate-level public administration courses to count toward the general elective portion of the BBA degree as long as the restrictions for the upper-division general electives are met. Any four (3 hour) PADP 6000 or 7000 level graduate course may be used to satisfy the undergraduate requirements, but at least two of the four courses must be from the following list of the public management core courses:
PADP 6910 Public Administration and Democracy
PADP 6920 Public Personnel Administration
PADP 6930 Public Financial Administration
PADP 6950 Economic Foundations of Policy Analysis
PADP 6960 Public Management
Additional requirements that are unique to this Double Dawgs program:
To complete the 120 credit hour Bachelor’s degree in BBA Economics and the 41 credit hour Master in Public Administration in 5 years, students will either have to dually enroll in the spring semester of their 4th year and/or take MPA courses during the summer at the end of their 4th or 5th year.
Admission to Graduate Program
Students will apply to the MPA program during the summer or fall after their junior year so that they are admitted and dual enrolled as both a BBA and MPA student before the spring of their 4th year at UGA. Students will follow the same guidelines and procedures as required for the current MPA students (http://spia.uga.edu/degree/master-of-public-administration-mpa/). The admission application requires completing a Graduate School application that includes a resume, statement of purpose (conveying how this program is a good fit with your career and educational goals), and three letters of recommendation. The application also requires the student submit their transcripts and Official GRE general test score report. TOEFL scores will also be required from any applicant whose primary language is not English.
GRE: GRE waivers are available to those with a GPA of 3.50 or higher.