Admission to Program
To be admitted into the dual degree pathway, students must be admitted to the Public Relations major at least one semester prior to being accepted to the pathway, must have at least 60 hours of credit completed or in progress, and must hold at least a 3.5 UGA GPA at the time of application. Students meeting the admission requirements 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 designated Public Relations 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 some similar issues regarding organizations and their interactions with the public, they provide complementary rather than overlapping knowledge and skills. Courses in the Master of Public Administration program are not equivalent in content or focus to the required public relations courses. To complete the Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations (A.B.), students will need to complete the existing 35 credit hours of Public Relations required courses and take 12 credit hours in graduate-level Public Administration courses that would count toward the 12 credit hours of general electives or 15 credits of upper-division electives required by the major. Any four (3 hour) 6000 or 7000 level PADP 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 Public Relations and the 41 credit hour Master in Public Administration in 5 years, students will either have to dual enroll in the spring semester of their 4th year and/or take M.P.A courses during the summer at the end of their 4th or 5th year.
Students may also count up to two graduate-level Public Relations or Mass Communication courses, based on their substantive academic interests and intended career trajectory, as electives in the Master of Public Administration program of study. Suggested courses appear below, though students may also take other graduate-level Public Relations or Mass Communication courses with approval of the Master of Public Administration advisor.
JRMC 8000 Proseminar in Mass Communication
JRMC 7940 Public Relations Foundations
JRMC 8140 Public Relations Management
JRMC 8150 Public Relations Theory
JRMC 8020 Public Opinion
ADPR 7750 Social Media Analytics, Listening & Engagement
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 an A.B./M.P.A student before the spring of their 4th year at UGA. Students will follow the same guidelines and procedures as required for the current M.P.A 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.