Public Policy Major Plans of Study and Checklist July 2026 - Accessible.xlsx

	A	B	C	D	F
1	Public Policy Major Four Year Plan
2	Year 1: Fall	Credit	Year 1: Spring	Credit	Notes:
3	PLCY100: Foundations of Public Policy (HS)*	3	ENGL101 (AW)	3	1. This is a proposed plan and School of Public Policy does not guarantee that these courses will be offered in the designated semester. Consult the Schedule of Classes for class availability and meeting times.
4	Oral Communication (OC)	3	Natural Science course (NS)*	3	2. Some courses for the major may also count towards General Education requirements.
5	Humanities (HU)*	3	PLCY200: Introduction to Research Methods for Policy Analysis	3	3. Benchmark 1 requirement: PLCY100 & PLCY101 must be completed by the end of two semesters into the major.
6	HIST201: Interpreting American History: From 1865 to the Present (HU)*	3	PLCY101: Great Thinkers on Public Policy (HS/IS)*	3	4. Benchmark 2 requirement: PLCY200 & STAT100 must be completed by the end of four semesters into the major.
7	General UMD Elective	3	General UMD Elective	3	*All students must complete two Distributive Studies courses that are approved for Big Questions courses. The Understanding Plural
8	Total	15	Total	15	Societies (UP) and Cultural Competence (CC) courses may also fulfill Distributive Studies categories.
9	Year 2: Fall	Credit	Year 2: Spring	Credit
10	ECON200:Principles of Microeconomics (HS)*	3	Natural Science Lab (NL)*	4
11	STAT100: Elementary Statistics and Probability (AR)	3	PLCY201: Public Leaders and Active Citizens (SP/IS)*	3
12	PLCY203: Liberty and Justice for All: Ethics and Moral Issues in Public Policy	3	PLCY302: Examining Pluralism in Public Policy (UP)*	3
13	Introduction to Public Policy Focus Area	3	Scholarship in Practice (SP) Outside major requirements*	3
14	General UMD Elective	3	General UMD Elective	3
15	Total	15	Total	16
16	Year 3: Fall	Credit	Year 3: Spring	Credit
17	PLCY300: Governance: Collective Action in the Public Interest	3	PLCY303: Public Economics: Raising and Spending the People's Money	3
18	PLCY304 Evaluating Evidence: Finding Truth in Numbers	4	PLCY309: Internship course	3
19	Focus/General Policy Elective course	3	General UMD Elective	3
20	Professional Writing (PW)	3	General UMD Elective	3
21	General UMD Elective	3	General UMD Elective	3
22	Total	16	Total	15
23	Year 4: Fall	Credit	Year 4: Spring	Credit
24	PLCY401: Making Policy Work: Contemporary Challenges and Solutions	3	PLCY 400: Senior Capstone	3
25	Focus/General Policy Elective course	3	Focus/General Policy Elective course	3
26	General UMD Elective	3	General UMD Elective	3
27	General UMD Elective	3	General UMD Elective	3
28	General UMD Elective	3	General UMD Elective	1
29	Total	15	Total	13
30				Total Credits=120
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