Making it Easy to Pursue Joint Degrees

An MPP degree is a valuable complement to a degree in a professional or academic field. The Sanford Institute makes it easy to obtain joint degrees from one of Duke's other professional programs. Joint MPP degree options require 39 credit hours.

Our most popular joint-degree programs involve Duke's top-ranked Law School, School of Medicine, Fuqua School of Business, and Nicholas School of the Environment as well as UNC-Chapel Hill Law School. We also work closely with Duke's Divinity School to provide study options for Master of Divinity (MDiv) students. Due to the curriculum structure for joint degree students, we do not offer a joint degree option with PhD programs.

The typical first-year course sequence for a joint student consists of the following requirements:

Summer Internship: Performed in the summer after completing the first MPP year.

After completing the first MPP year plus the summer internship, students are placed on leave of absence from the Graduate School and register for courses through the Law, Business, Environment and Earth Sciences or Medical School. During the final year of study in their joint-degree programs, students register with the Graduate School for three or four courses, two of which focus on the development, research, and writing of the Master’s Project under the close supervision of a public policy faculty member.

Please note: Separate applications are required for all joint degree programs. Electronic applications are available through the Duke Graduate School. If you plan to pursue a joint degree with another institution, please check on that institution’s application requirements and procedures as well. Students applying under these curriculum options must use separate evaluation forms and recommendations for each of the two applications. You may use the same person(s) for both programs, but the forms must be submitted independently.