About the Pardee RAND Graduate School

The Pardee RAND Graduate School is a selective, multidisciplinary graduate program with a focus on policy analysis and the ways it can shape our world.

We offer a full-time Ph.D. program in policy analysis — the first and largest of its kind in the country — as well as a 2-year Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.). And we’re backed by the brainpower and resources of the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.

Our Students

Pardee RAND receives more than 1,500 pre-applications and 150 applications each year, of which we accept and welcome between 20 and 30 students. Our Ph.D. students come from diverse personal and academic backgrounds, and about a third of come from outside the U.S.

All our students receive fellowships and scholarships that provide both professional and financial benefits. Additionally, our Ph.D. students receive a generous package that covers tuition, includes a living stipend, and can enable them to graduate debt-free.

Our Curriculum

Our students undertake rigorous program requirements that include courses in policy analysis, economics, quantitative and qualitative analysis, social and behavioral sciences, technology and society, and ethics, as well as a rotating selection of 75 electives in a wide range of areas, including new and emerging topics. Our Ph.D. students also follow one of three policy engagement streams: Research, Analysis, and Design, Community-Partnered Policy and Action, or Technology Applications and Implications.

Experiential learning at Pardee RAND takes the form of working with faculty mentors on RAND research projects, navigating local and regional issues through community-partnerships, and working hands-on with technology and policy through Tech + Narrative Lab explorations. These projects allow our students to work side-by-side with RAND and community mentors to research and help to solve real-world problems of direct concern to local, state, national, and international decisionmakers. They also provide our Ph.D. students a foundation for their dissertation.

Our Faculty

Our faculty is drawn from the more than 1,000 members of RAND's research staff; some of them teach our courses, while others mentor and work with students on research projects or advise them on their dissertations.

Our Breadth

Students hone their research skills on a vast range of intersecting policy research projects — of which RAND conducts more than 500 each year. Additionally, through our initiatives, innovative Methods Centers, community partnerships, and the Tech + Narrative Lab, we prioritize our commitment to taking lessons outside of the classroom and into the field.

Our History

The Pardee RAND Graduate School was founded in 1970 as one of eight graduate programs created to train future leaders in public policy. Named for Frederick S. Pardee — benefactor, board member and former RAND researcher — the school has the distinction of being the only policy school based at a public policy research institute.

Our Alumni

In the past 50 years, more than 400 alumni have graduated from Pardee RAND with the theoretical and applied skills that enable them to tackle hard issues around the globe. Pardee RAND alumni careers cross boundaries and disciplines in every sector — public, private, academic, and nonprofit. And perhaps most importantly, our alumni are making a difference and changing the world.

Our Future

Our prospective students are the future of Pardee RAND. If you are thinking of applying, or you know someone who might be interest, visit our Admissions section to learn more.

We also encourage prospective students to submit a pre-application to receive immediate feedback on their candidacy.