At the Pardee RAND Graduate School, our students have a deep and abiding passion to use policy to improve lives. Our selective, multidisciplinary doctoral program focuses 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. And we're backed by the brainpower and resources of the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.
Each year, we welcome 25-30 exceptional students who come from diverse personal and academic backgrounds, with about a third of students coming from outside the U.S.
Choose Your Focus
Policy analysts need to be able to work with and understand colleagues across a range of areas of expertise. Pardee RAND offers three streams of policy engagement. In your application, you will choose the stream that best fits your interests:
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Research, Analysis, and Design: mastering analytic tools and methods for addressing complex policy problems
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Community-Partnered Policy and Action: partnering with and working in communities to effect real and sustainable change
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Technology Applications and Implications: creating technology-focused solutions to policy problems and understanding the societal implications of changing technology
Financial Benefits
Pardee RAND's fully-funded program enables students to cover their tuition while receiving a consistent stipend for living expenses each year so they can graduate debt-free.
Doctoral students receive:
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A full-tuition scholarship for the first year, partial scholarship in the second year, and reduced tuition thereafter
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A research fellowship earned by working on RAND projects of the student's choice; the fellowship covers remaining tuition and provides a stipend to cover living expenses
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Generous health insurance and other benefits, including paid parental leave
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Subsidized housing available
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Support for conference attendance and travel
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Competitively awarded internal dissertation funding
Eligibility
Applicants must:
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Be available to participate in our full-time combined research-and-study program at RAND's headquarters in Santa Monica, California
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Have completed a bachelor's degree; an advanced degree and/or some work experience is desired
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Demonstrate strong quantitative skills; all majors and disciplines are welcome
Application Deadline: January 5, 2021
Learn More!
Receive early feedback on your candidacy
If you are interested in receiving preliminary feedback on your candidacy prior to investing your time in the 2021 admissions process, please submit a pre-application. If you have further questions or inquiries, contact us.
Attend a live, online admissions event
Admissions events provide an overview of the Ph.D. program and each of the three streams, the admissions process, and our degree requirements. Hear current students describe their experiences and share their perspectives on the program. We will also make the recordings available after each event for those who are unable to attend. (Note: all times below are Pacific Daylight or Pacific Standard — local time in Santa Monica.)
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