The curriculum consists of a wide range of courses offered through the School and through our partner departments that are relevant to the study of policymaking, policy analysis, and policy evaluation. Students take courses in Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Economics, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Geosciences, History, Mechanical &Aerospace Engineering, Politics, psychology, Sociology, and Princeton's School of Public And International Affairs. An introductory public policy course is required along with an ethics course and a course on power & identity. Students enroll in policy seminars in the junior year and write a policy thesis in the senior year. To aid in students' independent work, a junior year research design workshop is also required.

Majors are required to take statistics and must be able to use the basics of single-variable calculus in order to take economics courses and some advanced elective options. Students who are concerned about their preparation should consider taking a course that provides instruction in single-variable calculus. In addition, the Undergraduate Program requires that students engage in an extra-curricular cross-cultural experience (which may include study abroad), or policy-relevant field experience (overseas or domestic).

By the end of fall junior year, students will have to select their area of intellectual depth: i.e. disciplinary depth or thematic depth (designated by SPIA).

Students must complete four prerequisites from a list of pre-approved courses prior to the fall term of their junior year. All courses taken to meet these prerequisites must be taken on a graded basis. First-year seminars (FRS) may not be used to fulfill prerequisites. Students must earn a grade of C or higher in all courses counting towards prerequisites.

The following courses may be used to satisfy the prerequisites:

1. One Course in Statistics
   • SPI 200: Statistics for Social Science
   • ECO 202: Statistics and Data Analysis for Economics
   • EEB 355: Stats for Biologists
   • ORF 245 Fundamentals of Statistics
   • POL 345: Introduction to Quantitative Social Science
   • SML 201: Introduction to Data Science
     
     Note that students may not fulfill this prerequisite with AP credit.
      
2. One Course in Microeconomics
   • ECO 100 Introduction to Microeconomics (or AP score of 5 in Microeconomics, IB Higher Level score of 7 in Economics or GCE A-level grade of A in Economics)
      
3. One Course in Sociology or Psychology
   • See here for a list of eligible courses.
      
4. One Course in Politics or History
   • See here for a list of eligible courses.

All courses taken to meet prerequisites must be completed before September of the junior year with a grade of C or higher. A summer course or a course taken abroad may count to satisfy a department prerequisite if the course has been approved by the relevant department and by either OIP or the student's residential college dean or assistant dean for transfer credit. All requests to use a transfer course to satisfy a department prerequisite must be approved in advance by the SPIA Undergraduate Program Office.

A course taken at Princeton and used as a prerequisite may also be used to meet either a department core requirement (if it is on the list of core requirements) or as a departmental elective (if it is on the electives list).

Students should review the list of core requirements for their specific class year.
Prior to graduation, students must complete the core course requirements listed below. Students are encouraged to take SPI 298 in the fall of their sophomore year and must complete the course no later than the fall of junior year. All courses used to meet these requirements must be taken at Princeton on a graded  (A-F) basis. 

A list of core course offerings for AY 2025-2026 is available here. Please note that courses are subject to change.

• SPI 298 Introduction to Public Policy (Fall only; sophomores and juniors)
• SPI 299 Research Design Workshop (Fall only; juniors only; non-credit bearing)
• SPI 300 Research Seminar (Spring only; juniors only)
• SPI 301 Policy Task Force (Fall and Spring; juniors only; Prerequisite: SPI 298)
• One course in Power & Identity (select approved courses are eligible to double/triple count across requirements)
  • See here for a list of eligible Power & Identity courses.
• One Ethics course from the list below:
  • SPI 365 Tech Ethics
  • SPI 368 The Ethical Policy Maker
  • SPI 370 Ethics and Public Policy
  • CHV 310/PHI 385 Practical Ethics
  • EGR 219 Professional Responsibility & Ethics: Succeeding Without Selling Your Soul
  • PHI 309/CHV 309 Political Philosophy
  • POL 307 The Just Society
  • POL 313 Global Justice
• One Intermediate Economics course from the list below:
  N.B. Students with little to no calculus experience are recommended to take MAT 103 in preparation for SPI 304.
  N.B. Students who wish to take ECO 300, 301, 310, or 311 are responsible for completing additional prerequisites on their own.
  • SPI 304 Microeconomics for Public Policy (formerly listed as SPI 300)
  • ECO 300 Microeconomic Theory
  • ECO 301 Macroeconomics
  • ECO 310 Microeconomic Theory: A Mathematical Approach
  • ECO 311 Macroeconomics: A Mathematical Approach

Students must complete six (6) elective courses according to the following guidelines. Students must earn a grade of C or higher in all courses counting toward elective requirements. A list of eligible elective courses is available here. Please note that all courses are recorded based on the home department title, no cross-listed departments will be taken into account.

1. Disciplinary Breadth (three courses): Take one course from each of three SPIA-related departments (CEE, COS, EEB, GEO, HIS, MAE, POL, PSY, SOC, SPI) not already covered by the intellectual depth requirement noted below. ECO is excluded because it is already a required prerequisite and core course. Prerequisites and core courses may double-count; ECO courses may not. As mentioned above, all courses are recorded based on the home department title, no cross-listed departments will be taken into account.
   By graduation, we strongly encourage students to have taken courses in departments where they have not yet taken a course (for example in a natural science, if they are focusing on the social sciences).
    
2. Intellectual Depth (three courses): Disciplinary OR Thematic Depth

• Disciplinary Depth: Take three courses in one SPIA-affiliated department, e.g., CEE, COS, ECO, EEB, GEO, HIS, MAE, POL, PSY, SOC, SPI.
  OR
• Thematic Depth: Take three courses that address a given theme. Courses are drawn from SPIA-affiliated departments or SPIA-approved courses.
  Thematic areas include:
  1. Community and Individual Health, Education & Well-being
  2. Economic Development
  3. Environment & Energy
  4. Globalization & International Relations
  5. Governance, Law & Citizenship
  6. Inequality & Human Rights
  7. National and International Security & Conflict

Among the six (6) electives, a student may take only three electives from one department. For the major as a whole, a student may not take more than five (5) courses from one department (with the exception of SPI courses). Again, please note that all courses are recorded based on the home department title, no cross-listed departments will be taken into account.

Regional Focus: Students should also pursue regional focus across their SPIA coursework. Thus, across the SPIA prerequisites, core, and electives, students must take at least two courses that focus substantively on a particular continent. The senior thesis can count toward the regional focus requirement.

Up to three elective courses may be taken in semester-long study abroad programs.

To satisfy the junior independent work (“JP”) requirement each student must complete a year-long paper in connection with a non-credit bearing fall Research Design Workshop (SPI 299) and a credit-bearing spring Research Seminar (SPI 300).

To aid in the writing and preparation of the junior paper, the non-credit-bearing fall Introduction to Research Design course will address the following questions: 

• How does one define an important and searchable question?
• How does one deploy systematic concepts and evaluate competing hypotheses/arguments?
• How does one evaluate the plausibility, ethics, and relative success of alternative policy solutions?

The course will focus on research design rather than specific methods.

In the spring Research Seminar course, a faculty member supervises a small group of students engaged in research on a specific topic in public and international affairs through a topical credit-bearing seminar. Faculty will introduce students to the existing body of knowledge and available evidence for research within a well-defined topic that is timely and important in the area of public policy. Supported by the separate coursework required in the Research Seminar, students will complete their junior paper.

To satisfy the senior independent work requirement, each student must complete a senior thesis that clearly articulates a research question about a significant public policy issue and draws conclusions that contribute to the debate on that issue.

The school's senior comprehensive examination is an oral defense of the senior thesis that assesses the student's expertise related to their thesis.

Any concentrator may study abroad in one of the department's overseas programs in the first or second semester of junior year. At each site, students enroll in coursework at the host university and take a policy task force directed by a faculty member at the host institution.

Prior to the second semester of senior year, each student must have completed an approved cross-cultural or field experience. The requirement may be satisfied in a number of ways, including but not limited to semester study abroad, approved summer study abroad (e.g. Global Seminars), policy-relevant summer jobs in a domestic or international organization, ROTC training, senior thesis research in the field, extended service in an underserved community, or an internship involving public policy work in a nonprofit, government or international agency such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the US Congress, or a state or federal agency.

Summer study or thesis research must be done for at least four weeks to qualify (for the former, only study abroad programs with substantive academic and cultural components qualify). Students must engage in an internship, job or community service project for at least six consecutive weeks at a minimum of 40 hours per week or a total of 240 cumulative hours to qualify. Eligible community service work must involve policy work that will enhance one's learning and understanding of public service. Work at for-profit companies will not fulfill this requirement.

Cross-cultural or field experience gained during the first or second year or as a participant in the Bridge Year Program may count toward this requirement. To meet this requirement, all past or proposed work must be approved by the undergraduate program.

All students must record with the Undergraduate Program Office the completion of this requirement. Please complete and electronically submit the form available on our forms page.

The program provides funding during summer, fall, and winter breaks for travel and living expenses related to senior thesis research in public policy. The school also provides funding to students in the department who participate in public policy internships over the summer. For additional information, consult the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs Undergraduate Program website.