Eligibility and Requirements

Undergraduate Minor

All UCB undergraduate students are eligible for enrollment in the Public Policy minor.

Please complete the minor declaration form as early in your academic career as possible, but definitely before the semester you intend to graduate. You may declare the public policy minor even before enrolling in public policy courses.

FALL 2024 DEADLINE: The deadline to declare the public policy minor in order to receive enrollment priority for public policy courses for Fall 2024 registration is April 10, 2024.

SPRING 2025 DEADLINE: The deadline to declare the public policy minor in order to receive enrollment priority for public policy courses for spring 2025 registration is September 19, 2024.

Please note: Early declaration of the minor does not obligate you to the program should it become unfeasible later in your academic pursuits.  If you no longer wish to pursue the minor, please send an email requesting to drop the minor to your public policy undergraduate minor advsior.  Please include your SID in the email.

Requirements

Outlined below are the requirements for the minor and a listing of courses, with their current numbers, that may be taken as part of this program.

• The minor requires five courses in public policy
  • including PP101 (required for the minor, but is not a prerequisite for other PP courses)
  • with a grade of C- or higher in each
  • for three or more units each,
  • not including PP1, 6, or 24.
• Ideally, all courses should be taken in the Policy School, however since this is not always feasible, a limit of two non-public policy department courses from course list below may count for the minor.
• Minor credit for courses not listed may be granted in exceptional circumstances to graduating seniors through petition to the Chair of the Minor.  Please contact Jalilah LaBrie (jalilah@berkeley.edu) for more information.
• Students who declared the minor prior to Fall 2020 (August 19, 2020)  have no limit to the number of courses they wish to overlap with the public policy minor and their major program. Starting Fall 2020 students can only overlap one course with their major and the minor.
• All courses must be taken for a letter grade except PP 199 (Independent Study), and PP 98/198 (DeCal), both of which are offered on a P/NP basis. * Special Note:  Due to the challenges accompanied by the pandemic, students may count courses that fulfill the public policy minor that were taken on a P/NP basis.  This exception applies to the following terms only:  Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021.
• Students should consult with the GSPP Undergraduate Minor Advisor, Jalilah LaBrie, (510) 642-1940, jalilah@berkeley.edu before making arrangements to take PP 199.
• Students may count graduate-level Public Policy electives to complete their minor requirements. Generally, undergraduates require an instructor consent form to enroll in graduate electives.
• Students may count an unlimited number of PP 190 courses (Special Topics in Public Policy) towards the minor provided that the topic is not repeated.  Each PP 190 course must be a minimum of 3 units.
• A limit of two, PP 98/198 (DeCal) courses equaling a total of 3 or 4 units may count as one course towards the minor; only one of these can be PP 98.  Exception: If a PP 198 is offered for 3 or 4 units, it will count as one full course.
• A limit of 4 units of an independent study (PP 199) can count towards the public policy minor.
• Students may notify the Student Affairs Officer, Jalilah LaBrie, at the Goldman School of Public Policy, of their intent to minor in Public Policy by submitting the Declaration of Intent to Pursue the Minor in Public Policy form.  When the student completes the requirements, the Office of the Registrar will be notified and the Minor will be included on the student's transcript.
• The Chair of the Minor is currently Professor Steven Raphael, stevenraphael@berkeley.edu, whose office hours are posted here.

Courses that may be used to fulfill Minor Program Requirements

• C 20AC (4 units) Big Ideas: The 2020 Elections
• 101. Introduction to Public Policy Analysis
• C103. Wealth and Poverty or C103. Wealth and Poverty (also listed as Letters & Science C180U)
• 105.  Negotiations
• 117AC. Race, Ethnicity, and Public Policy
• 132. Global Challenges
• 141: Behavioral Economics for Public Policy
• C142. Applied Econometrics and Public Policy (also listed as Economics C142 and Poli Sci C131A)
• 155: Introduction to Security Policy
• 156. Program and Policy Design
• 157. Arts and Cultural Policy (also listed as Letters and Science C180X)
• 160AC. Work, Justice and Labor Movement (also listed as Sociology 116AC)
• 162AC. Field Study in Community and Labor Organizing
• C164. Impact of Government Policies on Poor Children and Families (also listed as Demography C164)
• C164A. Berkeley Changemaker:  Labor Research for Action and Policy (L-RAP)
• 165.  Poverty, Inequality, & Public Policy
• 179. Public Budgeting
• 182. Environment and Technology from the Policy and Business Perspective
• 184. The Economics of Public Problem-Solving
• C184. Energy and Society (also listed as Energy & Resources Group C100)
• 187.  Energy Regulation and Public Policy
• C189. Social Science & Crime Prevention Policy (also listed as Social Welfare C181)
• 190. Special Topics in Public Policy (topics vary each semester)
• 192AC. Social Movements and Organizing (also listed as African American Studies 182AC)
• 198. DeCal (topics vary each semester; limit 2)
• Poli Sci 150.  American Legal System
• Legal Studies 138: The Supreme Court and Public Policy
• Polic Sci 164A.  Political Psychology and Involvement (same as PP 190:  Poltical Psychology and Public Policy)
• 199. Supervised Independent Study and Research

Non-Public Policy Courses that count towards the Public Policy Minor

• Economics 130.  Using Economics for Public Policy
• Economics 131.  Public Economics
• Economics 172. Case Studies in Economic Development
• Chicano 175. Latinx and the Environment
• History 130.  American Foreign Policy
• Mediast 104A. The First Amendment & the Press
• Poli Sci. 109.  Special Topics in American Politics (topics vary, see the department website and OSOC for latest listings)
• Poli Sci 145A.  South Asian Politics
• Poli Sci 181.  Public Organizations and Administration
• Poli Sci 186.  Public Problems
• PH 126.  Health Economics and Public Policy
• Public Health 150D.  Introduction to Health Policy and Management
• Public Health 181. Population and Poverty 
• Social Welfare 112.  U.S. Social Welfare Policy

Completing the Minor

All public policy minor students should complete a Completion of Public Policy Minor form the semester they are scheduled to graduate.   Students who complete the requirements for the Public Policy Minor will receive transcript notation.  Effective with Fall 2023 degrees, the minor will also be listed on the diploma.