Master of Public Management Application Process

You must submit a completed application form via our online application system to be considered for admission to Heinz College. Heinz College does not charge an application fee.

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All applicants who have completed (or will complete) their Bachelor’s degree in the United States must have an official transcript of their undergraduate studies submitted directly to Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College by their undergraduate university.

All applicants who have completed (or will complete) their Bachelor’s degree outside the United States must have a course-by-course transcript evaluation report submitted directly to Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College via an approved transcript evaluation service.

All applicants must earn a Bachelor's degree from a regionally-accredited institution (or its equivalent) prior to the date they would begin their studies at Heinz College. If you have not completed your Bachelor's degree by the time you submit your application for admission to Heinz College, you may be admitted on the condition that you submit your final, official transcript, including your date of graduation, prior to the start of your first semester at Heinz College.

Submission of test results from either the GRE (General Test) or the GMAT is optional. The MPM program does not require standardized test scores. If you choose to submit test results as part of your application for admission, the test scores (from within the last five years) must be reported directly to Heinz College by the testing service. We recommend that you take the GMAT or GRE at least one month prior to the application deadline (visit: GRE/GMAT score submission instructions).

MPM Quantitative Skills Preparation: MPM applicants may also wish to review information below about the Quantitative Methods course. Regardless of prior quantitative preparation or GRE/GMAT scores, all admitted MPM students must successfully complete the Quantitative Methods course prior to starting classes.

If your native language (mother tongue) is not English, you are required to submit an official score report from the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test. The only exceptions are for:

• Students who have worked or studied for five or more years in Australia, Botswana, Canada, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, and/or Zambia.
• Students who studied for four years of their undergraduate education in the United States and earned their bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited US school (students are encouraged to provide unofficial copies of the English Language Proficiency exam they used when they applied to their undergraduate institution as part of their application to Heinz College).

Students who are required to submit test scores must have the scores reported directly to Heinz College by the testing service. When required, we strongly recommend that you take the exam at least one month prior to the application deadline.

Submit Exam Results

You are required to have two (2) recommendation forms submitted on your behalf. Recommendations should be provided by employers, supervisors, professors, or others who are able to comment on your professional and educational goals and potential. At least one (1) of your recommenders should know you in a professional setting (full-time employment, internship, part-time employment, research, non-academic extracurricular activity, etc.). You may opt to have up to three (3) recommendations submitted in support of your application.

Please note: recommendations from friends, family members or acquaintances, and other sources not able to evaluate applicants on an academic or professional basis, will not be accepted.

Letters of recommendation must be written in or translated into English. Your recommendations must be submitted electronically through the online application system by your recommenders. We do not accept recommendations submitted on paper.

How to Submit Your Recommendations

You are required to upload your résumé to the application system. Please submit a one- or two-page summary of your educational background, skills, accomplishments, employment experiences, and volunteer experiences. The résumé MUST be current and include all part-time and full-time work experience, the dates of when the employment began and ended, and a brief description of your responsibilities under the title of the position.

Please consider using the "Optional Essay" to address the reason for any "gap" in your résumé, if applicable.

Your résumé should contain only true information and your own original content. If you include a quote or text written by any other person or published in any printed or online format, you must surround the copied text in quotation marks (") and indicate the original source of the text. Information reported on your résumé is subject to verification. The Heinz College Office of Admissions utilizes several methods to identify plagiarized and falsified content in uploaded documents. Submission of false or plagiarized material as part of the application for admission may result in automatic denial of admission to any degree program.

You are required to upload the required essay to the application system.

Your essay should address the following three questions. We recommend that your total essay length should be 700 words minimum (up to 1,100 words suggested maximum). Please give each section of your essay the appropriate heading for each question.

1. Career Goals: What are your career goals after completing graduate school? (Recommended response length: 150-300 words)
2. Prior Experience: How have your prior experiences (professional, academic, and/or personal) prepared you for graduate study and informed your career goals? (Recommended response length: 400-500 words)
3. Why Heinz College: How will attending this degree program at Heinz College help you achieve your career goals? (Recommended response length: 150-300 words)

Your essay should contain only true information and your own original content. You should not use artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, to write any portion of your essay. If you include a quote or text written by any other person or published in any printed or online format, you must surround the copied text in quotation marks (") and indicate the original source of the text. Information reported on your résumé is subject to verification. The Heinz College Office of Admissions utilizes several methods to identify plagiarized, AI-generated, and falsified content in uploaded documents. Submission of false, plagiarized or AI-generated material as part of the application for admission may result in automatic denial of admission to any degree program.

You may choose to submit an essay in which you comment on any item(s) in your application that you consider worthy of further explanation. We are mostly interested in having you address any gaps in your professional experience, or anything you would consider a weakness that could have an impact on your admission status. Please limit optional essays to no more than 250 words.

Your essay should contain only true information and your own original content. You should not use artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, to write any portion of your essay. If you include a quote or text written by any other person or published in any printed or online format, you must surround the copied text in quotation marks (") and indicate the original source of the text. Information reported on your résumé is subject to verification. The Heinz College Office of Admissions utilizes several methods to identify plagiarized, AI-generated, and falsified content in uploaded documents. Submission of false, plagiarized or AI-generated material as part of the application for admission may result in automatic denial of admission to any degree program.

The completion of a short video interview is extremely important for applicants to the Public Management program, especially individuals unable to visit campus prior to the application deadline or those who are non-native English speakers. The video interview is optional but strongly recommended.

You will receive an email invitation to complete the video interview only after you submit your online application and after we receive your official undergraduate transcript (or course-by-course evaluation report).

How to Submit a Video Interview

Heinz College is committed to ensuring the integrity of our admissions process and the reputation of our educational programs. We also want to protect and enhance the value of the degrees that we confer. As an enrolling student, you will be required to successfully complete a verification process of your admission application materials. The verification process will be completed by an outside, independent contractor hired by Heinz College and Carnegie Mellon University.

The purpose of this background check is to protect all stakeholders of the program (students, faculty, staff, and alumni) from those who would falsify their backgrounds to gain an unfair advantage in the admissions process. We believe that this verification will support our efforts to ensure integrity throughout the program. Upon admission, you will receive more details about this process from the Office of Admissions.