Note: In addition to the general prerequisites for admission to the Graduate School, the following is required by this degree program:
An applicant must hold either (1) a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or (2) a tertiary (postsecondary) degree that is deemed comparable to a four-year bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution. This degree must be from an officially recognized degree-granting institution in the country in which it operates.
A Graduate School certificate application must be completed and submitted with copies of all undergraduate degree transcripts.
Successful applicants typically have a 3.0 grade-point average in the last two years of undergraduate work.
Applicants who have graduate degrees in public administration or a related field, and who have taken graduate courses that duplicate the content of courses in the certificate program, may substitute other PADM courses for those courses with the prior approval of the person in charge. Graduate transcripts, course syllabus, and course projects/term papers will be needed for this evaluation process. Some certificate courses may be used toward completion of the master's degrees in Public Administration and in Health Administration but completion of a certificate neither implies nor guarantees acceptance into a graduate degree program at Penn State.