The Master of Public Policy (MPP) at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy sits inside a public research university consistently ranked the top public university in the United States, with a research enterprise credited with playing a central role in the biotechnology industry and early internet and computing research. For applicants weighing a Berkeley MPP against peer programmes at Harvard Kennedy School, Princeton's SPIA, or Georgetown's McCourt School, the pitch is a smaller, policy-focused graduate cohort inside a much larger, top-10-globally-ranked research university, with direct proximity to California's state government in Sacramento and the Bay Area's technology and venture-capital ecosystem.
This guide walks through what Berkeley publishes on acceptance rates, cost, requirements, English-test rules, and where MPP graduates go on to work.
Acceptance Rate
Berkeley does not publish an acceptance rate for the Master of Public Policy, and in fact does not publish one aggregate graduate acceptance rate for the university at all, since admission is decided independently by each of Berkeley's dozens of departments and professional schools rather than through one central graduate admissions office.
What Berkeley does publish, for context only, is its overall undergraduate acceptance rate of 11.4% (Fall 2025: 14,451 admitted of 126,842 applicants), but this figure describes an entirely different applicant pool and admissions process and should not be read as a proxy for MPP selectivity.
Bottom line: treat the Goldman School's MPP as a genuinely selective professional graduate programme, consistent with Berkeley's overall reputation and the small, competitive cohort sizes typical of top public policy master's programmes nationally, but do not rely on any specific percentage figure for it, since Berkeley does not publish one.
Fees and Cost of Attendance
Berkeley does not publish MPP-specific tuition separately from its general academic (non-professional) graduate cost-of-attendance figures, and its own materials explicitly note that professional master's programmes are often priced differently from this academic-track baseline. Treat the figures below as a starting reference point, not a confirmed MPP-specific number:
| Cost Item | Amount (USD/year) |
|---|---|
| Tuition, fees, and health insurance (academic-track baseline) | $25,756 |
| Total direct cost including Nonresident Supplemental Tuition | $40,858 |
| Living expenses | $33,248 |
| Estimated total cost of attendance (academic-track baseline) | $74,106 |
For a two-year MPP, this baseline suggests a total programme cost in the $148,000-$150,000 range before any funding, though the Goldman School's own published tuition and fee schedule should be checked directly, since professional master's programmes at Berkeley (most notably the Haas MBA) are priced considerably higher than this academic-track figure, and MPP may follow a similar professional-program fee structure rather than the standard academic-track rate shown here. Berkeley's graduate application fee is $155.
Admission Requirements
Berkeley's Goldman School runs its MPP admission through the standard Berkeley graduate application process, with department-specific supplements:
- Statement of Purpose, outlining your policy focus and career goals
- Official transcripts from all previously attended institutions
- Three letters of recommendation
- Resume/CV
- GRE/GMAT: required only where a specific department or professional programme requires it; most Berkeley PhD programmes have dropped the GRE requirement, but policy always confirm the Goldman School's own current policy directly, since our data does not specify MPP's individual test policy
- TOEFL or IELTS scores, required unless the applicant qualifies for a waiver (see English proficiency section below)
- Application fee of $155
Berkeley's graduate application deadlines are department-specific, generally clustering between December 1 and January 6 for Fall entry, with decisions typically released between February and April.
How to Get Into UC Berkeley's Master of Public Policy Program
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Build a Statement of Purpose around a specific policy area, not generic public-service interest. Goldman School admissions committees read applications from a strong, self-selected pool of aspiring policy professionals, so identifying a specific domain (climate/environmental policy, education, healthcare, tech policy, criminal justice, economic development) and connecting it to concrete prior work stands out far more than broad statements about wanting to "make a difference."
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Get letters from people who can speak to your analytical and quantitative ability, not just your character. Since public policy work leans heavily on data analysis, economics, and statistics, a recommendation from someone who supervised quantitative research, policy analysis, or program evaluation work carries real weight.
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Confirm the Goldman School's current GRE policy directly before applying. Test requirements for public policy master's programmes have shifted considerably across cycles industry-wide, and our data does not confirm MPP's specific current policy, so don't assume either way.
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Highlight California and Bay Area context if relevant to your interests. Berkeley's Goldman School has a distinctive proximity to California state government in Sacramento and the Bay Area's technology and venture-capital ecosystem, so applicants with genuine interest in tech policy, climate policy, or California-specific issues can meaningfully differentiate their application by naming this fit explicitly.
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Apply well ahead of the December-January window, since Berkeley's graduate deadlines cluster tightly and a fully polished application submitted early avoids last-minute technical issues with transcripts or recommenders.
English Proficiency Requirement (IELTS/TOEFL)
Berkeley's Graduate Division sets the university-wide graduate English-proficiency policy, which applies to the Goldman School's MPP:
- IELTS: minimum 7.0 overall; for tests taken on or after January 21, 2026, Berkeley additionally requires at least 6.5 in Speaking and Writing
- TOEFL: minimum 90 overall (for tests taken through January 20, 2026); for tests taken from January 21, 2026 onward (ETS's new 1-6 CEFR-aligned scale), Berkeley's published minimum converts to 5 overall with at least 4.5 in Speaking and Writing
- Waiver: available to applicants who hold a bachelor's or advanced degree from an institution where English is the sole language of instruction
- Individual departments, including the Goldman School, may set a higher overall score than this university-wide floor, so confirm MPP's specific requirement directly
For the full breakdown of Berkeley's testing policy, see UC Berkeley IELTS requirements and UC Berkeley TOEFL requirements.
Career Outcomes
Berkeley does not publish outcomes broken out specifically for the Goldman School's MPP. The university's broader graduate recruiter data gives some context, though it should be read with an important caveat: it reflects Berkeley's graduate population as a whole, which skews heavily toward technology and management consulting, not the government, nonprofit, and international-organization pathways that are typical for public policy graduates specifically:
- Top recruiters (university-wide graduate, not MPP-specific): McKinsey & Company, Google, Meta, Boston Consulting Group, Amazon, and Apple
- MPP graduates from top public policy schools like Goldman typically pursue a meaningfully different set of career paths than this tech-heavy list suggests: federal, state, and local government agencies, international organizations, nonprofits, and the public-sector consulting practices at firms like McKinsey and BCG (both of which do appear on Berkeley's broader recruiter list, and maintain dedicated public-sector practices)
- Employment rate and average starting salary specific to MPP graduates are not published in our research; the Goldman School's own career-outcomes page, if available, should be checked directly for programme-specific figures
FAQ
Does Berkeley publish an acceptance rate for the Master of Public Policy? No. Berkeley does not publish an aggregate graduate acceptance rate at all, since admission is decided independently by each department and professional school. The often-cited 11.4% figure is Berkeley's undergraduate rate and does not apply to MPP admissions.
Is the GRE required for Berkeley's MPP? Our data does not confirm the Goldman School's current specific policy. Most Berkeley PhD programs have dropped the GRE requirement, but professional master's programs vary, so confirm directly with the Goldman School before applying.
What IELTS or TOEFL score do I need for Berkeley's Goldman School? The Graduate Division's general minimum is IELTS 7.0 (with at least 6.5 in Speaking and Writing for tests from January 21, 2026 onward) or TOEFL 90, though individual departments including Goldman may set a higher bar, so confirm the MPP-specific requirement directly.
How much does Berkeley's MPP cost? Berkeley's general academic-track graduate cost of attendance is approximately $74,106/year, but MPP, as a professional master's program, may be priced differently, similar to how the Haas MBA carries its own separate fee schedule; confirm the Goldman School's specific published tuition directly.
What kind of jobs do Goldman School MPP graduates typically get? Public policy graduates from top programs like Goldman typically enter government agencies (federal, state, and local), international organizations, nonprofits, and public-sector consulting practices at firms like McKinsey and BCG, a different pathway than Berkeley's broader tech- and consulting-heavy graduate recruiter list suggests.
Does Berkeley's MPP application require letters of recommendation? Yes, at the graduate level. This differs from Berkeley's undergraduate UC Application, which does not require or accept letters of recommendation for most applicants; graduate applications, including MPP, require three letters of recommendation.