Welcome to the Pardee RAND Graduate School

Tomorrow’s toughest and most urgent problems need a new kind of problem solver. They need Pardee RAND — and you.

What Sets Us Apart

The Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, California, is the nation’s largest public policy Ph.D. program. It’s also the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation.

  • Tools and Technology

    Acquire a wide range of data collection and analytic skills to address complex policy challenges, and harness technology to develop creative solutions.

    Learn more about Tools and Technology

  • Experience

    Gain two years of full-time policy research experience at the independent, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and develop a professional portfolio.

    Learn more about Experience

  • Real-World Impact

    Apply your expertise to research, inform, influence, and lead smart decisionmaking in diverse policy and research careers.

    Learn more about Real-World Impact

  • Freedom

    Graduate with little or no debt, thanks to generous scholarships and research fellowships that cover tuition and living expenses and let students work on RAND research of their choice.

    Learn more about Freedom

Join Us

Pardee RAND students share two attributes: a passion to help change the world for the better, and the discipline to master intellectual tools that will help them do so.

How to Apply

Pardee RAND Insights

The latest research, news, and events from students and faculty.

  • Children in Benin watching TV, photo by by Arne Hoel, World Bank Photo Collection/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, Agriculture Fishing and Forestry, Development, agriculture, food, processing

    IDSS Talk Explores Ways to Accelerate Poverty Reduction in Africa

    Jun 3, 2019

    Kathleen Beegle, lead economist in the World Bank Gender Group, looks beyond macroeconomic stability and growth to ask what more could be done and where should policy makers focus to speed up poverty reduction.

  • U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un hold a signing ceremony at the conclusion of their summit at the Capella Hotel on the island of Sentosa, Singapore, June 12, 2018

    IDSS Talk Explores North Korea's Shift to Diplomacy in 2018

    May 20, 2019

    Naoko Aoki, RAND's Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow, will share her insights into North Korea's dramatically changed policy posture and diplomatic efforts in 2018. In this International Development Speaker Series, she will examine the actions and statements by the United States and North Korea to determine what might come next.

  • Newspapers and social media terms in LED display, photos by artisteer/Getty Images and phive2015/Adobe Stock

    Facts vs. Opinions: How the News Is Changing in the Digital Age

    May 14, 2019

    Technology has transformed how people get information. But it has also affected the way that information is produced, shared, and disseminated. Students Steven Davenport (cohort '15), Shawn Smith ('17), and Mahlet Tebeka ('17) worked with professors Jennifer Kavanagh and William Marcellino to investigate how much news reporting has actually changed over the last three decades.

  • Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) honor guards at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, April 28, 2019, photo by Parker Song/Reuters

    Getting to Know the Competition

    May 13, 2019

    Americans are facing a new reality in global great power relations that will define the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy for the foreseeable future. Prof. Cortez Cooper argues that understanding China's threat perceptions, while remaining clear-eyed regarding differences in objectives, is essential to developing strategies to deter conflict.

Our Graduates at Work

Schuster Sees Parallels between Pardee RAND and His New School

As the founding dean of the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, alum Mark Schuster (cohort ’91), sees similarities between his school and Pardee RAND: both are freestanding schools, take a hands-on approach, and are redesigning education in their fields.

Learn more about Schuster and all our alumni

Find out if Pardee RAND is right for you

Pardee RAND seeks students with superior communication, logical reasoning and quantitative skills, who also exhibit intellectual power, creativity, and a practical bent.

The Ideal Candidate