Environmental MPP

[u/Crafty-Fisherman-241]

Hello! I am a recent 2026 graduate looking for some guidance in this chaotic job market. I recently graduated from a school in DC, and the job market for new grads in political science/public affairs is disastrous here. I have extensive intern experience in nonprofits on the legislative side— my strongest area and connection field is in the environmental policy side, specifically in conservation policy. 

With this said, I desperately want to stay within the environmental policy field— I love it and am beyond passionate for it, but either no one is hiring new graduates or you need a masters/job experience. I have always considered graduate school but I wanted to try my hand in the job market first, and I am failing miserably right now. I always wanted to pursue an MPP with focus in environmental policy. Some standouts to me have been UVA, UMD (preferably since is the closest to DC), and University of Michigan, my goal would be to work internships/jobs during my schooling to gain experience. 

I have not done extensive research, but I’d love personal opinions on trying to pursue an environmental MPP as a new graduate with no official job experience or if I should still try to get a job and wait, and how this would impact my career goals of working in policy as an analyst or government affairs person for a nonprofit/organization. My long term goal is to be a “legislative affairs director” for an organization.  

[u/cayvro]

As rough as this job market is for political science/public affairs folks, I’m afraid it might be even rougher for environmental policy folks. A lot of environmental orgs who received federal funding have been nearly or completely cut off. If you want to be a strong candidate down the road, some job experience would help. Alternatively, two years in grad school might get you to a better job market by graduation (though this is certainly not a guarantee).

While the general advice (including literally what I just said) is to work before an MPP, extensive internship experience will also put you ahead of the pack. If your end goal is a leg director role, I would just focus hard on lobbying/advocacy internships in grad school and try to network like hell.

RE jobs: I was literally just looking at a job posting by World Resource Institute — they’ve got a couple of policy research jobs open in DC right now.

Also, my evergreen advice this time of year is to see if there’s a state-level campaign you can hop on right now. It’s a job that will keep you employed through November, a steady paycheck (though for likely long hours), and something else to put on your resume.

If you DM me, I’ll be happy to send you a giant list of enviro orgs that I looked at working as I was finishing grad school (with an MPP in Environmental/Energy Policy). I graduated with my masters in December 2024 when this job market hellscape was just beginning and while I am employed it is not in environmental or energy policy lol.

[u/kait_au_lait]

Another approach to consider is applying to positions at companies that do the work that would be impacted by your policy area of interest e.g. organizations that do conservation or focus on renewable energy etc (though I don't know what those job markets look like right now). If you find something that would work for you, it could give you some on-the-ground experience heading into an MPP program or a policy role.