The A.B. degree in Policy Studies gives students the skills and institutional knowledge necessary for understanding policy processes, and provides a multidisciplinary course of study in the design, management, and evaluation of public sector programs and institutions. The faculty affiliates represent all divisions of the college, and the program encourages students to combine coursework in engineering, natural sciences, humanities, and the social sciences. The major is useful as preparation for employment in government agencies, NGOs, or business; as a foundation for postgraduate professional schools in public policy, public administration, law, and business; and as preparation for graduate study in the social sciences.

The Policy Studies degree program exposes students to the ideological diversity that underlies policy debates and shapes policy alternatives, producing sometimes radically different approaches to the same policy issue. Exposure to this ideological diversity fosters creativity, tolerance, and innovation. The program also exposes students to comparative perspectives on issues in at least two respects: the variety of policy approaches found in the 50 U.S. state laboratories of democracy, and the diversity of policy approaches found across different countries and cultures. The Policy Studies program encourages students to address issues from a cosmopolitan perspective that relishes insights about how other countries solve, or fail to solve, policy problems.

The curriculum emphasizes training in rigorous quantitative methods and how to apply these methods to the study of enduring issues. An integral part of the major is faculty-student collaboration on applied projects. Small groups of students work together with faculty mentors to solve real-world problems proposed by government, non-profit, or corporate sponsors, and to address the political, technical, and economic factors relevant to a solution. The degree also requires an internship experience in which students are actively involved in policy analysis and the workings of political systems.