About the School

Founded in 1986 and acquired by The George Washington University in 1995, the Graduate School of Political Management is the premier school in the nation for professional applied politics.  The first school of its kind in the U.S., GW’s Graduate School of Political Management currently has 250 students enrolled in graduate degree programs, as well as students involved in international and external programs. 

More than 1,500 of  GW’s Graduate School of Political Management’s alumni can be found working in Congressional offices, public affairs, political and issue campaigns, trade associations, lobbying firms, and consulting.  The school has been hailed by The New York Times as the “West Point of the Political Wars” and was recently mentioned in The Washington Post as having courses influential in the lobbying industry.

Offering master’s degrees in political management and legislative affairs and a graduate certificate in political action committee management, GW’s Graduate School of Political Management offers a unique curriculum, integrating the analytic science and the practical art of politics. Course work encompasses the fields of lobbying, campaigning, corporate public affairs, issues management, leadership, fund-raising, environmental politics, and quantitive strategy through classes teaching opinion polling, mass communications, organizing, and policy evaluation.

GW’s Graduate School of Political Management’s curriculum is expanding to include political service in countries other than the United States and in an international and global context.  The school offers international external programs for Latin American political professionals and government relations seminars for Washington, D.C., organizations and Fortune 500 corporations throughout the United States.  An international summer study abroad program in Brugge, Belgium, teaches students how to lobby the European Union.  Through GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, students from Navarra, Spain, come to Washington and learn about American politics.

The school’s weekday evening classes accomodate working professionals who can apply what they learn in class on the job immediately.  GW’s Graduate School of Political Management prepares students to work in politics by imparting the tools, techniques, and the real-world experience, whether they are working at the political forefront or behind the scenes.  Students are taught by faculty who are practitioners in the political field.  GW’s Graduate School of Political Management strives to make politics better by stressing ethical, effective political leadership at the international, national and local levels – in a non-partisan environment.

Letter from the dean

Virtual tour of the GWU campus