Capstone Eligibility

All Capstone eligibility requirements—both academic and non-academic—must be satisfied prior to enrollment in the Capstone course. You must have:

After reading below, if you have any questions about your eligibility to enroll in Capstone, please contact your Student Services Program Advisor or email wagner.studentservices@nyu.edu.

Specialization

Capstone sections and prerequisites are distinguished by degree program and specialization. When you begin your program, the specialization you declare on your admissions application is recorded in Albert. Please check Albert to ensure that your specialization is accurate. If your specialization in Albert is not correct or if you would like to switch your specialization, please submit a Specialization Change Form.

GPA

You need a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.000 to be eligible for Capstone. If you have any questions regarding the GPA policy or academic progress, please refer to the GPA Requirement policy.

Professional Experience Requirement (PER)

By August 1 of the calendar year in which you will begin Capstone, you are required to submit your PER to Wagner’s Office of Career Services (OCS) for approval. You do not need to have fulfilled PER at the time you apply for Capstone in the spring, but your PER position must commence before the first class meeting of your Capstone section. If you have questions about PER, please email wagner.ocs@nyu.edu.

 

Course Prerequisites

Wagner offers two types of capstone projects, both of which are team-based. The majority of students are in client-based capstone projects where they work as a consulting team for a client helping to address a real-world problem. In the other type of Capstone project (called "Advanced Research Projects in Quantitative Analysis"), teams of students work to answer a research question utilizing existing data sets and quantitative analytical methods. There is no client in the Quantitative Analysis capstone, but the teams must collaborate on the research question.

 

Each Program Requirement Checksheet lists the Capstone prerequisites for that specialization. Be sure to review your Program Requirement Checksheet prior to enrolling for courses in the year preceding Capstone. Doing so helps ensure that you are on track to complete all prerequisites in time for Capstone.

Please note there is a separate set of prerequisites for students enrolling in the “Advanced Research Projects in Quantitative Analysis” section of Capstone. 

Along with completing all degree core and specialization prerequisite courses, the following course is a prerequisite to Capstone

Additional co-requisites (taken no later than the fall with Capstone) are:

If interested in the Quantitative Analysis Capstone, talk to your faculty advisor as soon as possible.  If you have any questions about your eligibility to enroll in Capstone, contact your Student Services Program Advisor or email wagner.studentservices@nyu.edu.

In Fall 2025, Wagner will be piloting a new Data and Policy Capstone option. This section will only be open to MPA-PNP students in the Policy specialization. 

In addition to completing all of the Capstone prerequisites listed on the PNP Policy Program Requirement Checksheet, PNP Policy students must have also completed the following two courses with a grade of A- or better to be eligible for the pilot:

The following course is recommended to be taken concurrently with Capstone in the Fall term:

If you are interested in the Data and Policy Capstone, talk to your faculty advisor as soon as possible. If you have questions about eligibility to enroll in this Capstone, contact your Student Services Program Advisor or email wagner.studentservices@nyu.edu.

Completing requirements over the summer?

If you are still completing Capstone prerequisites (courses or PER) in the summer prior to Capstone, you must still apply for Capstone in the spring, and Academic Services will reserve a seat for you in a fall section. You will not be issued a permission number, however, until you email wagner.academicservices@nyu.edu with confirmation that all prerequisites have been completed. You can read more about the Capstone application process on the Applying for Capstone page.