For Students
Join Our Community of Changemakers
The Field Lab offers an unparalleled opportunity to apply your classroom learning to real-world challenges while building lasting relationships with practitioners and peers.
Why Choose the Field Lab?
Real Impact: Your work directly influences policy decisions affecting thousands of residents. Many student recommendations are implemented within months of project completion.
Professional Development: Gain skills employers value most—project management, client relations, data analysis, and policy communication—while building a portfolio of professional work.
Network Building: Connect with alumni working throughout government, develop relationships with senior officials, and join a community committed to public service.
Career Pathways: Access exclusive summer fellowships, receive mentorship from practitioners, and explore career opportunities in the public sector.
Student Experience
Team-Based Learning: Work in diverse teams of 4-5 students, bringing together different skills and perspectives
Client Engagement: Present directly to mayors and senior officials, receiving immediate feedback on your recommendations
Field Work: Spend significant time on-site in communities, understanding challenges firsthand
Faculty Support: Receive intensive coaching from faculty with deep expertise in public finance and urban governance
Technical Training: Master advanced analytical tools through hands-on workshops and clinics
Experiential learning provides practice, but it also provides a deeper understanding of each concept’s importance and how the concepts interact. Classroom lessons tend to make topics seem more black-and-white than they truly are. Once you start applying them outside of the classroom, you find more layers of complexity.”
MARY TREACY, MPP 2025 (Field Labs Alum)
