MrHarmony

Hi, yes. I fall in this category. I don't have to make a decision though as I only applied to one program and got accepted in it. In the Fall I'll be joining Virginia Tech's PhD in Planning, Governance, and Globalization.

Hi bummerman. I have a background in transportation engineering/planning (I have 3+ years work experience in the area and a MSCE) but I am also very interested in public policy (especially transportation policy, which is tied pretty closely to land use). Hence, I've looked into a lot of programs that combine urban planning and public policy while looking to further my formal education. . For urban planning I would recommend checking out the list Planetizen has every year. Planetizen is a great resource for planners and has everything from planning jobs to planning resources to recommendations for top planning schools. Planning programs generally fall into either a university's architecture school or a university's public policy school. Because of my interests I only looked at the latter. Here is my short list: - University of Southern California - UCLA (Planetizen top 10 planning school) - Rutgers (Planetizen top 10 planning school; NY area, has double degree in MPP/MCRP) - NYU (NY area) There are of course many other I'm not sold on the idea of doing a dual MPP/MURP because people with MURP degrees still often get jobs in policy. It may be a little more difficult to get a job in planning with an MPP but it's certainly not impossible. One of the best transportation planners at my old firm only had a degree in biology. However, the two areas are really complimentary and would tie in well together. I would also not worry about choosing a university because of where consultancies are located. Without much experience in the field you're not likely to know who the biggest players are and a lot of places have offices in several locations anyway. As long as you're near a city there will be plenty of good opportunities for good experience in planning. When I completed my MSCE I studied in PA but took an internship in San Francisco in transportation planning/engineering. The internship program there had people from planning schools in California (e.g. Berkeley), New York (E.g. NYU), Pennsylvania (e.g. Penn). So don't think geographic location will constrain you. I hope this has helped.

I live in Northern Virginia too, Arlington. I'm looking to take the GRE in about a month or two also. A study budy sounds like a great idea.