TK2

University/Department websites tend to have some kind of listing of their PhD students though, which often come with resumes. Look there.

I read "Dear Committee Members", which is a short novel written entirely as a series of overblows and inappropriate recommendation letters from a crotchety professor. I thought it was hysterical, but I would appear to be its target audience right now. I slo developed a weird hobby lately of reading critical take-downs - the more venomous the better - of the whole western higher education industry as some sort of coping mechanism, but have run through what seem to be the main pillars of American-College-Is-Broken literature (The Price of Admission, College (Un)Bound, Excellent Sheep, The Gatekeepers) (All of which are almost entirely about Undergrad admission and have little to do with me...just reading for disdain and catharsis) and I'm now tentatively eyeing more academic work on higher education in general.

I'm intrigued, what field is this in? Everything I ever read/heard (particularly thinking of Berkeley planning and Harvard economics, which are two fields I can think of where both verbal and quant are probably meaningful, and, (sadly, for what it says about my capacity for procrastination) a couple of peer-reviewed papers on the role of the GRE in PhD admissions) has described GRE scores as an initial straining mechanism, if that, or just maybe as a final tie-breaker. What program has either a 169 internal cutoff, or hordes of precisely similarly highly attractive candidates seperable only by 1 point on the GRE?

I approve of the nerdery, don't get me wrong (and I think you're spot-on in terms of analysis of the test, particularly that the various paid services are overrated. ETS has most of everything you really need out there for free) but you're seriously going to retake it? Forget the money,* I'd resent the further hours of my life gone, that could be spent reading good books or fighting with my mother or having crushing attacks of self loathing. You know, nice things. The marginal value of these two points as an actual admissions criteria - remember, the reason for the thing? - is negligible to zero, surely. I mean, I (sort of) get it - I was in a slightly similar boat with the TOEFL and, yes, there was a brief moment of irritation at missing that perfect score by 2 points, but, goodness, not nearly enough to actually want to retake it. *Don't forget the money

I'm applying for PhD at the school of Geography and Environment, particularly TSU, but apparently there's not much point in applying particularly early (deadline is Jan 20th) so I'm going to give the research proposal another few weeks to brew before submitting.

Eek, we're 'older' now? I'm turning 30 in a few months and still deep in my MA, applying for PhDs. I'm in a country where the former is average, and in a field where the latter is also average (an MA and a few years of professional experience expected for PhD applications) so from what i've heard from friends in the US, 30 doesn't make me unusual. That said, fields where the US system is to go straight from undergrad to PhD, yeah, I don't know how I'd feel about being with 22 year olds at this point...I wasn't even in undergrad when I was 22. On the other hand...what's the alternative? Don't go? Someone has to blaze that trail, and the stats are that the entire student body in the US is shifting anyway. As someone a bit older, your social circle doesn't have to be all there, all the time.

Are you looking for a program with focus on GIS and spatial analysis in particular, as technology or methdology, rather than specific issues in geography? (Ie, human, economic, climate, whatever.) If it is, you could try to add a GIS component to your coursework in urban planning idependently. Choose topics for assignments and projects that will let you incorporate GIS analyses...you could discuss it with professors and explain that this is your goal. I know that incroporating more GIS was usually viewed positively when I was doing urban/economic geography (basically the undergrad of the urban planning program.) But I'm not from the states, and my sense is that planning and geography are more separate disciplines there.

Thanks! I put in a very short note and had the department put an official stamp on it, just in case. Naturally, only after this was done and they had gone home for the day, did I notice a typo in the note. Deadline is today, so the hell with it. Submitted with typo. Will now spend the rest of my life convinced this typo is why I got rejected, I imagine.

Hey all, I'm running into problems with my transcripts. All the programs I'm applying to just want a scan, so it's not the school sending them, and some want MA and BA uploaded separately and some together. However, a semester of my MA work appears under my BA due to slow bureacracy, so I'd have that half-page of BA stuck in the middle of MA transcripts with no explanation (it's not on there) and there's an F (equivalent) grade on one course that's just from being abroad for work for part of that semester. I'm making it up and it's not a big deal from the university's perspective, but the F is still on there for the moment. The department just told me to add an explanatory note with the transcripts...is that accpetable for these kinds of things? (International student here...)

K, I'll give it a go...my BA and MA are in Geography, but environmental is really not my strong suit, so all with many grains of salt. I've tried to be merciless about it, I figure its what I would want if I ever finished writing the damned thing. I'm also not american so there might be a level of waffling about thats expected...so, you know, what do I know? First thoughts, and I've deleted/highlighted a lot of stuff in the text itself as well: - It seems like a very strong statement once the actual content is arrived at, its just that that takes a while. - Length. It's over 1500 words, which strikes me as too long. Seems like 1000 should be the very max...whatever the specifics of application are, really. - You have a lot of grammar issues and what look like poorly re-merged copy-paste breaks, as well as ocassionally convoluted/academic-y (in the bad way) writing. I figure you don't really need me pointing all those out below, but make sure the grammar and structure flow after you've totally finished solidifying the content, moving things around, figuring out the exact issues you want to talk about, etc. - To my eye, there's too much of standard platidudinal writing that borders on cliche and repeats the obvious. - Your vocabulary is...over the top, in places. Trying too hard, if you will. "embedded", "impetus", etc, where there are more straightforward and better flowing words easily available. Well, I hope that was helpful and not too harsh...you seem to know exactly what you want to do and why, it just feels a little buried in there in the long paragraphs. Good luck!

Take this with a grain of salt, as my work experience is rather at the cheap and dodgy edge of this, but there is an ecosystem - albeit not a huge one - of international development/urban planning work. Theres the multilaterals themselves, ie the World Bank itself but also it's various little cousins, like the EBRD (which says Europe on the tin but also works a lot in central Asia and Northern Africa), ADB, IADB, etc, as well as UN HABITAT and occassionally other bits of the UN amoeba that dabble in planning - UNDP has its projects in things like urban governance capacity building (although I know at least one project they funded that was straight up small-scale placemaking) and UNHCR has an interest in projects to do with stuff like physical planning of refugee camps and urban policies of migrant absorption, etc. They hire people. BUT, what mostly happens is that many of the banks in particular farm this stuff out to consultants and firms of various sizes, and the UN likes to go through NGOs. (And there's big national aid organizations, like USAID or DFID, which do both. And big NGOs (Oxfam, Mercy Corps, whomever, etc) sometimes contract out to firms or consultants to do relevant research or program design for them...etc, etc, etc.) There's giant ones like ARUP or Atkins that do all sorts of civil engineering, architecture and planning projects all over, and there's little three-person firms with niche expertise in, say, housing policy in developing countries. And the pinnacle of success (I guess? The money is good anyway, I think) is independent consultants who flit in and out of these kinds of projects depending on what they can get. And there are a few NGO's the specifically work in development/urban planning - take a look at WRI, for example. They also all hire people. So there is work out there. An MA in urban planning is not a bad start (being in more or less the same boat, I at least like to think so) especially coupled with languages, but like anything in development, the crux is gaining relevant international field experience. Coming in with an architecture or civil engineering degree might be easier, since urban planning tends to put you in the big boat of good generalists without specific technical skillsets, but probably not as bad as an IR masters or something. A strong GIS foundation might be helpful in getting a foot in the door, just - i've been told, as someone with good GIS skills - be careful not to become "the GIS guy (well, girl)", because then you easily become basically another part of the IT department. If you're really nuts about this, one interesting guide would be to rifle through the World Bank procurements database. It is one of the most horrible websites you'll ever meet, but it shows you who's winning commissions from the WB on different projects. Look under categories like environmental assessments, transportation, housing, governance, WASH. See who those firms are and what kind of education or experience they look for.

It tells me 'This content is blocked for your account' or something to that effect. I second not studying right in advance of the test - I took it easy - no studying, just a practice test - two days before, and the day before off completely. And nothing but maybe a half hour of warm up/sudden panic studying the morning of. I think it helped - I was both rested and able to look at problems with semi-fresh eyes, and also relatively, how to put this, un-annoyed by the thing. Taking the break helped to arrive at it and avoid, or at least effectively suppress, the active resentment the GRE inevitably inspired by then and focus properly and take it seriously. Rather than sit there gritting my teeth, breaking pencil tips and muttering 'oh this fucking thing' and 'another triangle problem. How original' under my breath like I'm a highschooler judging my worst enemy's shoes. That might just be me though.

I can't see the spreadsheet link, but I approve of tracking life in spreadsheets in general, so I commend you, sir.

I'm in a slightly similar boat, though possibly a less stark change post-Brexit then you, if anything. I'm looking at applying to US and UK PhD's, and pre-brexit would have probably said I slightly favour UK over US (shorter program, closer to home and the parts of the world I want to work in, etc,) but post-brexit that's actually reversed. I'm only applying to a few that-would-be-a-dream-school programs in the UK and casting a wider net in the USA instead. I've heard a couple of horror stories about being an international student in the UK, and it looks like it will only get worse. As an EU student, what would have been a fairly straightforward process may become a horribly convoluted and uncertain one, depending on how negotiations play out. On the other hand, I think it might be early to panic, as yet, especially at the MA level. LSE is probably still going to be LSE two or three years from now. (It might not in twenty or even ten, but that's not a worry for you right now.) Research funding may slow, but it's not likely to stop dead in the next three years either, and as an MA student that's your time frame. It's impossible to argue that the situation isn't more uncertain, but the same factors that motivated you to study in the UK instead of Germany in the first place are all probably still there, at least for now. Might be the time to get them while you can, if anything, before Oxford moves to a roomy chalet in Switzerland.

Oh god finally done never again ever what a waste of brain cells. For anyone to whom it may be useful: V/Q: 165/156 Manhattan (1 month before) 166/159 Poer Prep (2-3 weeks before.) 167/??? Crunch Prep (1 week before) 166/160** Kaplan (four days before) (**probably about 160 quant, didn't have time to do the 5th section which was quant, and it was the wrong one. Extrapolating from my number of correct answers on the experimental section. 169/161 Power Prep (two days before) 170/163 Actual Goddamned thing. Time studied: Not sure. bits and pieces for a few months, then about 2-3 weeks of an average of about an hour day. My sense of scrolling through this thread is that there tends to be very little improvement over time, and people pretty much stay where they start out, which was pretty demoralizing in terms of studying, often enough. So doing what I can to contribute to the evidence that studying can help raise scores more than a point or two. I'd pretty much accepted that there was no way I'd get past 160 quant, and was sort of noodling away just trying to make sure I could get in the high 150s, so pretty happy with the 163 Q. (The verbal honestly felt like the difference between 166-7 and 170 was purely a matter of luck.)

Has anyone tried crunchpreps free practice exam? I just tried it and it shorted out on me halfway when the internet went and didn't count my quant sections, but gave me a score on verbal, which is inline with Manhattan and PowerPrep. So, so far... V/Q 165/156 Manhattan (3 weeks or so ago) 166/159 Power Prep (1-2 weeks or so) 167/??? CrunchPrep (today)

Why not apply? All they've said is that they're not in charge of admissions and that it's too early to start worrying about who you'll work with closely eventually. There doesn't seem to be anything discouraging there.

What's the context? Are you looking at the specific term 'Placemaking' or something else? Where are you looking at these terms? (Placemaking is an approach in urban planning and community development that tries to take public spaces, like squares, streets and parks, and create focal points, attractions and an atmosphere that encourages people to spend time there, interact and make use of those spaces. Somewhere goes from just being a location, with nothing in particular to make it notable or give it an identity, to being a place, identifiable by something. Hence 'place making'. Look at www.pps.org for examples.)

Going through this myself, so this is hardly authoritative, but i've approached it s a question of specific research and faculty at particular institutions. Look at it backwards - find the type of research you'd want to be doing, see who's doing it, and then see what programs they're associated with. Probably there's a mixed bag of geographers, planners and sociologists there, and maybe cultural studies and who knows what else (public health? Economics? Middle Eastern/African/Asian studies?) working on related topics. You'll could well end up applying to a geography department at one institution and a sociology one at another.

Cool, only I'd have assumed universities themselves would be canny about this sort of thing - since applicants will say when applying that they're Fulbright, the university will be stingy with funding, since they know they're covered. Or is approval of the scholarship after acceptance still conditional?

Huh? How did that work out? He applied as a Fulbright-funded student, and then...got a scholarship from the school and Fulbright sent him there so they didn't have to fund him at all?

Health economics would seem to be your issue, with a finance background...I'm in the middle of figuring out research proposals for UK/Canada as well, and I've been adjusting them slightly depending on who I'm talking to. Find the general topics you're interested in (Google Scholaring something like "health provision to refugee populations" might be a start) see what the latest research there is and who's writing stuff that interests you, and then look at those people's body of work (not since the dawn of time maybe, but last few years) and see if something sparks for you, and write a proposal accordingly - not carbon copies of what they're doing, but topics it looks like they could be supervisors on and they would be interested in. Another note is that if you're looking at the current refugee crisis and into development in general, a lot of the most current/urgent research is being done by, or through, NGOs and bodies like UN, WHO, WB, etc. So maybe dig into the research and policy papers issued by Amnesty or the International Organization for Migration, see if they're relevant to topics you're interested in, or if you see some striking question that is going unaswered you could be working on in a similar context - maybe there's a lot of research on health care policy for refugees in camps, but not so much on refugees who are living in cities, for example, so that could be a research proposal. Then look at who wrote them - they're likely to be academics acting as consultants or getting funded through them, or even if not the individual, see if they're associated with a project or a research group at a particular institution - and repeat step one.

I think OP explicitly stated that he can only apply to one Ivy/top school, and he has to come up with a safety school - he'd be happy with! - as well.

I checked with admissions at a rather prominent university a few days ago about deadlines - a too-old, rather than too-recent TOEFL, in my case, which I think is a greater sin, and they said even that doesn't disqualify anything outright, its just a possible weakness in the application. (I'm going to assume a 118 score from May 2015 will be as adequate in demonstrating my English as one from September 2015, and refuse to retake the damn thing for the 1-2 applications that insist on timing the 2 years from start of term rather than the application deadline. Especially ones that only mention it in the body of the application and nowhere in the guidelines.) Point being, I can't imagine your official TOEFL scores arriving a couple of days late - likely way before anyone has even gotten around to looking at the application - is going to be a huge dealbreaker, especially if you upload a scan, which you should have, before the deadline.

Thanks, I'll give it a try! I've tried going by strict process of elimination rather than, you know, what actually appeared correct, and I think it actually led to a slightly worse score. I nned some framework for it.