bummerman

@impatientlywaiting26 i just re-read my letter and mine said the same thing about funding in december, guess I missed that. hmmmmmmmm...

Got an email this afternoon saying I was accepted for the MPA. Didn't say anything about any funding, anyone else's letter mention funding?

On this site and around the net I see a lot of people suggest mentioning in your SOP a few faculty members at the school you're applying to whose research your interested in or who you look forward to working with... In my head this seems a bit disingenuous, as I'm applying to a handful of schools and certainly don't know things about the professors at all of them. How does one go about mentioning the professors? "I'm particularly interested in Dr. X's research in the field of Z"? However, my main question is how the heck do you actually find any of their research? I've jotted down the names of a few professors at each school I'm applying to who in their bios mention areas of research i'm interested in, but I don't have access to any of the journals that they've written in. I feel particularly weird name dropping professors of whom I only have a vague idea of their area of study... Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated about this!

Awesome, seems like some very sound advice. Anything in particular within the planning field that I should avoid with regard to AI? Haha.

I think in a dream situation I'd do consulting, but I wouldn't be opposed to doing government work. Actually, since writing this post I've decided to go completely in on urban planning. I'm interested in the cross section of development and equity, and the schools I'm planning on applying to are UIC, Minnesota, USC, UNC and Pitt's MPA program (urban planning and affairs major). Also hoping to add one NYC area school to the list.

Hi all, I've spent the past few months researching MPA/MPP programs, and have been looking specifically for schools with more of an Urban Policy focus. Now all of the sudden I'm starting to second guess myself and I feel like I should have been doing more research on urban planning degrees this whole time! What put me off initially when looking into MURPs was that a some of the programs I looked at were located in the arts schools of universities. I guess I'm looking for suggestions for urban planning programs with more of a policy focus and less architecture/design. Does this exist? What is the split like usually? How practical are dual MPP/MURP degrees? Any other advice for someone having a last minute freak-out? I'm particularly interested in community and economic development/housing/density if that helps. Thanks!

Program: MPP or MPA Interests: Urban Policy Schools Applying To: USC Price, Pitt GSPIA, UW Evans, UT LBJ, UM Humphrey and reaching for GW Trachtenberg Undergrad Institution: A fairly mediocre urban Jesuit university (Fordham, Marquette, SLU tier) Undergraduate GPA: 3.5 (3.8 in major) Undergraduate Major: Sociology GRE: 162 V 154 Q 4.5 W (planning to retake in December) Quant: A few stat courses and research methods classes Years of Work Experience: 3 Languages: Mandarin (intermediate) Work Experience: 1 year teaching abroad in China, half a year working in my city's Elections department, and have been working operations in the med-tech industry for the past 1.5 years. Interned half a year at a local international institute as well. LORs: Will be able to get strong letters from current and former employer/ a little worried about professors as I haven't kept in touch with any. Concerns: 1. Low GREs, I think I should be able to boost my quant by *maybe* 3 points or so. 2. Work experience, as I've done nothing strictly policy oriented. 3. I honestly just feel like I'm a run of the mill candidate and don't have anything particularly distinguishing about me (compared to others on this forum) but I'm also not applying to the top-top-tier schools so maybe there's a chance? Also I'd love some recommendations for schools I've overlooked with good Urban policy programs. Thanks!

I also took the test on that date and did terribly on the math section, worse than I expected, so yeah I feel bad. The first math section was so hard that I think it threw me off for the next two sections. You're not alone!