jbourne1

Personally, I found some of the deepest insight was looking into a specific city and reading about the planning/urban history there. If you're not from or not planning to go to school in a big city or at least a town/city/region with a deep history and canon, just choose one you have an affinity for. Here are some I've read:
LA: City of Quartz by Mike Davis
Bay Area: American Babylon by Richard O. Self; The Road to Resegregation by Alex Schafran; City for Sale by Chester Hartman
NYC: There Goes the Hood by Lance Freeman

You'll get in-state. I am in the same boat as you (not UCLA but CA/NY), I am in NY now and doing a GIS program at a community college in CA paying in-state tuition. You'll fill out a form called the California Nonresident Tuition Exemption Request (under AB540 which was actually intended for DACA students but casts a wide net) and you'll write down your school history in the state and you're good to go. Took a matter of days for mine to get verified.
Granted UCLA is a bigger institution than the community college I went to but it was a painless process and I can all but guarantee you'll be okay.

Waitlisted UCLA crew reporting for duty!
In all seriousness, would've been cool to get in - but for many reasons, finances included, I was kind of hoping they rejected me just to make my decision easier. I quite literally applied on a whim when I heard that the GRE was being cancelled. Probably spent the same $280 applying and getting rejected/not going to Cal/UCLA than if I just took the damn test haha.
For all those who didn't get in to UCLA or are waitlisted and it was your top choice, seems like most of you at least got into some other really good schools. I tried and failed going the non-school route, by applying for jobs in the planning field after 3-4 years as a paralegal. Went to like 4-5 interviews in early 2020 pre-pandemic and got reeeejjjjjeccctteed from all, "not enough experience". I had zero relevant work experience and my undergrad was in IR where I wrote my thesis on Serbia's EU integration chances haha.

All of us going to school now will be getting some of that relevant experience both in school and with internships, no matter where we go. We've got our foot in the door! Keep your head up!

Waitlisted UCLA crew reporting for duty!
In all seriousness, would've been cool to get in - but for many reasons, finances included, I was kind of hoping they rejected me just to make my decision easier. I quite literally applied on a whim when I heard that the GRE was being cancelled. Probably spent the same $280 applying and getting rejected/not going to Cal/UCLA than if I just took the damn test haha.
For all those who didn't get in to UCLA or are waitlisted and it was your top choice, seems like most of you at least got into some other really good schools. I tried and failed going the non-school route, by applying for jobs in the planning field after 3-4 years as a paralegal. Went to like 4-5 interviews in early 2020 pre-pandemic and got reeeejjjjjeccctteed from all, "not enough experience". I had zero relevant work experience and my undergrad was in IR where I wrote my thesis on Serbia's EU integration chances haha.

All of us going to school now will be getting some of that relevant experience both in school and with internships, no matter where we go. We've got our foot in the door! Keep your head up!

Waitlisted UCLA crew reporting for duty!
In all seriousness, would've been cool to get in - but for many reasons, finances included, I was kind of hoping they rejected me just to make my decision easier. I quite literally applied on a whim when I heard that the GRE was being cancelled. Probably spent the same $280 applying and getting rejected/not going to Cal/UCLA than if I just took the damn test haha.
For all those who didn't get in to UCLA or are waitlisted and it was your top choice, seems like most of you at least got into some other really good schools. I tried and failed going the non-school route, by applying for jobs in the planning field after 3-4 years as a paralegal. Went to like 4-5 interviews in early 2020 pre-pandemic and got reeeejjjjjeccctteed from all, "not enough experience". I had zero relevant work experience and my undergrad was in IR where I wrote my thesis on Serbia's EU integration chances haha.

All of us going to school now will be getting some of that relevant experience both in school and with internships, no matter where we go. We've got our foot in the door! Keep your head up!

Waitlisted UCLA crew reporting for duty!
In all seriousness, would've been cool to get in - but for many reasons, finances included, I was kind of hoping they rejected me just to make my decision easier. I quite literally applied on a whim when I heard that the GRE was being cancelled. Probably spent the same $280 applying and getting rejected/not going to Cal/UCLA than if I just took the damn test haha.
For all those who didn't get in to UCLA or are waitlisted and it was your top choice, seems like most of you at least got into some other really good schools. I tried and failed going the non-school route, by applying for jobs in the planning field after 3-4 years as a paralegal. Went to like 4-5 interviews in early 2020 pre-pandemic and got reeeejjjjjeccctteed from all, "not enough experience". I had zero relevant work experience and my undergrad was in IR where I wrote my thesis on Serbia's EU integration chances haha.

All of us going to school now will be getting some of that relevant experience both in school and with internships, no matter where we go. We've got our foot in the door! Keep your head up!

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

Speaking as someone who is in their 30s and has been working in the "real world" for a number of years before applying to go back to grad school, my advice is take on as little debt as possible. Go to whatever school is most affordable for you. 
Seeing people talk about taking on 40k+ in debt saddens and scares me. It's just not worth it, and that debt is going to hang over you for a long time. 
I know a lot of milestones in life seem like they are a long ways off, but they aren't. That debt will get in the way if you want to buy a house, travel, have kids, take a leave of absence, decide planning isn't right for you, and everything else.  

I feel like me commenting here earlier might have made some of you worried that admissions committees regularly lurk here, but I honestly don't think that's the case. Most adcoms are made up solely of faculty, and they just don't have the time to be teaching their full courseload, reviewing admissions for new students, and living their own lives, to be hanging around here!
I love working in grad admissions (vs. undergrad) because the faculty make the decisions and that makes me I feel like I can be an honest advocate for applicants and students without any conflict of interest. I do volunteer work on the side to help students even outside of the school I work at; it's just something I love. I really doubt many of my colleagues even bother to look much at GradCafe; I think I'm just a weirdo!
Since I also handle financial aid, I will say that you all seem to be taking into consideration everything I would advise a prospective student to consider. The big thing that many folks forget to consider is cost of living as far as loan debt is concerned, and it can really make a difference, so definitely include that in your calculations.
Lastly, I really can't speak for institutions other than my own, but at my institution a half-tuition scholarship is very competitive because there will only be a handful of folks awarded an amount higher than that and many that will be offered well below that. But that does not mean you still shouldn't respectfully ask to be considered for more funding; the worst they can say is "No, unfortuantely we have nothing else to offer" (and while you may think the school is just rolling in dough due to people not understanding how endowments work, believe me, there is a set scholarship budget that they have to adhere to in order to stay financially stable even outside of a pandemic!)

Half tuition is definitely a good scholarship! It looks like (to me at least) most people are typically getting none to a few thousand, so congrats on your offers. No one can tell you what next year looks like, unfortunately. Who knows if there’ll be more or less applicants or funding. If funding is your biggest priority, you should probably go to the cheapest school for you (unless it’s significantly lower in academic quality than others, but I doubt that). But of course, it’s important to consider other things like location, curriculum, and faculty.
For me, funding is a big concern, but I also have a kind of YOLO mindset. Sure, UCLA will be over twice the price if I get into it as opposed to my second choice, and I’ll be sinking myself into a lot of debt, but UCLA has been a dream school in an amazing location and social environment (the sports, arts, etc!), that I think the experience and pride I’ll feel will make it worth it.
However, I still feel like going to a much cheaper, lesser-known school will give me the same set of skills that can ultimately land me the same job as if I went to UCLA. Planning doesn’t really seem to care about where degrees come from (though the location of where your school is can definitely help you work where you want, ie LA). But I think planning degrees overall travel well. And prestige isn’t the end-all — a planning office in CA will probably have everyone from Berkeley to a small state school working at a similar position there.
TL;DR, at least for me, I’m not only going to grad school for a degree, but for the life experience. I’m willing to pay more for that. I’m only going to grad school once in my life. This is NOT advice, let me be clear, but just my personal reasoning for myself. I’d agree with the previous comment - if you just want to get your foot in the door, then a cheaper school will do just fine.

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

Can't speak for SLO and I believe I might've touched on this earlier in the thread but I've done the most research into SJSU and spoke to the most people affiliated with the school there than any of the other schools I've applied to (Grad Advisor, 2 professors, and about 4-5 students).

It seems there is definitely a significant chunk of students that go to SJSU part-time or while they work as a way to get ahead within the field in the Bay Area (almost all of them seemed to view the school as public sector-oriented except for one person who worked for Lyft). One of my contacts said that a number of her colleagues today (she worked first for MTC and then for SF County) were her peers from school. Planning, Community Development, and Transit agencies across the Bay are choc full of SJSU grads. As she said "It's a small planning world so I know a lot of the planners in the public sector through SJSU. Your reputation from grad school definitely follows you."

Of those I talked to, they all said SJSU's program is well known throughout the Bay Area (in part because it's just one of two Bay Area programs - the other being Cal). The Capstone Community Planning course is really unique and not something I necessarily saw duplicated elsewhere since most community-involved work at other schools seems to be reliant on your internship choice. I think this gives you a built-in opportunity to network within the San Jose/Santa Clara County community even beyond your internship so you get to double down on potential job opportunities. I also asked each school's (SJSU, Cal, UCLA, CPP) Grad Advisor "Do you help students find internships?" and SJSU seemed to give the most help - I think in part because, at least for UCLA/Cal, they expect the prestige and connections of the institution to make securing internships easier.

The certificates are also an interesting twist. I talked to both Cal (which I didn't get into) and UCLA and both said the concentrations are just within the department and your course planning, there's no official documentation stating it on your transcript or diploma, whereas you actually receive a certificate at SJSU. Not that important knowledge wise but could be an edge at face-value re: resume.

That being said, I'm still holding out hope for UCLA (even though it's a big reach for me) in part UCLA's program seems to draw from social justice/critical race theory principles. I feel like the theory vs. practical argument always finds a way to put down "theory" - but if the planners of the past were schooled in the "theory" we might expect from UCLA today, perhaps there wouldn't be so much harm left to undo.

There's one really telling statistic about UCLA's planning program though - the largest employer of UCLA planning grads... UCLA. That tells me that the program is probably 1) PhD Heavy and 2) More focused on contributions to the field of planning than making planners out of students.

Phew, essay over. Bored on a Sunday... lol

I spoke to one of the MURP Grad Advisors back in August or September of last year and I got the impression from him that the Admissions Office was not having the easiest time working virtually. They deal with a lot of physical mail so I think they hadn't quite had a system in place to run as smoothly as they liked. He didn't really confirm whether this would delay decisions, but since then I've always just figured I'd hear sometime by around mid/end of March.

Similarly, after I sent in my department application to the Cal Poly Pomona Admissions Committee I asked when to expect a decision (this was early November) and they said to expect it mid-Feb. Well here we are in late Feb so I asked the Grad Advisor for an update and she said they're targeting mid-March. They don't have a timeline on their website though so I guess that leaves them more wiggle room.

Long story short I feel like this year some of the expected timelines are just a suggestion haha

I spoke to one of the MURP Grad Advisors back in August or September of last year and I got the impression from him that the Admissions Office was not having the easiest time working virtually. They deal with a lot of physical mail so I think they hadn't quite had a system in place to run as smoothly as they liked. He didn't really confirm whether this would delay decisions, but since then I've always just figured I'd hear sometime by around mid/end of March.

Similarly, after I sent in my department application to the Cal Poly Pomona Admissions Committee I asked when to expect a decision (this was early November) and they said to expect it mid-Feb. Well here we are in late Feb so I asked the Grad Advisor for an update and she said they're targeting mid-March. They don't have a timeline on their website though so I guess that leaves them more wiggle room.

Long story short I feel like this year some of the expected timelines are just a suggestion haha

I spoke to one of the MURP Grad Advisors back in August or September of last year and I got the impression from him that the Admissions Office was not having the easiest time working virtually. They deal with a lot of physical mail so I think they hadn't quite had a system in place to run as smoothly as they liked. He didn't really confirm whether this would delay decisions, but since then I've always just figured I'd hear sometime by around mid/end of March.

Similarly, after I sent in my department application to the Cal Poly Pomona Admissions Committee I asked when to expect a decision (this was early November) and they said to expect it mid-Feb. Well here we are in late Feb so I asked the Grad Advisor for an update and she said they're targeting mid-March. They don't have a timeline on their website though so I guess that leaves them more wiggle room.

Long story short I feel like this year some of the expected timelines are just a suggestion haha

Personally, I found some of the deepest insight was looking into a specific city and reading about the planning/urban history there. If you're not from or not planning to go to school in a big city or at least a town/city/region with a deep history and canon, just choose one you have an affinity for. Here are some I've read:
LA: City of Quartz by Mike Davis
Bay Area: American Babylon by Richard O. Self; The Road to Resegregation by Alex Schafran; City for Sale by Chester Hartman
NYC: There Goes the Hood by Lance Freeman

Oh yeah definitely, I'm fairly realistic about the whole thing I just rarely hear people discuss those schools online and I can't imagine I'm the only one who doesn't want to pay $25-50k per year like most of the other schools I see named on here (not to loan shame anyone! haha) so was just curious if anyone else had them towards the top. Cheers!

Finally rejected from Cal haha! I've more or less been anticipating this. I really only applied because the GRE was waived so no sweat luckily. I would've gone to SJSU over Cal if given the choice due to SJSU's affordability and flexibility, but still would've been happy to have got in! Congrats to all those who did and whose first choice it is!

Luckily SJSU and CPP are both hedges for the option to choose between Northern and Southern California. I would personally love to get into UCLA, sort of fell in love with their program, but I wonder if my background is more Cal State than esteemed UC (saying that tongue in cheek as I went to, and loved my education at, a Cal State).

It will be interesting to see who got into both, or one, and why in regards to UCLA and Cal. Still good luck to all!

Finally rejected from Cal haha! I've more or less been anticipating this. I really only applied because the GRE was waived so no sweat luckily. I would've gone to SJSU over Cal if given the choice due to SJSU's affordability and flexibility, but still would've been happy to have got in! Congrats to all those who did and whose first choice it is!

Luckily SJSU and CPP are both hedges for the option to choose between Northern and Southern California. I would personally love to get into UCLA, sort of fell in love with their program, but I wonder if my background is more Cal State than esteemed UC (saying that tongue in cheek as I went to, and loved my education at, a Cal State).

It will be interesting to see who got into both, or one, and why in regards to UCLA and Cal. Still good luck to all!

Finally rejected from Cal haha! I've more or less been anticipating this. I really only applied because the GRE was waived so no sweat luckily. I would've gone to SJSU over Cal if given the choice due to SJSU's affordability and flexibility, but still would've been happy to have got in! Congrats to all those who did and whose first choice it is!

Luckily SJSU and CPP are both hedges for the option to choose between Northern and Southern California. I would personally love to get into UCLA, sort of fell in love with their program, but I wonder if my background is more Cal State than esteemed UC (saying that tongue in cheek as I went to, and loved my education at, a Cal State).

It will be interesting to see who got into both, or one, and why in regards to UCLA and Cal. Still good luck to all!