urbanplanning2021

In at UIC with offer of a research or teaching assistantship! Really relieved to have at least one offer that I know I can afford
With that being said, I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on the program!

Finally heard back from Rutgers! Full tuition and stipend! I think that's pretty much the end of my cycle, unless UCLA comes through with something crazy! 

Thanks! I've actually reached out to him twice now and haven't gotten a response ? oh well

I'm feeling the same way about UCLA, but also bit hesitant about a cross-country move (I also live in MA!) and Los Angeles in general. Chicago seems much more my speed.
What attracts me to UCLA is the emphasis on social/racial justice, and I think UIC would offer a similar experience. I also agree about rankings; I'm not sure they actually matter that much in practice as long as the program is a good fit

In at UIC with offer of a research or teaching assistantship! Really relieved to have at least one offer that I know I can afford
With that being said, I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on the program!

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

In at UIC with offer of a research or teaching assistantship! Really relieved to have at least one offer that I know I can afford
With that being said, I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on the program!

I'm feeling the same way about UCLA, but also bit hesitant about a cross-country move (I also live in MA!) and Los Angeles in general. Chicago seems much more my speed.
What attracts me to UCLA is the emphasis on social/racial justice, and I think UIC would offer a similar experience. I also agree about rankings; I'm not sure they actually matter that much in practice as long as the program is a good fit

I'm feeling the same way about UCLA, but also bit hesitant about a cross-country move (I also live in MA!) and Los Angeles in general. Chicago seems much more my speed.
What attracts me to UCLA is the emphasis on social/racial justice, and I think UIC would offer a similar experience. I also agree about rankings; I'm not sure they actually matter that much in practice as long as the program is a good fit

In at UIC with offer of a research or teaching assistantship! Really relieved to have at least one offer that I know I can afford
With that being said, I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on the program!

In at Rutgers! Surprised to get the email at 11:30pm on a Saturday night...

In at Rutgers! Surprised to get the email at 11:30pm on a Saturday night...

In at Rutgers! Surprised to get the email at 11:30pm on a Saturday night...

UCLA takes a bit longer than other schools to release admission decisions because of their process (they have faculty + current students review applications)

In at Rutgers! Surprised to get the email at 11:30pm on a Saturday night...

In at USC with full tuition! 

In at UPenn!

In at UPenn!

In at UPenn!

In at UPenn!