Hi guys,
I am an international student from Nepal and came to this website after another friend applying to grad schools highly recommended it. Nothing relevant to me was showing up when I was searching for Urban Planning in this forum so I figured I would write this post.
Here's my problem, I really need to find 2 safety schools and I was hoping I could get some recommendations. I know it sounds vague but since MURP doesn't have rankings for schools I really can't tell where I'm competitive.
Here's my Bio:
Interest:
Community Development, Social Policy, International Development. I'm looking more at working with non-profits than governments and am eventually planning on working outside the US in more developing nations.
Undergraduate:
GPA: 3.317
BA in Sociology and International Relations from Beloit College (Ranked around 60)
GRE:
Verbal: 166 (97%)
Quant: 157(77%)
AW: 4.5(72%)
Work Experience:
I graduated in May 2011 so I have almost no work experience. I did conduct a fully funded independent research on social capital in a slum in Mumbai, India over winter break of my senior year however. Also, my thesis paper addressed air pollution in Kathmandu, Nepal and proposed the restructuring of the public transport system as a potential solution.
Language Skills:
Nepali(native), English, Intermediate Hindi, Intermediate Japanese
Schools I'm Applying To:
University of Illinois - Urbana Champagne
Cornell University (Not Certain)
University of Michigan
The New School
Portland State University
Rutgers, The State University of New York
University of Toronto
University of Hawaii - Manoa
So if anyone were to drop names of universities that I could apply to as safety schools I could research them further and see if things would work out. I'm completely lost at the moment. Also, if anyone could quickly give me their opinions about how competitive an applicant I could be at the schools mentioned above, I'd really appreciate that too, although I feel silly ignoring the sticky "competitive" thread. It's just that I'm running out of time so wanted to make this more visible.
I would really appreciate your input!!
Thanks!
Isamu.