Planning Admissions 2020

[Herstoriess]

On 2/18/2020 at 11:42 AM, Herstoriess said:

Age/Gender/Citizenship

24/F/Chinese

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated 

GIS/Urban Planning/California

GPA - GRE  - TOEFL (for Int'l students) 

3.4 - 160(V) 168(Q)

Work Experience: 2 years in transportation planning

Letter of recommendations: 2 from college professors (research, courses), one from current employer

Schools applied to:

University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy (MSCAPP)

UC Berkeley (Planning)

UPenn (Planning)
Tufts (Data analytics)

In: 

UofC MSCAPP (20%)

UC Berkeley (TBA)

UPenn MCP (10%)

Out: 

Wait-list: 

Awaiting: Tufts

Results: debating whether I want to fully commit to a planning program and work in the planning field after graduation. MSCAPP seems to offer a more wider range of career options and higher employment rate. There is also a new Cornell Urban Tech program that I'm considering applying to.

Updated scholarships. Small amount from UPenn.

Still, I'm most likely going to be debating between Harris MSCAPP and Berkeley DCP. Will do more research on the curriculum and the different career outlooks from the two programs, maybe reach out to some folks on LinkedIn. Berkeley does a lot of data stuff in transportation modeling but doesn't seem to provide as solid training on statistical foundations and computer science theories used in data science; MSCAPP on the other hand, is missing all the planning, especially transportation eng/planning-focused courses.

[veryverycool]

On 3/5/2020 at 5:51 PM, Postmalone said:

Age/Gender/Citizenship
23/f/us 

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated 
BA sociology/private university/2018

GPA - GRE  - TOEFL (for Int'l students) 
3.88/4

164 V, 158 Q, 5.5 AW

Work Experience:
lot of internship and 2 years full time work experience but none in planning. Mostly service and policy oriented background

Letter of recommendations: 

2 professors, 1 former employer

Schools applied to:

In: UIC, 5k a year scholarship; UNC TA position with full tuition and stipend; UPenn awaiting funding; UMich 6k scholarship 

Wait-list:

Harvard GSD. Does anybody know how likely it is to be pulled off the waitlist? Or when I’ll get a final decision? I can’t find anything about it online. I only saw a couple people each year posting they were waitlisted at gsd so I’m just trying to figure out if this likely a no or if it’s worth staying on the waitlist. I didn’t get an email, I just checked the portal when other people posted their decisions. I’m planning to concentrate in community/housing development if that makes any difference 

Also on the waiting list at Harvard! Do you know if we will hear back before May? Pretty sure most programs close by April 15th

[Postmalone]

On 3/30/2020 at 10:12 PM, veryverycool said:

Also on the waiting list at Harvard! Do you know if we will hear back before May? Pretty sure most programs close by April 15th

I don’t know but the waitlist letter said we can accept another offer while staying on the waitlist. I don’t know what the consequences would be of backing out of a program you committed to. Maybe we’d just lose the deposit? Hoping to hear back soon 

[in_cog_nito]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:16 PM, in_cog_nito said:

Age/Gender/Citizenship: 

26/M/USA

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated: 

Geography major, Environmental Studies and Human-Centered Design double minor/Ivy League University/2016

GPA - GRE  - TOEFL (for Int'l students):

3.79 GPA - 167 V/158 Q/5.5 W

Work Experience: 

Postgraduate Climate Change Fellowship/UN Migration Internship;

Program Assistant for NYC Mayor's Office Youth Civic Engagement Program;

Development at a Architecture Preservation Nonprofit

Letter of recommendations: 

1 undergrad geography professor; 1 environmental studies undergrad professor; 1 NYC Mayor's Office Supervisor

Schools applied to

In: MIT (MCP), Harvard GSD (MUP), Rutgers (MCRP), Berkeley (MCP), UCLA (MUP)

For posterity, wanted to share that I accepted at MIT with a 75% tuition scholarship and paid research assistantship w/ healthcare. DUSP is offering admitted students the opportunity to defer enrollment to Fall 2021, given the uncertainty about what Fall 2020 will look like - I certainly appreciate the flexibility (especially when GSD is not offering deferral...) and will be waiting a couple more months to decide in the hopes that the COVID-19 situation improves. In the meantime, *fingers crossed* that my declines offer up some spots for those on the waitlists. Best of luck to everyone (and all those in the future reading this)!

[dino515]

On 3/11/2020 at 11:21 AM, dino515 said:

In: Pratt MS Sustainable Environmental Systems (36k total) , NYU Wagner MUP (10k /year, part-time) 

Waitlisted: Berkeley for MCP Environmental Design Healthy Cities. Hoping for funding if the acceptance comes in! 

Anyone else waitlisted? 

Off the waitlist at Berkeley (no funding) and now don’t know which offer to accept! I have until Friday morning and got an extension at NYU. Worried programs will be online in the fall too. Any advice ? 

[urban_app_1111]

On 4/16/2020 at 9:54 PM, in_cog_nito said:

For posterity, wanted to share that I accepted at MIT with a 75% tuition scholarship and paid research assistantship w/ healthcare. DUSP is offering admitted students the opportunity to defer enrollment to Fall 2021, given the uncertainty about what Fall 2020 will look like - I certainly appreciate the flexibility (especially when GSD is not offering deferral...) and will be waiting a couple more months to decide in the hopes that the COVID-19 situation improves. In the meantime, *fingers crossed* that my declines offer up some spots for those on the waitlists. Best of luck to everyone (and all those in the future reading this)!

@in_cog_nito Thanks for sharing this info! Just curious, did DUSP give you any sort of timeline regarding when you'd have to decide to defer by? I was accepted at the UC schools and neither seem to be offering the option to defer. 

Let's say in late June it turns out MIT classes will be online in the fall, and 1/3 of the incoming class decides to defer. Any idea if they would offer up those ~20 or so spots to previously rejected applicants who would be fine with starting off online (like me)? Not expecting you to have answers, just curious to get your take since you're inside the process!

[in_cog_nito]

On 4/19/2020 at 9:47 AM, urban_app_1111 said:

@in_cog_nito Thanks for sharing this info! Just curious, did DUSP give you any sort of timeline regarding when you'd have to decide to defer by? I was accepted at the UC schools and neither seem to be offering the option to defer. 

Let's say in late June it turns out MIT classes will be online in the fall, and 1/3 of the incoming class decides to defer. Any idea if they would offer up those ~20 or so spots to previously rejected applicants who would be fine with starting off online (like me)? Not expecting you to have answers, just curious to get your take since you're inside the process!

@urban_app_1111 we need to make a decision on deferral by 7/15, by which point we will hopefully have a clearer idea of what fall 2020 will look like. From the general discussion I've seen among admitted students so far, it seems like plenty of people are leaning towards deferring to fall 2021... but I have no clue what that would mean for their unfilled seats in the fall 2020 cohort. I genuinely don't think the department will be able to make that call for a bit.

 

Congrats on the UCs and I hope everything works out!

[bikepedkait96]

On 2/8/2020 at 6:56 PM, jlc816 said:

Update:

Accepted: USC ($$$$)

Waitlisted: CUNY (geography)

Rejected: UCB (geography) -- not surprised. I did poorly on the interview ?

Pending: UCLA, UPenn, MIT (HCED), UBC 

Hello, I was wondering if I could ask a question. I think UCB Geography and Planning are quite adjacent but I didn't think Masters programs for planning had interviews? I am not prepared for interviews lol Do you know if they have interviews?