Planning Admission 2021

[acardigan]

On 2/11/2021 at 6:31 PM, acardigan said:

 

Hey everyone,

After battling imposter syndrome for 5+ years, the pandemic finally pushed me to get this done. Here we go!

Age/Gender/Citizenship

31/M/US

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated 

Dual Degree: BA in Political Science, BA Economics. Flagship State University, magna cum laude

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

3.92 official (3.77 if you calculate my one non-major failed course). No GRE

Work Experience:

- 7 years professionally working for a city government, not directly planning related, but served on Architecture selection committee and assisted with development agreement for major shopping center.

- Two planning internships: one dealing with zoning matters, the other with small businesses and contracting.
- Created marketed program that allowed for bus transit expansion at my community college during undergrad. 

Letter of recommendations: (from whom)

2 professors, including mentor and thesis advisor. 2 supervisors, including current city manager

Schools applied to:  Berkeley, Harvard, UNC, UPenn, Cornell, Columbia

In: Berkeley, Harvard, UNC, UPenn, Cornell

Out:

Wait-list: 

Awaiting: Columbia

Results:

Just updating to reflect my acceptances; including Harvard! It seems that @takeitorleaveit97 and I submitted our applications to the (almost same!) schools at the same time! Congrats!

Also, a note on funding: Money is definitely scarce this year. I'll update my funding totals once they're all received as a future reference to aspiring applicants (and to any admissions folks, I am grateful for what I've received!) 

For those that did not receive admission to their dream schools, do not fret. I have noticed that many applicants try again successfully a following year or two and are selected just due to the increased level of professional exposure. If you have a high GPA (>3.5) I would highly recommend waiting it out if you're not satisfied with your results. This is coming from someone with 8+ years after debating whether to even apply!

[heyhey101]

About UBC. Does UBC SCARP offer admission without interviews? 

[oliviaplanning]

7 hours ago, heyhey101 said:

About UBC. Does UBC SCARP offer admission without interviews? 

I don’t think so.. I’ve only heard of people (this year) getting interviews prior to an offer! I received my interview invitation yesterday.

[takeitorleaveit97]

9 hours ago, acardigan said:

Just updating to reflect my acceptances; including Harvard! It seems that @takeitorleaveit97 and I submitted our applications to the (almost same!) schools at the same time! Congrats!

Also, a note on funding: Money is definitely scarce this year. I'll update my funding totals once they're all received as a future reference to aspiring applicants (and to any admissions folks, I am grateful for what I've received!) 

For those that did not receive admission to their dream schools, do not fret. I have noticed that many applicants try again successfully a following year or two and are selected just due to the increased level of professional exposure. If you have a high GPA (>3.5) I would highly recommend waiting it out if you're not satisfied with your results. This is coming from someone with 8+ years after debating whether to even apply!

Hi @acardigan! Great minds eh? ? Where are you most leaning toward?

[hayamate]

After a couple of years working in transportation advocacy, I decided to plan my next steps and attend planning school to give back to the communities I've served.

Age/Gender/Citizenship

31/M/US

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated 

BA in Communications/Flagship state university at a Spanish-speaking country/2011

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

3.62 - no - granted waivers due to work experience

Work Experience:

- 5 years at a transportation advocacy group in a major US city. Spearheaded projects in BIPOC communities for alternatives mode of transportation, as well directed strategy at a city-level.

Letter of recommendations: (from whom)

Four: Former supervisor/professional mentor, former colleague that has a Master's in urban planning, Deputy Director of current employer, Program Manager at a non-profit that co-managed my work serving BIPOC residents.

Schools applied to:  Penn, Tufts, Temple, Hunter College, George Washington

In: Penn, Tufts, Temple, Hunter College, George Washington (25% scholarship)

Out:

Wait-list: 

Awaiting:

Results:

Waiting on financial aid packages from other programs before making a decision.

[Edna627]

Has anyone heard back from university of Toronto yet? 

[numenor]

2 minutes ago, Edna627 said:

Has anyone heard back from university of Toronto yet? 

Nothing yet!

[heyhey101]

8 hours ago, oliviaplanning said:

I don’t think so.. I’ve only heard of people (this year) getting interviews prior to an offer! I received my interview invitation yesterday.

Okay. Thank you for letting me know. I was like ? where in the website says there’s going to be an interview? 

[planning]

On 1/20/2021 at 12:03 AM, planning said:

feeling anxious now that apps are done and the waiting begins - best of luck!

Age/Gender/Citizenship

23/F/US

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated 

BA in urban studies/geography, 2019

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

3.8 BA - No GRE

Work Experience:

- ~2 years GIS experience in tech
- GIS internship with the city
- planning internship at a transit agency
- undergrad research experience

Letter of recommendations: (from whom)

senior thesis mentor/professor, professor/department chair, and advisor/instructor

Schools applied to: UNC, CU Denver, UT Austin, Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley, Tufts, Pratt

In: UNC, CU Denver, UT Austin, Tufts

Out:

Wait-list: Berkeley

Awaiting: Georgia Tech, Pratt

Results:

Updating as I heard back from a few schools this past week - in at UNC, UT Austin, and CU Denver. UNC is currently my top choice so I was kind of disappointed to get very little funding.

Anyone else apply to CU Denver or have insight on the program? So far it’s definitely looking to be the cheapest option, but I haven’t heard much about the quality of the program. Wondering whether it would be worth it to pay more to go elsewhere.

Still waiting on funding info from other schools though ?

Edited March 2, 2021 by planning
Edited to add: on the waitlist for Berkeley

[cdnplanner]

In at McGill!

[CanPlan]

10 minutes ago, cdnplanner said:

In at McGill!

Nice! No update here. Email or did you check the portal? 

[cdnplanner]

1 minute ago, CanPlan said:

Nice! No update here. Email or did you check the portal? 

E-mail to check the portal for a significant decision. I'm pretty surprised I heard so early considering that I'm coming directly out of undergrad with a 3.77 GPA. I expected to be waitlisted. Pretty excited

[CanPlan]

Just now, cdnplanner said:

E-mail to check the portal for a significant decision. I'm pretty surprised I heard so early considering that I'm coming directly out of undergrad with a 3.77 GPA. I expected to be waitlisted. Pretty excited

That's great. Congrats! I guess I'll keep obsessively refreshing today. 

[ojireojire]

Waitlisted at Berkeley! Pretty surprised tbh; I had assumed the silence was just an inglorious rejection ?

[cityplace_uptown]

Happy to have received a $10k/year scholarship notice from NYU Wagner today! Unfortunately NYU is just so expensive, that even with that money I can't see myself paying their sky high tuition rates for an MUP degree, I still want to see how everything else shakes out.

Still glad to have gotten the award as it may be a good sign of things to come from other programs! 

[acardigan]

9 hours ago, takeitorleaveit97 said:

Hi @acardigan! Great minds eh? ? Where are you most leaning toward?

I'm primarily stuck between Harvard and Berkeley. However, UPenn's program seems delightful and has a strong real estate/design focus which I find personally fascinating. I will likely make up my mind when the funding totals are all reported. 

Secretly, I wish Harvard/MIT/Berkeley would just announce a joint three year program so that us aspiring planners could be whisked away to a permanent nirvana. Er, for free of course ?

[takeitorleaveit97]

1 hour ago, acardigan said:

I'm primarily stuck between Harvard and Berkeley. However, UPenn's program seems delightful and has a strong real estate/design focus which I find personally fascinating. I will likely make up my mind when the funding totals are all reported. 

Secretly, I wish Harvard/MIT/Berkeley would just announce a joint three year program so that us aspiring planners could be whisked away to a permanent nirvana. Er, for free of course ?

Haha yes definitely agree on the joint three year bit. MIT's program was my favorite of the bunch. I was so upset they weren't accepting MCP students this cycle. 

Did Harvard give you funding? (if you don't mind me asking) I know Berkeley's isn't out yet.

[acardigan]

2 hours ago, takeitorleaveit97 said:

Haha yes definitely agree on the joint three year bit. MIT's program was my favorite of the bunch. I was so upset they weren't accepting MCP students this cycle. 

Did Harvard give you funding? (if you don't mind me asking) I know Berkeley's isn't out yet.

I did receive Harvard funding. It's inconspicuously hidden by going to the admission portal then clicking "View Update" under the Status Update block. Once there, scroll to the bottom of the decision letter and you should see a "Financial Aid Letter" attachment link with the information.

[willplanning]

Figured I would chime in, it's been helpful to see fellow Canadians post their news!

Age/Gender/Citizenship

22/M/CAN

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated 

BEng Civil engineering/McGill/Spring 2021

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

3.74/no/no

Work Experience:

- summer internship in the engineering department of a small city, summer internship + 8 months part-time at a federal infrastructure management company.

Letter of recommendations: (from whom)

McGill urban planning professor, McGill civil engineering professor, engineering-related boss. 

Schools applied to:  UBC, UofT, Ryerson. 

In: 

Out:

Wait-list: 

Awaiting: UofT, Ryerson

Results: Video interview with UBC

Didn't apply to McGill. I was told by a professor in the department that they don't accept students directly from undergrad, prefer related working experience. Waiting on Ryerson, it seems others have already heard from them recently. Good luck all!

[anxiousplanner]

For anyone else still waiting to hear from USC (@planningfor2021), I caved and emailed them today, and got a response that I should hear back "within a week or so." Who knows if there is any hope to be had there - I'm holding out some hope because I had a minor transcript issue that may have delayed processing of my application, but I'm not optimistic. UCLA has always been one of my top choices, so I'm just crossing my fingers for that result to come in quickly.

[jgiara]

1 hour ago, anxiousplanner said:

For anyone else still waiting to hear from USC (@planningfor2021), I caved and emailed them today, and got a response that I should hear back "within a week or so." Who knows if there is any hope to be had there - I'm holding out some hope because I had a minor transcript issue that may have delayed processing of my application, but I'm not optimistic. UCLA has always been one of my top choices, so I'm just crossing my fingers for that result to come in quickly.

I too am in the waiting for USC and UCLA boat...although USC definitely hits different given how many others have already heard back. I heard a rumor that their central transcript processing office (one office for all grad programs at the university) got completely zerged this year, resulting in a messy, delayed process for more than a few of us. I sent in a few transcripts from different universities, so my hunch is that they may have had some admin issues tracking them all down for those of us with more than one to process. Who knows though....as for UCLA, early to mid-March is on target for when they usually release results. Thanks for posting your response! I'll for sure let you know when I hear back.

[drew.m.b]

For those in the UCLA and USC boat... I'm with you! Still waiting to hear back from them both here. @jgiara is right in saying that we're still on target for a UCLA decision release in the next week or so, given that their usual timeline is sometime in early March. However, I continue to believe that no news from USC is not necessarily bad news. The only USC decisions I have seen yet are from individual professors emailing some students (perhaps they know those students, networked with them, etc). I do not imagine a Professor would individually reach out to all admitted students at this point, so I believe there is still hope for us that have not yet heard back. Official decisions are still to come. Hang in there, we'll know within the next week or so! 

[venkatsiva]

13 hours ago, drew.m.b said:

For those in the UCLA and USC boat... I'm with you! Still waiting to hear back from them both here. @jgiara is right in saying that we're still on target for a UCLA decision release in the next week or so, given that their usual timeline is sometime in early March. However, I continue to believe that no news from USC is not necessarily bad news. The only USC decisions I have seen yet are from individual professors emailing some students (perhaps they know those students, networked with them, etc). I do not imagine a Professor would individually reach out to all admitted students at this point, so I believe there is still hope for us that have not yet heard back. Official decisions are still to come. Hang in there, we'll know within the next week or so! 

Its slightly re-assuring there are more waiting very anxiously to hear from USC and UCLA. I had written to both of them last week; USC kind of said it's in the hands of the committee and they are also waiting like us; UCLA said it will be out in timely manner. So yes, I also believe USC is yet to release anything officially or all the faculty review teams have decided. All we can is hope for the best now! 

[daxdim]

Figured I'd add my stats and results for posterity's sake -- best of luck to all my fellow applicants!

Age/Gender/Citizenship

26/M/US

Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated 

BA in anthropology/ southern state school / 2015

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

3.47 -- 163 V/152 Q/5.0 W

Work Experience:

3+ years in research consultancy; 2 years at alma mater in international recruitment office; multiple internships during undergrad (marketing and refugee services)

Letter of recommendations: (from whom)

One undergraduate professor/mentor and two project directors at research consultancy firm

Schools applied to (Master's): UNC, USC, Georgia Tech, Texas Southern, U of Hawaii, U of Louisville

In: UNC, USC, Texas Southern, U of Louisville

Out:

Wait-list:

Awaiting: Georgia Tech, U of Hawaii

Results: UNC (5k for first year), USC (Merit scholarship -- full tuition), Texas Southern (no funding), U of Louisville (no funding)

 

UNC was my top choice but their funding offer is super low despite their reputation for being fairly generous, especially towards out of state students according to folks I spoke with. I'm guessing COVID really did a number on their funding availability this year. Still waiting to hear back from a few programs but USC's offer is a pretty convincing argument for itself! Good luck everyone still waiting to hear back from places.

[ojireojire]

Just a heads up! For those of you who got into UNC, I just received an Email updating my funding offer to something substantially higher! Be on the lookout! I'm guessing they just wanted to hand out acceptances first.