UC San Diego or Cal State Northridge or Cal State San Francisco or Cal State San Diego? (Pomona: credit)

[the city]

which college is best to go to for urban planning? i was thinking i could get into urban planning at uc san diego, since i heard the asians dont typical take that subject.

[Desertho]

Originally Posted by the city

which college is best to go to for urban planning? i was thinking i could get into urban planning at uc san diego, since i heard the asians dont typical take that subject.

You can first cool the racism. None of the schools you mentioned are the best in SoCal. UCLA and USC both have the top-notch urban planning schools in the country. If you want to do the more bureaucratic side of planning, any one of the CalStates will do. However, you may not get in since the Asians will beat you academically.

[the city]

I am just pointing out the facts. UC San Diego has 44% Asians attending, and only 30% white. i'm guessing Asians r taking the medical classes, so my major would have a better chance of an opening.

Um, UCLA or USC don't have urban planning. At least for a graduate (masters).

[the city]

Graduate is Masters right? and undergraduate is bachelors? i have both books for cal state and uc's. and i really have a hard time determing which has masters and which one has bachelors...

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by the city

which college is best to go to for urban planning? i was thinking i could get into urban planning at uc san diego, since i heard the asians dont typical take that subject.

UC San Diego has the most name recognition. But I don't know about your particular major.

[the city]

while my major would be urban studies or city/regional/urban planning

urban studies shows:
-uc berkely
-uc san diego (w/ planning)
~cal northridge
~cal san diego
~cal san francisco

City/Regional/Urban Planning:
-uc davis
~cal poly san luis obispo
~cal poly pomona

and minors at:
~cal san bernadino
~cal dominquez hills
~cal bakersfield
~cal sonoma
~cal stanislaus

[grimstuff]

Alright, thecity. This is my one and only shot at giving you a hand with your plans. I will not follow up on this post and will not answer any questions, nor will I "debate" with you about your obsessive concern with regional population growth.

Urban Studies is a major that is more akin to sociology and political science; how to solve socioeconomic problems in metropolitan areas, formulate policy, that sort of thing. Planning can involve these things too, to be sure, but urban studies has less to do with physical, spatial relationships as city/urban planning does.

Imagine a spectrum with Urban Studies on one end, then City/Urban Planning, then Urban Design, then Architecture. Each one is more involved with spatial relationships than the previous one.

You get your bachelors when you finish a 4-year undergraduate program. A masters is given to those finishing graduate work.

Don't waste your time with minors.

[the city]

Originally Posted by grimstuff

Alright, thecity. This is my one and only shot at giving you a hand with your plans. I will not follow up on this post and will not answer any questions, nor will I "debate" with you about your obsessive concern with regional population growth.

Urban Studies is a major that is more akin to sociology and political science; how to solve socioeconomic problems in metropolitan areas, formulate policy, that sort of thing. Planning can involve these things too, to be sure, but urban studies has less to do with physical, spatial relationships as city/urban planning does.

Imagine a spectrum with Urban Studies on one end, then City/Urban Planning, then Urban Design, then Architecture. Each one is more involved with spatial relationships than the previous one.

You get your bachelors when you finish a 4-year undergraduate program. A masters is given to those finishing graduate work.

Don't waste your time with minors.

thx for the advice.

i'm probably going to chose cal poly pomona.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by the city

which college is best to go to for urban planning? i was thinking i could get into urban planning at uc san diego, since i heard the asians dont typical take that subject.

Out of those choices UCSD is the best school overall but I am not sure which is the best for a urban planning major. I think CalPoly SLO or Pomona would be good schools for that. I went to UCSD and was an Urban Studies and Planning major. It's not a very popular major there so I didn't have too much trouble getting the classes I wanted and since it's a small major there, it's easier to meet and talk to people. Even the classes that were filled up by the time it was for me to register were fairly easy to crash and get into.

If you are planning on going to grad school then UCSD is a great springboard to that more so than the CSU's. Most of the subject and things we learned were mostly theoretical and less of a hands on, practical approach. The program does a better job at preparing you for grad school rather than an actual job with real world experience. I think the USP program seemed to start offering more practical, real world based courses that prepared you for jobs more so when I was in my final year at UCSD. They were offering more classes and ones I wish they had when I was going there.

But one good thing about the USP program at UCSD is that they make you take this two quarter senior sequence class, which is worth 6 credit instead of 4 b/c it's a lot of work, and during that they MAKE you get an internship somewhere related to USP. So that will help with getting a job, it helped me a lot. I got an internship at the SD Association of Govt's which helped me get my present job at a transit consulting firm.

This article talks about the class a little bit and what we did for our senior prjects: Plans for the future | The San Diego Union-Tribune

I really loved the USP program at UCSD and by the time you are a 4th year the classes will seem easy b/c most will cover something that you have learned before in another class and it all just kind of goes together. Also it I would think that a program that offers both urban studies and planning would be better as you could go for a job or masters in something related to the sociological, historical, poli sci side of USP or the planning side of USP rather than one or the other. But you probably just have to look at each program and see what they offer, how they differ, and which one appeals to you. I really didn't do much research on that subject before applying and just went with the best school I was accepted to and glad I did. I had a great experience at UCSD, loved my major, and loved this city so much I decided to stay after graduating instead of moving back to the Bay Area or somewhere new.

Not sure what else I can mention about the USP program at UCSD but if you have any more questions about it feel free to ask....