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Are you asking for a BA or MA? To be a urban planner these days you usually have to get your MA. Even then, the market for planners is awful, so start looking for internships now.
Are you asking for a BA or MA? To be a urban planner these days you usually have to get your MA. Even then, the market for planners is awful, so start looking for internships now.
How can you look for internships if you haven't even started in a program?
To the OP, start by researching the websites of geography deparmtments at potential schools. Look at the websites of individual professors and look at the course offerings. Do they have classes in the areas that interest you? Is the department large enough that you are not taking the same professors for 3-4 classes? Once you have identified several potential schools, set up interviews with the department chairmen at each of the schools and try to meet several professors and sit in on a class or two.
How can you look for internships if you haven't even started in a program?
To the OP, start by researching the websites of geography deparmtments at potential schools. Look at the websites of individual professors and look at the course offerings. Do they have classes in the areas that interest you? Is the department large enough that you are not taking the same professors for 3-4 classes? Once you have identified several potential schools, set up interviews with the department chairmen at each of the schools and try to meet several professors and sit in on a class or two.
Urban planning is most often at the government level, so it is not that difficult to get some volunteer experience, or at least some informational interviews. I say this from experience, and I think it would be a good idea for the OP to get a taste of the field before he goes full fledge into studying it.
OP: He raises a great point, look at the course offerings. Geography departments can vary greatly in their offerings. Some focus on physical geography, some on human geography, some GIS, etc...etc...
If you do look for an internship or some information, look at your local city first. They oftentimes tend to be accommodating of their local citizens learning more about city functions. Also, check out your local city's planning commission meetings.
A friend of mine took his master's in "community development" primarily because he didn't want to be too far away from his partner relationship. Two internships and a year and a half later, he got a job in his partner's city in conservation and preservation. He also started by taking the minutes at the planning meeting, getting a temp job during someone's pregnancy, and there on into the job. I thought "community development" was pretty soft for the field of urban/transportation planning, but there you go.
I have no basis for giving advice here but something that sprang to mind - cities that are known for urban planning and that have colleges would be a good place to start as those colleges are likely to have programs. I.e. Portland OR call around to college depts in the Portland and ask to talk to some graduate students. They would know where all the good programs are
If you are interested in GIS you can get a head start learning it on your own. I know many GIS people who learned it in school, I also know plenty of good GIS people who learned it on their own. I did a 6 class GIS Certif, but I also have it at home.
Download a free GIS program like QuantumGIS (QGIS) or Mapwindows. QGIS is simliar to the ESRI ArcGIS program. You can also get ESRI for home use for $100/yr.
This is just my opinion (BS in Geography from Iowa, MS in Geography from Oregon State) and west coast schools only.
Top tier: UC Santa Barbara, Oregon State, UC Berkeley, University of Washington. These are can't miss schools for geography. Grads from these programs will do very well. They will have the background and references to pick and choose grad schools. Their graduate programs are top notch and have high placement in industry, government, and academia. But be aware, none of these programs have an urban planning or human geography focus.
Next tier: Arizona State, UCLA, USC, Oregon, University of Redlands. Graduating high in the class from these schools will put you on par with grads from the next tier up. Also have high placement across the board; though Redlands is much better at private industry placement due to its connections to Esri. These programs can get their top undergrads into any grad program as well, but you need to make sure you make your opportunities and connect with the right professors. You will find more human geography and urban planning at these schools than at the top tier.
The Association of American Geographers has some great guides on programs that they could probably give you for free. Education | AAG
(Student membership is really cheap too, and I would recommend it.)
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