A few questions as I begin looking for graduate schools.

Graduate School
1

I plan to apply to Masters programs this Fall, so it’s time to start thinking about where to go. I’m a California resident studying Urban Studies and Planning with a minor in Geography and Environment (My minor is focused pretty much completely on Geographic Information Systems) at San Francisco State University. I want to get my Masters in Urban and Regional Planning or the equivalent, and I want to focus my studies primarily upon transportation planning.

That aside, on to my questions. The first thing to ask is whether looking at out of state schools makes financial sense. Currently, I don’t have money, and I’m financially independent (I’m 24 now). I get by on state and federal aid and loans anda part time retail job. I was looking at inherenting substantial money from the sale of a dead grandparent’s house, but that was before actually digging into her finances. This won’t be out of probate before I apply to schools and it’s an absolute mess, so I want to look at finances with an assumption I have nothing just to be safe. I’m hearing a lot of conflicted info on whether financial aid is much of a thing, whether I can just borrow, or whether I basically have to get a loan. Could anyone provide any insight there, as well as some insight into how much state residency matters at this level? I’ve no problem staying in California and going to a UC or CSU, but I’d like to know my full range of options. I’m interested in the possibility of some places up north or on the East Coast.

As to the GRE, when should I take it? I’m assuming I definately want to. Can I take it multiple times, or just once?

Should I be contacting people at universities that interest me now? What kind of stuff should I be asking them?

I’ve heard applying for a UC at the Masters level is a recipe for getting rejected because they want Doctoral students? Is that true? Does this also apply to UCs?

Any opinions of my pre-emptive list of California schools? They are:

CalPoly San Luis Obispo (I was accepted here for transfer from community college as a Junior, but I chose SFSU. Does this effect graduate admissions at all?)
CalPoly Pomona
San Jose State University
San Diego State University
UC Berkeley
UCLA

2

Well, that’s kind of up to you, and it depends on the resources available in your state plus the return on investment you can make with a master’s degree, as well as any existing debt. Some students have no choice but to go OOS for their master’s because their own state’s universities don’t have the programs they’re looking for. You’re lucky as a California resident - there are many state universities and thus probably many schools that have the option to get a master’s in the area you want. They’re likely to be a lot less expensive than OOS publics and most privates. Since urban studies is a professional degree, there’s likely to be very little non-repayable aid like scholarships and grants available.

Another good question to ask yourself is - how much money do people in your desired field make after their master’s? You don’t want to borrow $120,000 for your master’s from a top private or public school if people in your field tend to make around $65,000 after they finish. The stakes are raised if you already have significant debt from undergrad.

You can, indeed, borrow. All graduate students are independent students, and graduate students can borrow up to $20,500 per year in federal Direct loans and then can borrow up the cost of attendance in Graduate PLUS loans. These are all federal loans with federal benefits, including income-based repayment plans and in-school deferment and all of that. Still, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew.

If you are interested in some Northeastern or East Coast schools, I’d investigate whether any of them offer some kind of funding for master’s students in the form of scholarships and teaching/research/graduate assistantships, and how likely you are to get them. Where you want to work after your master’s is also an important consideration, as it’s easier to build a network in the geographic area you’re already in.

My personal opinion is that if you have excellent programs to choose from at your in-state public universities, I would look to those first. Any OOS program would have to be perfectly perfect AND offer substantial funding to make it worthwhile, especially if you were able to get a master’s from a UC or a top-rated Cal State program.

Most graduate programs in the US require the GRE, so you will probably want to take it. I’d check the schools you want to apply to first and make sure they require it.

You can take it as many times as you want, with two caveats. One, the test is $160. Two, many grad schools average your scores together or only take the most recent one rather than taking your highest scores like undergrad. I would limit your attempts to 2 if I were you, and really your goal should be to take it once. I recommend taking it early-ish so you can retake it if you really need to. If your application deadlines are in mid-February, the latest I would take it is the end of December/beginning of January (it takes about 4-6 weeks for your scores to become available to schools). If you want the opportunity to take it twice, then I would take the first attempt much earlier - no later than August/early September, so that you have time to get your scores and study again for the next attempt.

If you have nothing to ask yet, I wouldn’t contact them. This advice is really for people doing PhDs or academic master’s who need someone to advise them in research. You don’t need that, so you don’t have to contact anyone.

It depends on the department/program. If the department has a terminal master’s program, then they are looking for master’s students and it makes no sense that they would auto-reject you for applying for a program they actually have. For example, Berkeley has a master’s of city planning that is a two-year professional program as well as a doctoral program in this area. They are absolutely looking for people to do that MCP…otherwise they wouldn’t offer it!

I think this advice only applies to programs that don’t offer terminal master’s programs. For example, if you applied for an economics MA at Berkeley, you’d get rejected because they only offer a PhD.

No. The graduate department you apply to knows nothing about your undergraduate admissions at all, and quite frankly your high school record doesn’t matter when applying for graduate school at all.

3

@juillet Thanks for all the advice. I think for now I’ll concentrate on California schools. I didn’t find the perfect MS out of state or anything, I was just interested by the possibility of going to New York City or Boston or Seattle. That alone isn’t worth significantly more expense when I could be happy doing my master’s back home in San Jose or going to Los Angeles or Berkeley or SLO. Networking is also a big issue, because I want to be a transportation planner here in California. If the roots I set up in grad school are vital, I should stay here.

I think I’ll plan on taking the GRE this summer. How early do I have to register?

4

It’s not too much trouble to check each school you plan to apply to. There should be an “graduate admission” page on their websites that lists requirements & deadlines.

From what I know, the deadlines for UC have passed for Fall 2016 admission. In fact, some campuses have started sending admission decisions out.

5

@Pentaprism UC deadlines for graduate admission have long passed. I think OP is applying for admission for Fall 2017.

@Spaceship you can register pretty late (I did a random search and was able to theoretically register for Feb. 8, five days from today), but I suggest registering as early as you can find a date that works with your schedule, as seats can get taken quickly.

6

I’m applying for Fall 2017 admission. My major advisor says my deadlines are going to all be this fall.

I’ll probably register for the GRE next month, then. Too many demands on my bank account this month, but I do really want a summer seat. We have 3 year round testing centers here in San Francisco, so at least I have a few choices of where to go if it comes to having to wait a bit longer to pay the fee.

7

Circumstances have changed a bit. I just added a second major (Geography) that will push my graduation back a semester, so the earliest I’d enter graduate school is Spring 18, or I could wait for Fall 18. I was told by some people that graduate programs don’t really do Spring admissions a lot, but I’m not sure if that’s actually trustworthy. I’m not doing an intership this summer, so this will allow me to do one next summer. There is also a required fall internship for my urban planning major, which I plan to do Fall 17. This would be separate from my summer internship. I took too many units for my work schedule this semester, so I’m looking at having a 3.0 average for Spring 16. Not where I want to be, but not disastrous, and I’m dropping back down to 14 units in the Fall and staying there. I do hope that if I get my GPA back up to the 3.5 range, those two internships and the second BA can round out my applications to outweigh my Junior year grades.

Does anyone have thoughts on how these changes are likely to effect things?

8

Most graduate students start in Fall. Some programs have Spring admissions but they usually are smaller groups and your course sequence might be out of phase with the majority of the students in the program. Make every effort to graduate in Spring '18.

9

Yes, plain to start graduate school in Fall of 2018 - most graduate programs begin in the fall and very few programs do spring admissions.