<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I am a Virginia resident, rising junior, who is very interested in pursuing a career in urban planning. I am trying to start putting together a list of schools. There are very few schools in the country that offer this major as an undergraduate, so I am also going to be looking at some that have a degree in a related field, human geography, so that I could maybe major in that and then go onto get my master’s in planning (which I will do regardless of my UG major).</p>
<p>I have been doing some reading and found that Alabama has a major in Geography and also lets you have a concentration in urban and regional planning, so this could be a great option for me I think. Does anyone have any knowledge about the strength of this dept there?</p>
<p>I am going to need to be competitive for merit money/OOS scholarships in order to be able to attend if I were admitted, so things are kind of up in the air for now. I don’t have any test scores yet, but I do have a pretty good gpa (4.5) (APs and Honors) and class rank 6/350 and ECs from a very good public school here in Va. </p>
<p>I talked to a rep from Alabama last year at a college night and she was so nice and I really got excited talking to her about the school. 
If you could shed any light on the particular major, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks everyone and have a nice night!</p>
<p>*I am going to need to be competitive for merit money/OOS scholarships in order to be able to attend if I were admitted, so things are kind of up in the air for now. I don’t have any test scores yet, but I do have a pretty good gpa (4.5) (APs and Honors) and class rank 6/350 and ECs from a very good public school here in Va.
*</p>
<p>Have you taken the SAT or ACT yet?</p>
<p>Did you take the PSAT? </p>
<p>when will you be testing? Take both the ACT and SAT exams.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the Geography program, but I do remember that one of my older son’s CBH classmates was a Geography major. That person has now graduated. </p>
<p>[Home</a> | Department of Geography](<a href=“http://geography.ua.edu/]Home”>http://geography.ua.edu/)</p>
<p>Hi mom2collegekids, I will take the PSAT in Oct. I took it as a practice test in the fall of my soph year. I got a 58 on the cr and a 52 math sections. I found the math to be pretty hard- I hadn’t even seen some of the information and guessed on the answers 
</p>
<p>I read online that for the bigger of the scholarships- the UA scholar one for 2/3 tuition- I will need a 30 on the ACT or a 1330 on the SAT. That is a pretty big jump for me with a starting point of 1100 on that practice PSAT. I am going to prep for these, but do you think it is possible? Maybe I will know better after I take the real first PSAT in a few months. </p>
<p>Thanks for your reply. You are such a generous person by taking your time and advice to share so much about schools!</p>
<p>Have you tried any PSAT prep books? Younger son is now prepping for the PSAT and SAT, and he is finding that the prep books / practice tests do help – especially with math. For some reason, there seem to be more “trick questions” in the math section. Seems kind of silly to me.</p>
<p>Man, I stress and hyperventilate just thinking about it. So glad I’m not a teenage kid, LOL. And I can’t help feeling “sympathy stress” for the kids who are at the age where they’re going through all this. Best wishes, y’all!!</p>
<p>^^^The Prep Books are really vital. Get two different books and read them first, YES, read them before taking the test. Just get a “feel” for the questions, the style, the wording. Then study and take the practice tests for the “content”.</p>
<p>Take the tests again and again. The more practice, the better prepared you will be.</p>
<p>The best advice for many of these standardized tests is to read as much as you can books, magazines, newspapers, whatever you can that has literary and scientific content. Expand your vocabulary by daily practice and memorization. There are several classic books (and new) that are set up as SAT Readers (one page is the novel, the next is the vocabulary). Go to Amazon and search for SAT vocabulary novels. These should be available at the library as well.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you have goals and that these tests will help you achieve these goals. Study hard, get a good night’s sleep before the test and relax. Look at the test as a “fun” challenge!!</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>