<p>I've been wondering about graduate school more and more lately, especially since I may graduate a year early at OSU. My degree will be in political science and I've always wanted to go into city planning. The reason I didn't get in OSU's top-ranked architecture program is because I'm horrible with math, and it's a huge difficulty of mine, though I am otherwise an A student (3.4 gpa, probably will rise). </p>
<p>I also feel like I could stand out because I'm studying abroad in Saint-Petersburg next fall (not this fall) and I've been a relatively well-known urban advocate (and a gadfly for developers) in my home town, and have a lot of cool stories from opposing bad projects.</p>
<p>I really want to do city planning in the NYC area just because I want something different from Stillwater and my home state of Texas. I could settle for somewhere else up North, if an outstanding opportunity arose. I am curious about any information on the following:</p>
<p>--What are the better NYC area planning programs?
--What do you guys think of Milano at The New School? (I feel like it would be a good fit because of its emphasis on seamless integration with other social sciences)
--What would I be able to expect in terms of financial aid and cost of attendance (including cost of living as a student in NYC)?
--Are there any other colleges outside NYC I may want to look at?
--Will there be any difficulty getting admitted with a 3.4-3.6 gpa?
--How math-intensive can I expect a degree in city planning to be?</p>
<p>Thanks for any help, it is much appreciated!</p>
<p>Thanks. And ha! I’m not getting into Columbia for grad school with a 3.4-3.6 gpa, I can just kiss that away lol. I’m not an Ivy League kind of guy, anyway…though I do have many friends that go to those schools.</p>
<p>These are the schools I’m looking at, ranked by preference (factoring in my likely ability to get in and pay for it).</p>
<p>1 The New School
2 Hunter College
3 Fordham University
4 New York University
5 Pratt Institute</p>
<p>If you want something design-oriented, Pratt is probably better than the rest. If you want something more political-science oriented, the other choices may be better.</p>
<p>If there is one field that is harder to break into than architecture, it is city planning. While there are opportunities in NYC for that major, there are far less employers than for arch. City employment is one possibility, but it is not easy right now with hiring freezes and the fact that provisionals are being replaced by those on civil-service lists. The city of New York does give exams for the title of City Planner, but it is not often.</p>
<p>City planning utilizes math, but not of the engineering kind. Think more of statistics and economics. </p>
<p>-NYU is very policy focused. So, if you want to go into urban design, this is not the best choice. Very solid program though.</p>
<p>-Columbia is very academia focused. Great place if you want to become a planning professor or researcher. Very expensive, not great financial aid.</p>
<p>-Hunter is a good, relatively affordable program. Especially if you want to stay in NYC after graduation. </p>
<p>You should consider Rutgers as well. Great program and I heard that they have good aid. Also, see if you can get Planetizen’s graduate program guide from the library. It gives stats about urban planning programs.</p>