<p>My son is a junior who is interested in majoring in urban planning (not architecture) and/or public policy, with a possible intent of later going to law school. Does anyone have any suggestions for good schools or programs? He is a B to B+ student in an excellent public high school in central Ohio; he will most likely score in the 600s across the board on his SATs. He has very strong leadership extracurriculars (he is on the national (elected) board of a youth leadership organization and has been nominated to run for a spot on the international board, editor of the school paper, etc.) and will have some interesting letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>He is looking for either a medium sized urban or suburban school, or , if more rural, a large school.</p>
<p>I have a Masters in City & Regional Planning (from back in the dark ages) and thought urban planning was more of a graduate degree. Looking on USN&WR, I do see some undergrad majors but each is quite different - some in public policy, some involve majoring in other fields but doing some special practicum, etc.</p>
<p>DePaul caught my eye as a possible fit with your S' stats; it's urban and not too far from you.</p>
<p>I think for your search - if there don't turn out to be a lot of knowledgeable folks here on cc - that a subscription to USN&WR Premium online would be worth it. You can screen for the major (which is what I did), then look for locations which appeal, check their admissions profiles and then click through to the individual school's website to see if the way they handle Urban Planning/Public Policy at the undergrad level appeals to him.</p>
<p>Penn State, Dept of Geography, Human Geography--
"Research in human geography spans across many disciplines and interests, including economics, politics, transportation, land use, development, planning, sociology, urban issues, history, cultures, gender, and medicine."
<a href="http://www.geog.psu.edu/human/%5B/url%5D">http://www.geog.psu.edu/human/</a></p>
<p>Search for the professional societies for Urban Planners. JMMom, do you know their names? These should have specific information or links to what is expected in the field. Also, look at the Urban Planning departments at large, urban universities - University of Illinois in Chicago has one, a master's/PhD program, and they also have something called the Great Cities Initiative, a program that reaches out to the institutions and groups that make up a city's dynamic.</p>
<p>All of these fields typically feature courses and/or professors focusing on urban development, globalization, transportation, etc.</p>
<p>I wouldn't necessarily limit your college search to just colleges that offer a specific "urban planning" major. I think you'll find many schools that offer either a formal or informal concentration leading in these directions. You could major in any of the fields above as preparation for a law degree or any number of urban planning related career paths - in the private sector, in the public sector, in the non-profit sector, or in the education sector.</p>
<p>With the world's population migrating from rural areas to cities, it should be an interesting field. The mind-numbing growth rates of cities and the challenge this presents are probably the defining characteristic of our world right now.</p>
<p>I probably should have explained my earlier post. I was on adcom at a top public policy grad school and currently work in the field. </p>
<p>Some people approach this world through a general social sciences background--poli sci, anthro, etc. A person has a much wider array of options in the policy world, however, if he/she has a strong quantitative background. I know that one of the first things I checked when reviewing apps was whether the student took calculus with the social scientists or with the engineers--and whether the student had strong quant GRE scores. We wanted people who were quantitatively literate.</p>
<p>The Association of Planners has an excellent guide on urban and regional planning careers, that lists both undergraduate and graduate accredited programs (click on the program name to see a detailed explanation of the school's program, right down to the number of majors and what type of financial aid is available) . Excellent information on what exactly a career in planning involves and what type of education a planner should have. Here's the link:</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your input ! I'm going to have to ;share this thread with my son, even though he'll be embarrassed that I put this query out there! He (and I) are going to have to do a lot of research.</p>