Hey everyone, I got accepted to both Rutgers New Brunswick and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for Urban Planning as an undergraduate student. Could anyone give me some insight to the pros or cons of either university?
UIUC is ranked higher than Rutgers, but Rutgers is near my family and a familiar area (I’ve never even been to Illinois)
Thank you!!
For urban planning it’s not even a question, choose Rutgers. This is a major where location matters and Rutgers’ location outside of Philadelphia provides students with far more opportunities than Urbana-Champaign.
To be an effective planner you must be able to work with a variety of communities and almost certainly will be required to attend city council meetings, participate in redevelopment initiatives, etc. These things can vary drastically by city. Camden, NJ has different concerns than New Brunswick, which are different still from the University City section of Philadelphia. If the only exposure you have to non academic planning is in a college town, you will have an incomplete education in the field.
By the way OP, I go to a school in a suburb of a Tier 2 US city. I take classes on urban planning, serve on an infrastructure advisory committee, and am currently working with a tribe on reservation redevelopment.
Sorry, meant to write outside of both Philadelphia and New York City.
This is probably the only time where I’d recommend Rutgers over a quality state flagship - but go to Rutgers in this case.
thank you very much! this was very insightful.
Rutgers, definitely.