Penn v Columbia v Rutgers?
any thoughts on these three programs?
i am considering the three of them. i noted that the planetizen rankings place penn and rutgers in the top ten, but i didn't see columbia.
penn wants me to take out all loans, for the most part. which would put my total educational loan debt at 100K, for a total of a BA, an MA and an MCRP. would i be crazy to do that? is penn really worth that? columbia gave me a bit more strings free cash, if i could swing a graduate assistent (free room & board) set up, would that be a better move? i've yet to see what exactly rutgers will be presenting me with (maybe not even admittance? who knows as of yet). i very well may pursue a phd in the future, as well. don't wanna blow it all in one place, the stafford loans. so really... what is an mcrp really worth, given employment prospects? and does the institution have that big of an impact on employment prospects, between these three schools?
also - temple university has a new city planning program - not yet accredited - would it be a huge mistake to enroll there because of the accreditation status (or lack thereof)?
working against an april 16th confirmation deadline.
any insights would be greatly appreciated!
thanks thanks...
steph
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Don't Ignore Your Debt & PhD Sooner Rather Than Later?
Like Carmen, I graduated from Penn. It is a great program, and I highly recommend it. However, you can not ignore the impact of $100K in debt. I suggest you take a look at how much you currently owe and determine how much debt you can really afford. How much will you need to make after graduation to pay your debts and still maintain a decent quality of life?
You also might consider pursuing your PhD sooner rather than later. There tends to be more "free" money available for PhD studies. Some programs may also offer the ability to complete your Master's as part of your doctoral studies. Good luck.
Biased opinion, so...
..feel free to take this with a grain of salt--I graduated w/my MCP from Penn last year. I can't say much about the other 2 programs; only that Rutgers has a fairly good reputation among transportation specialists (which I am), and that Columbia's program was perceived as one for academics (i.e. not especially useful for people who want to be practicing planners out in the trenches). While Penn has its drawbacks (e.g. expensive, lack of ethnic diversity, etc.), the advantages outweigh those. If you're thinking about your post-grad school life, and leaving the Ph.D. issue out of it for now, your chances of gaining employment through Penn contacts are huge. I got my job, on the West Coast mind you, through a contact that a Penn professor has. Several of my classmates had the same experience. A few made contact with Penn alumni and got jobs that way.
There are definitely other factors that played into my decision to go to Penn (my other choices were Harvard, NYU, Tufts, and U of Washington), and to move to Philly, but that would turn this post into a novella. If you want to chat more, email me at cbendixe@yahoo.com.
-Carmen
it depends on what you want
it depends on what you want to do and where you want to do it. I attended a large New England state school for my MRP. I work in Philly and hire planners from all types of grad programs. Temple, although unaccredited, has a good repoutation and many profs are practitioners in center city and the region = good local contacts. the studio experiences offered by Penn are unmatched, but $100K for a MCRP is a bid debt load that a planning job will be hard pressed to repay in a timely manner. Don't know anything about Columbia. Rutgers is an excellent school with a strong national reputation.