Recap on Two Years of Advice

Two years ago the Planetizen editors asked me to contribute
a monthly blog posting. The first one appeared in February 2007 and I have
managed to submit posts
monthly for two years. In accepting the assignment, I decided that I needed to
have an angle. I write, teach, and practice about the substance of planning so
I decided to do something else-provide advice for students on how to enter and
succeed in planning programs. Martin Krieger at USC already provided a terrific
advice column for doctoral students so I
decided to focus on students in professional planning programs.

The following paragraphs list many of my earlier posts clustering
them into themes. Topics include:

• Getting into graduate school
  in planning: how to find the right program, apply, and
  decide
  which offer to take up.
• Undertaking the exit
  project or thesis. Topics include the what, why, and when of choosing an exit option,
  getting
  started, troubleshooting
  common problems, managing your committee, and actually
  finishing.
• Making the most of being a student
  and learning when (not) to email experts.
• Finding online resources to
  increase your planning knowledge including: images, articles, organizations,
  faculty
  blogs, books,
  more books
  and movies.
• Developing skills for
  planning including: writing, managing time, doing a literature review, and
  creating a portfolio.

I'll continue my
advice column next week with advice on picking a first job.