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.