How to choose a grad school program
When I applied to grad school in city planning in 2011, I spent a long time researching schools. I whittled down my list to the six that I applied to. When spring came and I got accepted to multiple schools, I realized I had a difficult decision to make! These are adapted from the questions I wrote down after I decided to attend UC Berkeley’s Department of City & Regional Planning (go bears!).
You should be asking questions to current students or recent graduates. Things change quickly, but current students’ experience is the best indicator of what your experience will be. Meet students at an Admitted Students Day, ask the department to put you in touch, or send messages to people through LinkedIn/Twitter/etc. and ask them to chat with you.
This list is based on my experience comparing grad schools for master of city planning programs and M.S. transportation engineering programs (I ended up doing a dual degree). Much of this is generalizable to other grad programs.
People
- How do you like your cohort?
- Are professors accessible to students?
- What does the department do to support diversity? Is there a student group for students of color? Is the department responsive to students’ or student groups’ concerns about department curriculum and student diversity/scholarships?
Curriculum
- How extensive are the core requirements / how much room do you have for electives? Are students encouraged to go to other departments to take electives?
- Where in particular outside the department do students tend to take classes?
- Does the program require a thesis, a client project, or give you different choices for your capstone project? If a thesis is required, how do you feel about that?
- To what extent does the program encourage you to work and collaborate across disciplines? Are there strong relationships with other departments on campus?
Professional Development & Support and Alumni
- How much do students engage off-campus in internships, jobs, etc.?
- What kind of resources or services does the school provide to help with getting jobs or internships?
- Do students tend to find jobs relatively quickly after graduating?
- How strong is the alumni network, and how formalized are the department’s relations with them? Is there a database of alums?
Financial Aid & On-Campus Jobs
This is very important to ask current students about! Even well-intentioned staff and admissions reps aren’t as well positioned to give you the best information sometimes, if only because they don’t want to make false promises to you. Current students can tell you how they are making their finances work, and what tends to work out for them and their peers (including which departments are always hiring TAs!).
- How easy/common is it for students to get Research Assistant positions, and how much financial support do those provide?
- Are there other on-campus jobs that students take, such as being a Teaching Assistant? What level of funding do those provide?
- How plentiful are travel and research grants (including for conferences)?
Location
- How much do you like living there?
- Do your classes take advantage of the city you are in (e.g., doing studio classes about the surrounding community, partnering with local industry, etc.)? Or does the program have a less local and more national/international focus.
General
- What are the biggest weaknesses in the grad school program?
- What is the funding situation of the department itself, and how does that actually affect you as students (i.e., does the department feel vulnerable to budget cuts)?
That’s all! Good luck. I loved my graduate program and most of the jobs I had afterward, until one that propelled me to go to a coding bootcamp to change careers and become a software engineer. If you’re curious, check out my post on how to choose a coding bootcamp.