Planner Ann Forsyth's Advice on Grad School

Considering I met with someone about going to grad school and getting into the planning field this morning, I thought it appropriate to cite a recent post by Ann Forsyth about the need for relevant experience to contextualize a planning education.  Check out here intro below:

The short answer to the question about whether someone needs professional or activist planning experience before graduate school is yes! You will have a clearer sense of the important questions you have about planning and your peers will have more to learn from your experiences. For this reason admissions committees favor students who have some employment and/or activist history. (With a few years of work experience you’ll also likely have more money, which is handy in terms of paying for things like heat).

The current job market can seem very frightening to undergraduates, of course. But graduate school is not a refuge. Graduate school applications were way up last year and are likely to be that way again. Those who have not yet graduated will find it very difficult to gain admission, let alone substantial funding. Committees looking for ways to narrow the field will often put all those in the not-yet-graduated group straight in the “B,” “C,” or “D” pile of applications. In this blog I describe how to navigate the current internship and job markets so current undergraduates can gain enough experience to make it into the applicant “A” list for your preferred graduate school offering reasonable funding, in a few years.

First it needs to be said that this is not the first time that job markets have been tight. There are periodic recessions that limit options—I was an undergraduate in the downturn of the early 1980s for example and entered academic life in the early-to-mid-1990s when there was little hiring. Experiences of many planners in those numerous earlier downturns show it is possible to make enough money to support oneself and prepare for a career in planning. The path, however, may be a little different when compared with the easy job market of recent years…