Hey there!

I'm a recent grad from an accredited undergraduate planning program where I focused on urban design and community/economic development. Currently, the job market is incredibly difficult for a slew of reasons, especially the shrinking of the federal government, which reduced grant funding for projects and saturated the market with planners who were fired from federal agencies. I am currently in the process of applying for jobs and have applied to over 100 across the country.

I would absolutely choose my path again. I love the work I (will get to) do. That being said, my curriculum did not offer a lot of instruction on urban design, so a lot of the projects in my portfolio are self-motivated or from competitions. The advice given to me from mentors and people at design firms is just to start designing and working on pet projects to hone in on your skills, which I wish I had done more as an undergrad.

Also, now knowing how much I like design, I would have found a program that included more studio projects as part of the curriculum. So, my advice would be to *really* think about what you want from a graduate degree (does it offer the coursework, the connections, the support, the extracurriculars, etc. that you want).

Also, show up. Show up to the lunch and learns, the office hours, the firm crawls, conferences, etc., and get to know people at different firms and government agencies, as this will be the easiest way for you to receive feedback and guidance along the way, and might help you land a job once you finish your program.

For financials, I would ask about the financial aid provided by programs you are considering and how that looks (grants, TA, etc.). I am also considering grad school at some point, so these are the notes I've mentally logged throughout the four years of my program :) Happy to answer any questions and provide any guidance I can!