Help me pick out what degree to get at University [[Want to be an Urban Planner) .

[CapitalistPig]

I have a b.s. in urban and regional planning from m.s.u. I had loads of internships while at m.s.u. but none of them helped me in getting a full time job. I worked for a finance company for three years after graduation and I am now jobless/under employed. I keep getting rejection letters because they say I'm not "qualified." I'm finding out that the planning profession is really "clicky." Seems like it is all about who you know, not what you know.

I'm considering getting my masters degree, but not really interested in all the student loans and not sure if a masters degree will even help.

Learner be ware!

[DetroitPlanner]

Steelworker,

You're best bet is to start attending public meetings and trying to meet people / network. If you speak, don't ask many opinionated questions but do ask ones that look for clarity. Opinions can be dangerous if you don't know the audience. Don't just attend the meetings in the City you live in, but try to go to the ones nearby as well. You will see a better variety of issues and policy styles.

[reddog289]

Steelworker, From what I got from my cousin when he was going for his degree in preservation that alot of networking took place. I picked up on that, The fact is eventhough he may not be working full time in his chosen profession, His people and well hygene skills were so-so to say the least. That last I knew he was considering getting his urban planning degree which if he had not to have to deal with the public would be a good fit for him. Seeing that you do have a girlfriend it might be safe to say you have a better chance then he did.Best of luck.

[BVos]

Steelworker,

Most local governments and non-profit planning/econ. dev. agencies are more than happy to have volunteer interns, especially those that are willing to be hard workers with any task assigned. While doing maps, site planning, etc. is "sexy" work, there's a lot of administrative crap that comes with the job, hence the need to be experienced and willing to do all sorts of stuff.

For undergrad, I would look into EMU's undergrad program. It's not that far from Oak Park and it's a very commuter friendly program. Making the trek a few times a week for classes isn't that bad. If you can't make EMU happen, some common allied undergrad degrees that work well with planning are: Geography [[WSU has a good program), Urban Studies [[WSU has a program), Business, Public Policy [[UM-D and WSU have good programs), Political Science. With urban planning it's not such a highly specialized field that you have to have an Urban Planning undergrad. Lots of people, including myself, have allied undergrad degrees. I think it makes for a more well rounded planner personally. I even know of planners with undergrads in English, Fine Arts, and other things you wouldn't even think would match up.

Most planning professionals do have Master's degrees. Some older, more experienced planners don't, but if you're young or new to the field plan on getting an MUP [[Master of Urban Planning) if you want to be competitive in the employment field. To get an idea of the breadth of the planning field and it's specialties, Planetizen is a good place to go. Lot's of good discussions and a great email newsletter to keep you abreast of trends nationally and globally. Next American City is another publication that I highly recommend.

The job market in Michigan is pretty tight for planning. It's not "clicky", but with budgets incredibly tight most planning orgs. want to know they're getting a good employee who will make things work well. There's just not the time or money to deal with a novice or a problem employee. A lot of newly minted planners are having to move to Chicago, Boston, NY, etc. for work. Hopefully with retirements coming up for a lot of planners, as referenced above, and a recovery in the future at some point, the job market will pick back up. Urban Planning is consistently rated as one of the jobs with the brightest future.

[STEELWORKER]

I think EMU is 45 min drive away which adds lot more time to my day considering i work full time and I get posted overtime which limits me to only 5 hours sleep some nights. You guy's have been very helpfull, thank you. I have been assuming I will have to get a masters considering if im still working, I will be limited by internships and the opportunities of getting my foot in the door with just a bachelors.

BVos can you get a job with a geography degree [[even if its not as urban planning)? I have seen a decent amount of jobs listed for people who know GIS . Does WSU program teach enough GIS? I need to get any half decent job once i get my bachelors that way I can quit my crappy steelworker job and be able to work on a masters.

So there is an expected growth for planners? What makes up the majority of planners are they public or private?

[BVos]

You can get a job, not necessarily in urban planning, with a geography degree. Most geographers work in cartography [[science of maps) and there aren't too many of those jobs in the Detroit area. They tend to migrate towards government centers since government agencies [[like the USGS, etc.) are the ones that are the biggest map makers.

GIS, as you have discovered, is an area of geography that is distributed a little more evenly across the country. That's a specialization in and of itself related to, but separate from planning. It's helpful to be an urban planner who's proficient in GIS [[which is helpful) but GIS can stand by itself. It's more of a technical job than the social/political job that planning is. In most cases you wouldn't have a direct hands on role in a project that's "on the ground", but as a GIS tech you'd be the person helping those decision makers crunch the geography, spatial relationships and social statistics of the project area. GIS is about a bit over half technology [[programing GIS queries, linking GIS with data sets, working w/ GPS devices, data management, figuring out how existing technology be adapted/reprogramed to help figure out a social/spatial problem, etc.) and a bit less than half knowing about planning, government process, cartography, social issues, etc. to inform your technology decisions related to your GIS projects.

There are several governments that have GIS deptartments that are part of the IT dept. [[not the planning dept) and they work cross departmentally to assist with utilities, storm water management, elections, schools, transportation, social services, public health, etc. when some hard core geographic analysis can be very helpful to a project. There are also a lot of private firms [[planning, civil engineering, mapping, etc.) that need GIS experts.

If this is a field you want to get involved in, I would recomend no where else but EMU in the state of Michigan. WSU doesn't focus on GIS as part of their program, neither does UM. It's a part of their program but you won't walk out an expert on the topic just from the classes they offer. If you're the type that likes to play around with these sorts of gizmoes and programs in your spare time you could probably do well at WSU or UM if you wanted to go into GIS. But if you want to go into GIS as a career go to EMU. They have professors that are the ones building the programs, hardware, etc. and doing the problem solving to make existing technologies better.

The growth for planners is expected primarily to be with governments, although private firms are growing too as the field becomes more specialized.

[DetroitPlanner]

I would agree with Bvos, specializing in GIS will not help you get a satisfying job if you want to be a planner. If you love numbers or cartography GIS is a wonderful field, but many planners that have chosen to specialize in GIS have been relagated to more of an IT or technician role.
Planners need to study policy and people, as well as how people use the land. This is why geography is a gateway into planning.

I suppose you are getting a lot of conflicting advice here and it is confusing. What would help us put in you the right direction would be a more defined goal from you. That is, answer the following questions:

Why do you want to be a planner?
What sort of job do you envision that would make you the most happiest?