Environmental Studies Bachelors/Urban Planning Masters

[ideafx]

I'm curious about the utility of such a combination.

My brother, who is in his late 20s, is interested in pursuing a career in urban planning. He only has a HS diploma and no college credits. He was looking into pursuing a BS in Environmental Studies from Northeastern. They offer it online, but I believe Northeastern in pretty competitive and I don't believe his grades in HS were all that stellar (2.7 GPA, 20 on the ACT). He would have to attend a CC for two years to get a transfer degree, which he isn't interested in doing.

I know TESC offers the degree, but he wants to take some upper division courses that are related to the major. TESC only seems like the logical choice if you have credits to transfer in, which he doesn't. Basically, he's looking for a non-competitive undergrad program with reasonable tuition (around $250/credit). Also, is there some type of special accreditation that applies to environmental studies/science programs? I know ABET accredits environmental engineering/technology programs, but I'm not aware of anything similar for science/studies.

He also mentioned that he wants to pursue a masters in urban planning. I looked into, but I could only find a handful of schools that actually offer it. Of those, only a few are recognized by The American Institute of Certified Planners. So far, I know of Clemson and Rutgers. Are there any others?

Thank you for your assistance.

[perrik]

According to the AICP's education site, there are 72 U.S. universities accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board! Most of the Ivies do, and many state university systems have at least one branch that offers a degree in urban/regional planning. Of those 72 accredited programs, only three do not offer a graduate-level program (in fact, most of them only offer grad degrees).

This is one of those careers where the undergrad major is not critical because you really need the MA/MS to get into the field. Environmental studies would be great, but so would sociology, economics, political science, or business administration.

I'm assuming that if he is interested in Northeastern, he lives in Massachusetts. UMass offers a BS in Environmental Design with an available concentration in Urban Studies. If he decides to pursue the degree through TESC, he may be able to take major-related courses at UMass and transfer them to TESC (as well as do the heavy duty credit-by-exam to cover the general education credits).

[perrik]

Me again. :p

I keep forgetting what an amazing collection of subjects are available via MIT's OpenCourseWare: Free Online MIT Course Materials | Urban Studies and Planning | MIT OpenCourseWare

None of these can be converted to credit, of course, but it's a heck of an educational resource. After your brother studies the MIT material, he could write an awesome statement of purpose for his grad school applications!

[ideafx]

Me again. :p

I keep forgetting what an amazing collection of subjects are available via MIT's OpenCourseWare: Free Online MIT Course Materials | Urban Studies and Planning | MIT OpenCourseWare

None of these can be converted to credit, of course, but it's a heck of an educational resource. After your brother studies the MIT material, he could write an awesome statement of purpose for his grad school applications!

That's a great find. Thank you.