honestly, we can keep arguing which planning program at either school is better...
however, we must remember he is asking input on an UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM!!!!
how many of us changed our majors during our undergrad??
statistically there will be an 80% espinozajr will be changing his major at least once.
who else changed their major during their undergrad?
i went from law and society, to art history, to finally history.
espinozajr, make your decision based on the school itself, not a specific program. worry about that in grad school.
Yes, and I have given my perspective of having gone to the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM at Cal Poly SLO. And really, there is little argument about which school offers the best planning program, or which is the better school overall. So that's a moot point. With that said, I don't really see this as an argument in the first place. I'm merely representing my alma mater. If you want to represent Pomona go on ahead, but the name of the game is you represent as well as you can.
As far as his chance at changing majors, that's a possibility, but you can't go through life never committing to anything because you know your interests might change. At some point you have to choose a path and commit--to a certain extent, anyway.
Cal Poly SLO requires freshmen to declare a major. I think there are pros and cons to this... probably more cons than pros, due to the fact that an 18 or 19-year old cannot possibly know what they will do with their life, since their identity is still changing so much at that point.
Ideally, I think people in general should go to a traditional undergrad program, where you spend 2 years messing around with general education, then 2 years in your major. The problem with this, however, is that those traditional programs aren't designed (as CPSLO's is) to get you in a profession upon graduating. CPSLO uses all 4 years to prepare you for a profession. It is, after all, a technical college, and not a traditional research university. So while I appreciate why you have to declare a major right off the bat, if at all possible I think its generally better to go to a traditional program, especially if you end up getting a masters anyway. (For myself as a transfer student, this was the way it worked out anyway... two years at community college getting GE, then two years in the BSCRP program. It was more hectic than it would have been for a normal student, and a couple quarters I had to take like 25 units, but I did it anyway and ended up with a great GPA--because, well, I just rock at everything I do
).
However, with all that said, the BSCRP program at CPSLO trains you very well. Nearly everything is hands-on, and you do a lot of real planning in real communities. As far as the comparison between the BSCRP and MSCRP at SLO, the level of expertise a BS student will have upon graduation
will likely be more than what an MS student will have. Some might find this hard to believe, but it's absolutely true, and an admission of the CRP faculty, not just my own opinion. The reason is that that BS student has had FOUR YEARS of exposure to planning, not just two, like the graduate students, or planning students from more traditional programs. While the BS students have already acquired some ability to use various graphics programs, drafting skills, arcGIS, and all the rest, the MS students are dicking around with this their entire first year at the same time as doing some hefty community planning work, which is really insane. A BS student has mastered those tools (they should have, anyway) in their 2nd year, and by their 3rd or 4th, not have had to spend anymore time training on how to use basic tools of the trade. Most of the MS students are still screwing around by the time they graduate, and never get up to the level of what a BS student can do. To prove this, simply walk down the corridor of the CRP department at the end of a quarter and you'll see all the posters pinned up on the walls. The work from the 3rd and 4th year students (and now even the 2nd years students, thanks to Umut Toker, urban designer extraordinaire), is oftentimes astronomically (and embarrassingly) better than the MS students.
If the MS students have an edge, it is probably with policy analysis and management skills, MAYBE. They will most likely be more mature. They might have work experience. Occasionally there will be a rockstar MS student, but certainly no more often than a rockstar BS student. They are simply blown out of the water by the BS students when it comes to urban design.
The MS students come from all over the place, they could be photography majors from undergrad, or business, or whatever. The masters students will probably have more maturity by simply being older and maybe having some work experience, but they
will not have more expertise. (Just as a qualification here, I am not talking about bad students, but referring to the "average good student" for each program.)
To give you an idea, I got the BSCRP from SLO, and got a full-time planning job right out of college, lined up before graduation. It was the planning program that gave me the confidence and expertise to do so. I had done some of the work, and I knew I could do it in a professional capacity. I got this planning job without a masters in planning. I really don't think I would have been more prepared for the work if I had already acquired a bachelors in something and graduated from the MSCRP program. In fact, I'm glad I didn't go that route, because a masters in planning is just a little too specialized for my taste. I will not be a planner for the rest of my days, and having a masters in something broader will pay off. So I got my MPP on the side, with night classes also at SLO.
