I couldn't help but notice the abundance of threads on this board that reference applications to MIT's DUSP. Given that MIT is the number one planning program in the country, this affinity for MIT is not surprising. I too dreamed of receiving a planning degree from DUSP. But two years later, my dream has transformed into a seemingly neverending nightmare from which I long to be released. Perhaps I am being a bit theatrical, but because of the stress and devastation that the Institute has brought to my life and that of some of my classmates, I feel the need to warn potential DUSPers of what they will face.
MIT/DUSP is incredibly arrogant and unsympathetic in the allocation of financial aid. Most students are accepted with no departmental financial aid and the institute's financial aid process is anything but transparent, causing headaches galore for the countless admits who attempt to finance their degrees. MIT's Technology Loan Program, a high interest loan program that many masters candidates depended on, was brazenly abolished by the administration mid-year, sending countless students in a tailspin searching for scarce aid from even scarcer private sources.
Academically, a DUSPer rarely gets what s/he should. So many of the students foolishly overburden themselves with 6-7 courses per semester and/or multiple jobs to finance their "education." This, in turn, degrades the quality of the studio/workshop/practica curriculum that would otherwise be the program's selling point; the collaboration amongst students suffers because no one spends enough time to dig deeply into the work at hand as a team. Instead, each student briskly wants to allocate the work to be done individually, cut and paste it all together for minimal coherence at the end, all so they can put in similarly minimal face time with the other five to six groups that they are "working with."The products of these "collaborations" often fall short of their full potential because everyone has so much else to do. Excellence ceases to be the only acceptable outcome, as everyone dons a simple "lets get this done" attitude.
Additionally, many of the professors are loathe to spend time with students other than their research assistants, the administrators of the program are cold and, at times, unhelpful, Meanwhile, the bend of the curriculum is as absurdly political as it is unapologetically liberal which then of course obscures the process of developing practical solutions to seemingly intransigent problems, the very crux of a good urban planning program. The poor planning doesn't stop there. The department in the past few admission seasons has recently accepted unusually large classes, resulting in thesis nightmares where students cannot get the advisors they need to write acceptable, interesting theses. Then there's the oversubscription/undersubscription problem that plagues the department. Students are more interested in more studios/workshops/practica than seminar and lecture courses. Thus, one would think the Department would offer more of those to quench student thirst and relieve the overcrowding that dilutes the quality of such courses. WRONG: the Department acknowledges the problem and does nothing about it.
The logistical and academic deficiencies of MIT are only compounded by the social tenor. The environment at MIT is dreadfully cold and frighteningly high-pressure, The smaller DUSP community is extremely political and more remniscent of a Green Party boot camp than an academic department. However, if you are interested in International Development or social justice, than MIT might be right for you. But if you are interested in real estate or urban redevelopment, like I am, you should probably go to Columbia or apply to a Real Estate Development Program. MIT is too unprofessional and hardly career-oriented enough to garner the cachet that it does. Too many of DUSP's most current graduates are still looking for work or holding on to part-time jobs at MIT, the degree that alums just borrowed $100K to get has failed to advance so many careers. So before you look at MIT as the best opportunity on earth, explore all of your options. There's a reason why you'll see IHTFP scrawled on bathroom walls.
MIT/DUSP is incredibly arrogant and unsympathetic in the allocation of financial aid. Most students are accepted with no departmental financial aid and the institute's financial aid process is anything but transparent, causing headaches galore for the countless admits who attempt to finance their degrees. MIT's Technology Loan Program, a high interest loan program that many masters candidates depended on, was brazenly abolished by the administration mid-year, sending countless students in a tailspin searching for scarce aid from even scarcer private sources.
Academically, a DUSPer rarely gets what s/he should. So many of the students foolishly overburden themselves with 6-7 courses per semester and/or multiple jobs to finance their "education." This, in turn, degrades the quality of the studio/workshop/practica curriculum that would otherwise be the program's selling point; the collaboration amongst students suffers because no one spends enough time to dig deeply into the work at hand as a team. Instead, each student briskly wants to allocate the work to be done individually, cut and paste it all together for minimal coherence at the end, all so they can put in similarly minimal face time with the other five to six groups that they are "working with."The products of these "collaborations" often fall short of their full potential because everyone has so much else to do. Excellence ceases to be the only acceptable outcome, as everyone dons a simple "lets get this done" attitude.
Additionally, many of the professors are loathe to spend time with students other than their research assistants, the administrators of the program are cold and, at times, unhelpful, Meanwhile, the bend of the curriculum is as absurdly political as it is unapologetically liberal which then of course obscures the process of developing practical solutions to seemingly intransigent problems, the very crux of a good urban planning program. The poor planning doesn't stop there. The department in the past few admission seasons has recently accepted unusually large classes, resulting in thesis nightmares where students cannot get the advisors they need to write acceptable, interesting theses. Then there's the oversubscription/undersubscription problem that plagues the department. Students are more interested in more studios/workshops/practica than seminar and lecture courses. Thus, one would think the Department would offer more of those to quench student thirst and relieve the overcrowding that dilutes the quality of such courses. WRONG: the Department acknowledges the problem and does nothing about it.
The logistical and academic deficiencies of MIT are only compounded by the social tenor. The environment at MIT is dreadfully cold and frighteningly high-pressure, The smaller DUSP community is extremely political and more remniscent of a Green Party boot camp than an academic department. However, if you are interested in International Development or social justice, than MIT might be right for you. But if you are interested in real estate or urban redevelopment, like I am, you should probably go to Columbia or apply to a Real Estate Development Program. MIT is too unprofessional and hardly career-oriented enough to garner the cachet that it does. Too many of DUSP's most current graduates are still looking for work or holding on to part-time jobs at MIT, the degree that alums just borrowed $100K to get has failed to advance so many careers. So before you look at MIT as the best opportunity on earth, explore all of your options. There's a reason why you'll see IHTFP scrawled on bathroom walls.
