Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
University of Southern California (USC)
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Kansas State University
Suggestions for course of study.
Hello everyone,
I'm not sure this is the right place for this question, but I'm going to go ahead and post anyway. If anyone has a suggestion of where else I might seek answers to this question, please feel free to say so.
I'm a 30 year old student, enrolled in a community college in Portland, OR. I'm getting to a point in my education where I will need to transfer into a four-year university, preferably somewhere in the Portland metro area.
I am very interested in the study of cities and how they form, specifically urban morphology and I'm not sure what path would be the best to take. My interests are quite varied (architecture, writing, business, philosophy, math, film, sociology, linguistics, occult studies). It has made it really hard to pin down a career path but I'm leaning toward the world of academia, possibly going for a PhD in an area related to urban theory.
I'm at a loss as to what undergrad degree would be the most helpful for pursuit of this goal. I was looking at pursuing a degree in architecture but the time and effort required made me think twice, as my goals lie more in the study of cities and urban design than they do in the study of individual structures. Portland State University offers and undergrad in Community Development, but this seems geared more toward those who want to work on policy and city planning. Perhaps sociology? Or history? I'm very confused and a little overwhelmed by the number of options ahead of me. any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
-Ross-
It's one thing to be interested in designing a city, and another to study one. Studying architectural (and urban) design is essential in the former case, but if you're leaning towards academia, urban planning should do it--not sure if there's an undergraduate program for it. If it's a good program it should offer you courses that cover sociology, history, policy-making and economics related to cities. It's going to give you a general understanding of cities and possibly let you discover your specific field of interest. Not sure what they teach in the Community Development program, but from what you briefly wrote it seems like a good platform to start your studies because cities have always been planned (rather than gradually grow or emerge) and urban policy-making is all about socioeconomic and political factors.
" possibly going for a PhD in an area related to urban theory."
There are no jobs in academia. A PhD would be a huge waste of time and money. Within your interests there are no jobs in philosophy, film, sociology, linguistics. Occult studies? Maybe.
There are a lot of accredited bachelor's and accredited master's programs in urban planning/regional planning/city planning. Have you looked at any of those?
Having been a city college/community college graduate, here's my best advice:
1. Select all of the programs relative to urban planning, planning in the universities in and around you.
2. Contact their registrar and see if they can do a transcript articulation for you to see how many classes they will actually give you credit for when you transfer into their program. - THIS ONE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO DO! Not every program will take your courses and you will have to repeat courses, which is never fun! Your school career/college counseling office should be able to help out with this too!
3. Look at their tuition and how much it will cost to graduate and the starting salaries of the graduates.
4. Consider which one has the best reputation and weigh against all of the above.
It looks as though: The University of Washington and University of Oregon are both near you too: https://pppm.uoregon.edu/undergraduate-programs.
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