Careers

Graduates of the urban planning Undergraduate-to-Graduate (U2G) degree program with engineering benefit from obtaining a combination of technical skills as well as an understanding of policy development and implementation. Such a combination prepares a graduate for a career as a public-works director, city engineer, transportation engineer, or in the public utilities sector.

Admission

Students pursuing a BSE in Civil and Environmental Engineering may apply for admission to the Undergraduate-to-Graduate (U2G) degree program with Urban and Regional Planning (MS) during the second semester of their junior year. A complete application for admission to the Graduate College should be submitted at that time. Provided students meet all requirements for a BSE in engineering, the School of Planning and Public Affairs (SPPA) judges their application to the program as satisfactory, and their grade point average is at least 3.00, they would be admitted to the U2G program. Students who wish to apply for financial aid from SPPA for their final (fifth) year should submit funding requests in the spring of their final undergraduate (fourth) year. 

Coursework

The U2G program enables a student to save one academic year while completing two degrees. U2G program students would normally begin to take planning courses in their third and fourth years (the standard engineering curriculum is to be taken during the first two years of the BSE). During the fifth year (after receiving a BSE in engineering), students complete a curriculum similar to that of planning’s second-year students. In most cases, students in the U2G program complete an approved planning internship during the summer between their fourth and fifth years. U2G program students take the standard comprehensive examination administered to all planning master's students, during the last semester of the fifth year.

All course requirements of both academic units are satisfied under the U2G program. One planning core course (URP:6200, Analytic Methods I) is waived because engineering students generally have an ample analytical background. With approval of the student’s planning advisor, three semester hours of engineering courses can be used to meet the requirements of the concentration.