We are pleased that you are considering joining the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. Our next admission date is Fall 2010. We do not accept applications for spring semester admissions. Application forms are available beginning September 2009. Deadlines are as follows:

Why study city and regional planning at UC Berkeley? A few answers are obvious. We have an outstanding faculty committed to both teaching and research. Our students are diverse, smart, hard working, and committed to change—a wonderful combination. We are part of the College of Environmental Design, which provides a wealth of perspectives and collaboration opportunities. California and the San Francisco Bay Area are at the epicenter of the demographic, social, and economic changes that are altering our country and world. In terms of quality and diversity, Berkeley is one of a very few world universities. Financial aid is pretty tight these days, but we do provide some financial assistance to our graduate students. The weather is pretty nice, the natural environment is unparalleled, and the coffee selection can't be beat.

Our Urban Studies major trains undergraduates for a variety of future careers and fields of graduate study related to urban studies and planning. These include practice-oriented fields such as urban planning, law, non-profit management, and public policy as well as research-oriented fields such as geography, sociology, and anthropology. Above all, our intent is to produce urban citizens and global leaders.

The Master of City Planning (MCP) program boasts a combination of breadth and depth unmatched anywhere else in the U.S. Just browse our course schedule to see the variety and quality of courses we offer every semester. Our program also provides the flexibility to allow students to take up to one-third of course credit in other departments at CED and on campus. Most all of Berkeley's graduate programs are world-class. MCP students can develop the skills and perspectives they will need to lead in the practice of transportation, housing, community and economic development, urban design, land use, and environmental planning, as well as in the fields of international planning, GIS, and metropolitan/regional planning. There are also ample opportunities to create your own course of study or to undertake concurrent degrees in architecture, environmental planning, transportation engineering, public health, international and area studies, urban design, and law.

The Ph.D program offers interested students the opportunity to work with multiple faculty members to develop their research into cutting-edge planning and policy issues. Through the program's "outside field" requirement, Ph.D students get to know faculty in other departments and develop core competencies in areas that complement planning. Through the program's "inside field" requirement, students master traditional planning fields and extend them in new directions. Ph.D graduates go on to careers in teaching, research, and advanced practice. Berkeley dissertations provide the knowledge base for disciplinary and inter-disciplinary advancement, and Berkeley Ph.D.'s are widely sought after by other academic institutions. Our Ph.D. graduates who teach at other universities use Berkeley as a model.

Regardless of whether you are admitted as an Urban Studies major or an MCP or Ph.D. student, you will be joining a community of planning scholars and practitioners, upon which you be able to draw and to which you will contribute for the rest of your life. UC Berkeley doesn't just grow minds, it grows lives.