The Department of Urban Planning has long made diversity, equity and inclusion its mission: “Training planners for technical and environmentally sound professional practice informed by a lens of racial, gender, and economic justice and supported by the voices of community members through meaningful participation in the planning process.”
To achieve this mission, equity and justice are core to our teaching, research and community activities and in our admissions process. This is why, effective Oct. 1, 2020, we no longer require GRE scores from applicants to our Master of Urban Planning (MUP) degree program.
Current realities require more diverse, equitable and inclusive graduate education and we recognize that, historically, standardized tests, including the GRE, have disadvantaged underrepresented students (The Atlantic, 2016). Recognizing the barriers imposed by the GRE requirement in our admissions and awards process, department faculty voted to modify this policy. Doing so allows us to make renewed progress toward our mission to enhance the quality of life and social equity for all.
As a department, we will continue to offer various scholarships and awards, including the Welford Sanders Memorial Scholarship and Urban Planning Student Diversity Scholarship. We will continue our Causier and Innovative Cities lecture series to raise awareness of (in)equity in cities and in our professions. We will continue to listen to and learn from our students, who are changemakers and agitators for social justice today and who will lead the urban planning professions tomorrow.
For additional details, please review our 2020 GRE Policy below and/or reach out to our graduate admissions advisor, Joan Simuncak.
Department of Urban Planning GRE Policy
The GRE is not required. If students believe making GRE scores available to the DUP admissions and awards process would provide additional information that would buttress their record in light of previous academic performance, DUP would consider the GRE scores in that context.
