During the time off...

[Miuo90]

Hello,

I would appreciate your input on my situation. I was admitted to McGill but decided to take the year off instead to better plan the path. I have talked to few urban planners in the field and they have told me that the job market is really bad right now and that the master's degree may not cut it. So I have a year long gap... was planning to get a job (Althoug it will be non-planning related) but I would like to get some advice on how I should better spend this gap... do you think I should earn some GIS skills or AutoCad...

Also, I dont know why but most planners in the field are from Queen's... I think a lot of people want to go to McGill but at the same time, I am yet to meet somebody working as a planner and is from McGill. Is it possible that Queen's is a better school for job prospects?

Thank you,

[Backstrom]

Hello,

I would appreciate your input on my situation. I was admitted to McGill but decided to take the year off instead to better plan the path. I have talked to few urban planners in the field and they have told me that the job market is really bad right now and that the master's degree may not cut it. So I have a year long gap... was planning to get a job (Althoug it will be non-planning related) but I would like to get some advice on how I should better spend this gap... do you think I should earn some GIS skills or AutoCad...

Also, I dont know why but most planners in the field are from Queen's... I think a lot of people want to go to McGill but at the same time, I am yet to meet somebody working as a planner and is from McGill. Is it possible that Queen's is a better school for job prospects?

Thank you,

McGill is a very reputable planning school so I would not start second-guessing which school you decide to attend. Where most planners are from don't mean a thing, and it sounds like that's only your anecdotal experience up to this point.

As far as your gap, are you only looking for a temporary gig to fill the year? If so, you may want to pursue a planning-related internship and start networking now. Of course, many employers require concurrent enrollment in school for interns, but ask around and see if you can get around that rule.

The planners you talked to are correct in some respects. The market is terrible but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get a master's. Education-wise, there's not much more you can even do beyond a masters. At any rate, the master's program will allow you internship opportunities and the chance to start building connections.

[Ev14]

Hello,

I would appreciate your input on my situation. I was admitted to McGill but decided to take the year off instead to better plan the path. I have talked to few urban planners in the field and they have told me that the job market is really bad right now and that the master's degree may not cut it. So I have a year long gap... was planning to get a job (Althoug it will be non-planning related) but I would like to get some advice on how I should better spend this gap... do you think I should earn some GIS skills or AutoCad...

Also, I dont know why but most planners in the field are from Queen's... I think a lot of people want to go to McGill but at the same time, I am yet to meet somebody working as a planner and is from McGill. Is it possible that Queen's is a better school for job prospects?

Thank you,

I have a master's in planning from an Ontario university and I current have a planning job. I would not say at all that most planners are from Queen's, I have met planners from many schools. Plus Queen's is a small program and has no undergrad in planning. If anything, I would say I see Waterloo planners the most, with Ryerson and York after that.

Here is the big problem with McGill in my opinion: you cannot work in Montreal or Quebec after you graduate unless you are francophone or your French is really great. Even private sector planners work with the public sector all the time, and the public sector in Montreal speaks French. While in planning school your lectures and your projects revolve around the area your school is in. So at Ryerson you learn a lot about the GTA and you do your networking in the GTA. Since non-French McGill grads can't stay in Montreal, their networking opportunities are limited and you won't be as familiar with the provincial planning framework of other places you will have to find work in, such as Ontario.

Getting accepted into McGill planning is a great accomplishment, as is any master's of planning program. However, unlike law or medicine, there is no hierarchy of planning programs in Canada, unlike perhaps in the USA. Just because you did planning at McGill doesn't give you a big edge over someone who went to Ryerson or York University if you are applying for Toronto jobs. The Harvard vs. state school prestige thing does not really exist in the planning profession in Canada.
The advice about the job market being tough is true though. Networking, patience and willing to be able to move anywhere for a job are pretty key. I didn't get a call back from a single job that I applied to "cold" - only those where the people already knew me through networking. If you want to pursue planning, you have to be financially secure and have back-ups. This is not a high paying profession when starting out and the wait times of unemployment can be long.

Lastly about software. I knew GIS from undergrad and used it for a few projects in school. However I never use it at work. Any decently sized municipality or firm will have a GIS tech person/department to handle all GIS. I get the impression it is something you are a specialist in or you're not, it's not a thing that people just dabble in from time to time at work (someone can prove me wrong however). And I don't know a single planning program that teaches AutoCad. It is mostly used by architects and engineers.

Hope this does provide some good insight for you. Sadly, I cannot give you advice about the gap year as I didn't take one.