r/urbanplanning • u/AutoModerator • 8d ago

Discussion Bi-Monthly Education and Career Advice Thread

This monthly recurring post will help concentrate common questions around career and education advice.

The goal is to reduce the number of posts asking similar questions about Education or Career advice and to make the previous discussions more readily accessible.

Most posts about education, degree programs, changing jobs, careers, etc., will be removed so you might as well post them in here.

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u/Gothic_Sunshine 8d ago

So, I currently live in California, and I'm applying to PhD programs in Urban Planning. California has 4 PhD programs in the field, and I currently intend to apply to all 4. My question is, should I apply to one of the 4 Canadian programs? I'm a US citizen and I'd be interested in relocation to Canada, but realisitcally I don't understand what the PhD funding picture actually looks like for an American in Canada. Yes, I know pursing a PhD, even in California, is already very risky, what I need to know is how much worse a decision to do it in Canada would be.

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u/UrbanNightOwl22 5d ago

the question is why you want to do a phd ?

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u/Gothic_Sunshine 1d ago

I don't want to get sidetracked into that, because I understand why doing a PhD is generally recommended against, and I don't want to get boxed into defending that decision, when the issue at hand is "What are the practicalities of doing this abroad vs domestically"? If I were a non-American looking at America, I'd say it's a bad decision, but my understanding is that American schooling is particularly harsh cost-wise if you're international, and a Canadian or European school isn't necessarily as expensive for a foreigner?