Focus Your Passion
We welcome your application to our graduate programs in city and regional planning and historic preservation planning. As a graduate student in our program you will find a host of options to support your professional development as well as opportunities to engage with communities and the built environment.
City and Regional Planning
Do you believe that all people should have a voice and a choice in how they live? Do you want to understand the global drivers behind wealth, power, and privilege? Do you feel an obligation to do something about the underlying causes of social inequality? If you are passionate about creating better places and communities, Cornell can help you transform your passion into effective action.
Historic Preservation Planning
The historic preservation program at Cornell provides a wide-ranging education in a fascinating, multi-faceted, and rapidly evolving field. Historic preservation synthesizes design, history, public policy, cultural studies, science, and economics during the process of planning for the future of our cultural and natural resources, our communities, and ourselves.
Diversity Statement
As part of its progressive mission the Department of City and Regional Planning (CRP) is committed to the highest level of academic rigor, scholarly inquiry, and professional practice advanced by a culture of inclusion.
Diversity is a goal, necessity, and opportunity that CRP hopes to nourish through its course offerings, community, and professional relationships. Our curriculum encourages a learning environment which draws upon the distinctive viewpoints and backgrounds of students, faculty, related researchers, and other members of the CRP community to create safe and welcoming spaces, in and outside of the classroom, for its members.
The department recognizes diversity to be centrally involved with questions of power and privilege, and it welcomes students from diverse backgrounds, particularly under-represented ones, to join our community, and more importantly to redress historical inequity. We recognize that engaging multiple perspectives in scholarly debate is essential to the ongoing struggle to foster well-rounded professionals and academics on their path to creating more just, beautiful, sustainable, and humanizing environments. For this reason we believe that we are strengthened by diversity in all its forms.
How to Apply
Important Note
The Graduate School at Cornell is organized into fields of study, which group faculty by common academic interest, regardless of college or department affiliation. If you are interested in planning or historic preservation, you apply to the field of city and regional planning. If you are interested in real estate or regional science, you apply to those fields.
Apply Online
Graduate School applications can only be submitted online. The application deadline for the fall is January 10. There is no spring admission.
Complete applications consist of:
- An application form
- Statement of Purpose
- Two letters of recommendation
- Official transcripts of all college-level work
- GRE general test. Information on taking the test can be obtained from the Educational Testing Service.
- All applicants whose native language is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
- On request, the department may accept scores from the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) in place of GRE scores.
Required material for Ph.D. applicants includes all of the above plus:
Deadlines
Complete applications must be received before an admission decision can be made. All materials must arrive at Cornell before January 10. All applications must be accompanied by payment of a nonrefundable application fee.
Who Should Apply?
Applicants must hold a bachelor's degree from a recognized educational institution. A variety of undergraduate backgrounds have proven to be good preparation for studying planning and making a successful career. We urge you to apply regardless of your undergraduate major.
To enroll in doctoral study, you must have completed a master's degree (planning preferred). After you complete your second full-time semester in a master's degree program at Cornell, you may apply to the doctoral program through the regular annual admissions process.
Contact
Graduate Admissions
Graduate Admissions Office
Field of City and Regional Planning
235 Sibley Dome
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: (607) 255-4376
Fax: (607) 254-2848
crp_admissions@cornell.edu
Professor John Forester
Director of Graduate Studies (M.R.P. and Ph.D.)
crp-gradstudies-director@cornell.edu
Professor Michael Tomlan
Director of Historic Preservation and Planning
mat4@cornell.edu
Tina M. Nelson
CRP Graduate Field Administrator
tmn2@cornell.edu
More Information About Our Programs
To learn more about our graduate degree options, as well as our concentrations and curricula, visit the following pages:
To request printed materials:
Our students, who come from the U.S. and all around the world, have a wide range of undergraduate majors; most have also had real-world planning experience either during or after college. This diversity will enrich your Cornell experience.
