Your Name: Lawrence Susskind
Your Position: Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning
Your School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Graduate Degrees Offered: Urban and Environmental Planning
1) When is the right time for someone to consider attending a graduate environmental program like yours?
After completing an undergraduate degree (either in a science or social science field) and after at least one or two years of work experience.
2) What are the top three reasons that students choose to pursue a graduate degree in your program's field of study?
- a desire to work in the world of public policy or the world of not-for-profits on a range of environmental policy, environmental planning or environmental management problems
- a commitment to master a wide range of policy analytic and policy implementation skills relevant to effective practice at a variety of levels in a range of cultural settings
- an interest in gaining a multidisicplinary and cross-cultural perspective on concepts like sustainable development, environmental justice, environmental dispute resolution, environmental impact assessment, eco-systems management, adaptive environmental management and the like.
3) When selecting prospective graduate students, what factors are considered by your admissions staff? Beyond the "basics" of good grades and GRE scores and a demonstrated commitment to their education, what makes an applicant stand out?
- Several years of practical work experience in environmentally-related roles
- A broad academic background in science, humanities and applied social science
- Strong letters of recommendation from advisors, supervisors and mentors who know the candidate very well
4) What do you look for in a prospective student's background and/or essay (if one is required)?
- Practical work experience
- Multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective
- A commitment to social change
5) Does your department interview prospective students before admitting them? If so, what are you looking for in the interview?
Interviews are not required. Only informational interviews are available.
6) What three things can most likely DECREASE an applicant's chances of getting accepted?
- Letters of recommendation from letter writers who do not know the candidate well.
- A lack of familiarity with the strengths and weaknesses of our department.
- A statement of purpose that indicates a lack of real world experience and a lack of focus.
7) Other than your program, in your opinion, what are the overall top three comparable graduate-level environmental programs in the United States? Do any outstanding International programs come to mind?
- University of Michigan School of Natural Resources
- Yale University School of Forestry
- University of California-Berkeley
8) What percentage of applicants do you accept into your program? In general, how selective are comparable graduate environmental programs?
Dr. Susskind did not respond to this question.
9) Do you have any helpful statistics?
Dr. Susskind did not respond to this question.
10) Do you have any other advice to offer for students who are trying to get accepted into a top graduate environmental program?
- Read the published work of the faculty at the schools to which you are applying. Demonstrate some familiarity with their research activities when you prepare your application.
- Be explicit about the skills you want to acquire and be clear about how (and where) you expect to use these skills.