PhD in Regional Planning Applying
Admission and financial awards are highly competitive, so we encourage you to apply as early as possible for the subsequent fall semester. To received full consideration for admission and financial awards, completed applications must be received by December 15.
We receive 40 to 60 completed applications each year. We typically offer admission to three to six applicants and usually all admitted students enroll.
In most common circumstances admission decisions should be completed by mid-March.
Rarely. The special cases are students who apply for fall enrollment but are delayed for visa or other reasons, transfer into the doctoral program immediately after completing master's degrees at the University of Illinois, or have an exceptional record and match the mid-year assistance needs of a new or on-going research project.
In exceptional cases we may consider applicants with unique academic records or research experience with only a bachelor's degree from an accredited college in the United States or a comparable degree from a recognized institution of higher learning elsewhere. In such a case the student should also complete key courses required for a master's degree in urban planning, as determined by the advisor and plan of study committee. Completion of such courses may require additional time to complete the PhD degree.
- Application for admission to the Graduate College, with application fee
- Your statement of purpose
- Your statement of personal history
- Your current resume or curriculum vitae
- Three letters of recommendation
- GRE scores
- TOEFL or IELTS scores if you are an international student
- Academic transcripts
Access the online application system through the Graduate College. You can upload your personal statement online and send out requests for recommendations, which your letter writers can submit online, too. Transcripts may be uploaded to the online application system as well.
If you are a current graduate student at UIUC in a program other than the PhD in Regional Planning and want to transfer in, you will use a petition process rather than the online application system. Graduate College instructions, along with the actual petition needed to be completed, may be found here. You will need to complete the petition, obtaining signatures from your current department and submit it to DURP, along with the following:
- Statement of purpose;
- Statement of personal history;
- Current resume or curriculum vitae;
- Three letters of recommendation, at least one being from a current UIUC faculty member;
- Valid GRE scores (within last five years); and
- A copy of your application that was originally submitted to your current department (including transcripts).
The deadline for submitting these documents to DURP is December 15th. Your submitted petition packet will be reviewed at the same time as all other applications received through the online application system.
If you have already received a graduate degree from UIUC, you will use a petition process rather than the online application system. Graduate College instructions for this process are found here. Follow the instructions for Entering a New Graduate Program after Previous Enrollment. In addition to the paperwork required by the Graduate College, you will need to submit to DURP the following:
- Statement of purpose;
- Statement of personal history;
- Current resume or curriculum vitae;
- Transcripts;
- Three letters of recommendation;
- Valid GRE scores (within last five years); and
- Current TOEFL scores, if an international student (more information here).
The deadline for submitting these documents to DURP is December 15th. Your submitted petition packet will be reviewed at the same time as all other applications received through the online application system.
The primary purpose of the letters of recommendation is to help us assess your ability to complete our program with distinction, your potential to make significant scholarly contributions, and your commitment to teaching and advanced research in planning or related fields. All your letters should be from references who know you well enough to say specific things about your abilities, accomplishments, and potential relevant to doctoral study. At least two of your letters should be from faculty members from whom you have taken courses or with whom you have worked on research. If you have had extensive professional experience, such as doing research for a year after your master's degree, your third letter might be from colleagues or supervisors. Otherwise, all three letters may be from academic sources.
All applicants must submit scores for the verbal, quantitative and analytical writing components of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test. These scores should be submitted into the online application system. Applicants who have already taken the GRE should request the Educational Testing Service send scores to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign using our institution code number 1836. Our university does not use department codes so that may be left blank.
International students must submit Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores. Please submit all test scores into the online application system and request official scores be sent to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign using our institution code 1836. The test date must be within two years of the date you enter the program. For admission purposes, you may be exempt from the TOEFL requirement. However, please be aware that if you are interested in being considered for a teaching assistantship, you are encouraged to demonstrate oral English proficiency prior to arrival on campus.
The minimum GRE score is 75th percentile on each of the three components. Yet, because we consider an applicant's full set of qualifications in making admissions decisions, we occasionally admit students with lower GRE scores. Please see our admissions requirements and criteria for additional information on how we make admissions decisions.
The University has a grade point average (GPA) cutoff of 3.0 (B) for admission to the Graduate College, based on the final 60 hours of post-secondary study. Most entering Ph.D. students have GPAs of 3.5 or more.
The Graduate College evaluates the transcripts of international applicants for the purposes of determining a GPA equivalent to U.S. university records. The Graduate College uses a conversion formula specific to the international university.
You must achieve a TOEFL score higher than 610 on the Paper-Based Test (PBT), 253 on the Computer-Based Test (CBT), or 102 on the Internet-Based Test (iBT) or an IELTS score greater than 6.5 in all sub-sections, but we prefer your scores to be much higher. Click here for more information on Graduate College score requirements.
Yes, but rarely. To do so requires that we submit a detailed request to the Graduate College. The case for requesting the exception must be very strong and depends on the applicant having other outstanding qualities, such as extraordinary research or professional achievements.
Your statement of purpose should be sufficient, but, if you have a research paper or piece of professional work that represents you well, feel free to send it in pdf or paper form with a note explaining your role in the research or project. We shall not return any materials to you.
All transcripts, letters or recommendation, test scores, resumes, statement of purpose and paperwork needed from international students should be uploaded into the online application system.
