Hmm...why wouldn't Southern California be better? It's got the beaches, better amusement park, great shopping, great food, palm trees, bigger city (LA), larger Filipino community (I'm half Filipino), vibrant atmosphere, WARMER CLIMATE!!! It's my "third home" and I've enjoyed it there every time I've visited.
This is great! Finally someone I can talk to who's also interested in URP. You're right, not many people even know of the program, much less be interested in taking it. It's encouraging to hear that you loved the program. My interest in URP actually began with my fascination with cities. Everywhere I've travelled I'd be the odd one in my family to be captured by the urban surroundings, staring at the skyline, trying to get the "feel" for the city. I love cities and I want to take part in their development as either a city planner, or a private real estate developer. Actually, I would never have even considered CPP if it weren't for my visit there last summer. I was with my cousin as she was surfing the web for universities, and she showed the list of Cal States and told me to check them out and see if I'm interested. So of course, I speculated that it'd be too expensive, but then she showed me the cost for international students and it was still less than if I were to attend the University of Waterloo (which I've already been accepted too). So I browsed only the two universities that were close to my cousin's place, Fullerton and CPP. That's when I found out CPP had an URP program and that I may have the option to minor in Real Estate. I thought that this was a sign from God. The ideal university was just in front me. It had the program I wanted, the only one in all of LA, with an option to minor in Real Estate, which would help me in pursuing my career goal to become a real estate developer...they're "learning by doing" philosophy was attractive, their campus is FAR nicer than any university I've seen in the Greater Toronto Area, their tuition is affordable, they have a co-op option where I can gain valuable work experience (and get paid
), greater chance for future job prospects in LA area. All around it seemed like the 'perfect' opportunity (oh, and they serve sushi and have a DDR machine...lol).
Some things I'm curious about...does the URP program require a lot of ecological and environmental study? Because the Waterloo one requires a lot of that and it seems like they'd be training us to become professional tree huggers, not so much development planners. Also, based on your experience with the program, how much of it do you think relates to Real estate development? Also, what are the courses, teachers, classrooms, classmates like? How much time do you actually spend in class? What are schedules like? What is the General Education Requirement, and does that mean that we don't learn anything field related in the first year? Do they take field trips to other cities? Are there any other Canadians at CPP? In the URP program?
Okay, so I've bombarded you with some of my questions...looking forward to hearing the responses.