Admission Requirements

Minimum Academic Requirements

The School seeks students with high scholastic standing and demonstrated academic interests or community experience pertinent to planning. All candidates must meet the Admissions Regulations of the Faculty of Graduate Studies (3.0 minimum cumulative GPA in a four year undergraduate degree). In special circumstances where mature applicants are involved, applications supported by significant career experience may be considered.

Master of Planning

Admission to the MPlan program requires an undergraduate degree in any discipline with high scholastic standing. The MPlan is a first professional degree at the graduate level; an undergraduate degree in planning is not required for admission.

Master of Planning Studies

Admission to the MPS program requires one of the following:

• four year undergraduate degree in planning
• four year undergraduate degree in a related discipline (such as engineering, geography, geomatics, environmental sciences, architecture, etc.)
• four year undergraduate degree in any subject with four years of planning work experience to make the candidate eligible for membership in a professional planning institute.

Entrance will be limited according to the School’s ability to offer appropriate faculty supervision. Only those candidates with research interests compatible with those of faculty members will be eligible for admission. Enrolment may begin in either January or September.

Inquiries

Please contact the School of Planning or go to the School website for an application package and additional information about graduate programs in planning. (The School's telephone number, email address and website are shown at the beginning of this calendar section.) Please contact the Dalhousie University Registrar’s Office for information on admission status or registration.

Application Deadlines

There is no cutoff date for the consideration of applications.  However, candidates for MPlan should normally submit their application by January 31st.  Admission is very competitive and some scholarships are only available to highly qualified candidates whose application has been received by the 31st of January.

Students in the Master of Planning begin their courses in September. Only in exceptional circumstances are students permitted to enter the MPlan program at other times.

For the Master of Planning Studies (MPS) admission, applications may be considered at any time but can take at least two months to process. Candidates who apply by January 31st  may be considered for some scholarships.

International applicants must ensure that their complete application has arrived by January 31st to allow sufficient time for visa processing.

Transfer Students

Applicants who have completed part of another graduate planning program may be considered for transfer credit by the Admissions Committee. A transfer student must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of courses including PLAN 6000: Planning Project and Seminar (independent) within the MPlan program to qualify for the degree.

English Language Competency

Applicants whose native language is not English must meet the Faculty of Graduate Studies requirements for English Language Competency (see FGS calendar section 3.4). Students admitted to the program may be required to take further training in English in Canada, in the summer preceding the start of the program.