MUP Waivers and Substitutions
The Urban Planning program offers students with prior experience the opportunity to pursue waivers and substitutions for various required courses.
It is a student’s responsibility to pursue waivers in a timely manner. The Quantitative Methods waiver exam is offered during the month of August each year. Petitions to waive a required course or program requirement must follow the petitioning process outlined by your program and include the necessary supporting documentation in time for approval prior to beginning the program. Note that waiving a course does not reduce the total number of units required for graduation.
Waiver Exam
Waiving GSD 5215: Analytic Methods of Urban Planning: Quantitative, which fulfills the quantitative methods requirement, is granted by passing an exam. This exam is offered once per year in August.
Analytic Methods (Quantitative) Waiver Exam
GSD 5215: Analytic Methods of Urban Planning: Quantitative
Professor Carole Voulgaris; [email protected]
Next exam: August 1-31, 2025 (date and time chosen by the student)
Deadline to request exam: Thursday, August 28, 2025
To request the exam, students should email Professor Carole Voulgaris at least two business days in advance, specifying a preferred date and time between August 1 and August 31. Students will receive the exam via email at the requested time and must return the completed exam within three hours. Each student will have a unique exam covering the same material.
Students are welcome to consult any statistics books or online resources during the exam. They will need access to statistical software during the exam as well. R is recommended, but other appropriate choices include Python, Stata, SPSS, MATLAB, or Excel (with Analysis ToolPak or AnalystSoft StatPlus).
Study materials
In preparation for the exam, students may wish to review the following resources:
Kahn Academy modules:
Summarizing categorical data
Summarizing continuous data
Data distributions
Relationships between continuous variables
Sampling distributions
Confidence intervals
Significance tests
Two-sample inference
Chapter 23 of R for Data Science (Grolemund and Wickham)
Waivers
If you believe you have already taken coursework that might qualify you to waive out of any required courses, you must submit a petition and supporting documentation including syllabus from the prior course(s), transcript(s), and in some cases a portfolio.
Please email Sarah Hutchinson, the Assistant Director, UPD, who oversees the coordination of the MUP program, to request the link to the online petition form. All requests to waive a required course need to be received prior to enrolling in a student’s first semester. The deadline to submit a petition to waive a first year required course is Monday, August 18, 2025.
Substitutions
Several alternate courses across the university have been identified that can be taken during a student’s time at the GSD to meet some of their program requirements. Please refer to the MUP Curriculum Details for up-to-date information on these pre-approved substitutions.
The MUP program uses a formal online petition process to request a substitution for an alternate course to satisfy a Methods Requirement.
Please email Sarah Hutchinson, the Assistant Director, UPD, who oversees the coordination of the MUP program, to request the link to the online petition form. Petitions to must be received before the course selection deadline in the corresponding semester.
Over-Enrollment
MUPs are required to enroll in a minimum of 20 units per term. To request enrollment over 20 units in a particular term, email Sarah Hutchinson, the Assistant Director, UPD, who oversees the coordination of the MUP program, to request the link to the online petition form. Petitions to over-enroll must be received before the course selection deadline in the corresponding semester.
50% Enrollment Outside the GSD
Generally, no more than fifty percent of units may be taken outside the GSD in a given term. To request enrollment in more than fifty percent of units outside the GSD, email Sarah Hutchinson, the Assistant Director, UPD, who oversees the coordination of the MUP program, to request the link to the online petition form. Petitions to exceed 50% enrollment outside the GSD must be received before the course selection deadline in the corresponding semester.