[Little E]

Event planning is a pretty emerging field (in the grand scheme of things) there are only a handful of schools that cover the industry in depth and it tends to be in Hospitality and Tourism schools. GW in DC has a Master's prog, through H&T for event planning, I've heard there is one other that is similar to the GW prog, but I have no idea where it is.

MATC (Madison (WI) Area Tech Col.) has an associate degree prog for event planning, but their contacts seemed to be in Milwaukee and Madison which are not the biggest hotbeds for event planning.

School may not be a sure-fire way into the field. The best thing you can do is get experience and diversify that experience, planning rush for four years just won't cut it, you need a variety of experiences and then someone to give you a break and let you pay your dues. Other areas to study and then get jobs where event planning is a focus are marketing, non-profits, alumni development, etc. These jobs may let you plan events, but with a more 9-5 sched and occasional evenings.

The pay when you start is mediocre, my first year out of college (with a number of internships and college experiences) I was making 26 my first year (not including health insurance). I start a new job next week doing tradeshows and conventions and I'll have a signifigant raise and fortunatly this time, I get my health insurance covered and 401K after a year. There are some very high paying event jobs out there.

I know the time seems like a lot but when you work on an event and put all this time into it and you finally get to see it happen it is pretty magical. To see the project from concept to reality for me is really the best part of the entire process, it is a high to see it really happen.

Let me know if you have more questions.