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Cooper Union Architecture Home Test

gonebananas

hi 2 all archinerdz :-b
I'm interested in getting admitted to the Cooper Union School of Architecture and I need desperately any kind of information I can get from people who have taken the test and also from people who have been accepted...
I know that it's really a different test each year with sometimes absurd questions-tasks... I find that also very intriguing.
thanks in advance for any kind of tips ;-)

 
Jan 11, 05 4:13 pm
ConstructionKid

I didn't get my test yet, did you? I'm lookin' for the same answers to the same questions. Absurd questions, eh? I expect that to be fun. One thing that I do know is that it's pretty damn' tough. After all, it is a free college.
BTW, where do you live?

Jan 11, 05 4:44 pm  Â· 
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abracadabra

here is a sample question.
if hejduk was alive today, who would he beat up?

Jan 11, 05 4:50 pm  Â· 
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gonebananas

well... i wouldn't expect that kind of question abracadabra.
were you somehow student at the CU, how come u refer to hejduk like that?
constructionkid, i'm a greek livin' in germany and i hope we'll find someone 2 answer these questions... have u also applied for next year?

Jan 11, 05 5:00 pm  Â· 
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abracadabra

you never know banana. he was not a gentle giant either specially when it came to what he thinks.

Jan 11, 05 5:06 pm  Â· 
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gonebananas

well your posts are more like riddles that answers...
r u being kind of bitter on him?
could u give any kind of solid advice on this rather diffuse matter of CU-Admission? i'd b grateful

Jan 11, 05 5:09 pm  Â· 
 Â· 
abracadabra

no actually i am a fan and he was the soul of so called new york boys but overtaken by eisenmen.years ago i saw him in a dog fight with PJ and peter e in a small room. cooper union would be my second choice if i wasn't on the west coast and got in sci arc.($780 a semester).
why don't you sit tide wait for your test and be yourself instead of fishing for easy in. those test send to you to find out who you are not for formulated pass.
how is that for a riddle?

Jan 11, 05 5:25 pm  Â· 
 Â· 
gonebananas

well that's no riddle... that's a respectful answer and thanx for it.
it's not that i'm looking 4 a formulated pass, iget the feeling there is no such thing. just trying to get an impression of what i should expect.
by the way, a friend of mine recommended sciarc strongly... must be really interesting

Jan 11, 05 5:34 pm  Â· 
 Â· 
abracadabra

good luck banana. i am convinced your determination will get you someplace you will like.

Jan 11, 05 5:40 pm  Â· 
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abracadabra

, here is some more possible questions i made up to entertain myself and possibly start an archinect version of COOPER UNION home test;

. what makes a good rectangle or triangle or circle?
. would you sell your used computer in front of CU?
. it is your first day in new york, would you walk north south east or west and can you describe why?
. are you going to live in school, pretending you are a habitual all nighter?
. draw on a piece of paper with something other than pen or pencil.
. is it important to you to make the bed after you get up?
. how many books you actually read and how many would you say when asked?
. if you had 1 thousand bricks in school, where and how would you keep them for 3 months without anybody complaining about them?
. how many buildings you saw first in a book and later went to see them and what you thought?
. do you have an architect/idol, explain?
. can you go to large architectural exhibition and be done with it in 20 minutes?
. how do you think architects design buildings?
. list everything in your room where you are filling this test.

Jan 11, 05 6:31 pm  Â· 
 Â· 
THREADS

think grids, think drawing things inside the grids...or draw outside of the grids. Self portrait is the most important....but that's all I'll say. Good luck...time planning is key.

Jan 11, 05 6:55 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
LFLH

I took this test many years ago (more than 10), so I'm not so sure how relevant this is to now, but: the test they sent involved no grids. I think it only had 3 or 4 assignments. The self-portrait that was assigned was required to be done from torn paper and glue - no other materials. There was some kind of figure/ground type of exercise - I think it had to do with representing something by its shadow alone, on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. With at least one of the submissions there was a choice of which assignment to do - and I think I chose something that involved designing a wordless sign for a restaurant.

I don't really understand why you're "desperately" seeking information on this test. There's no magic secret to it - it's much too open-ended for that. It's really less of a test and more of a guided portfolio. And as you've pointed out, it is different each year.

Jan 11, 05 7:08 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
ConstructionKid

That sounds really fun :) I love doing creative projects!

Jan 11, 05 7:28 pm  Â· 
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chico

I started to apply a few years back. I think they provide you with a specific sheet for each drawing: some gridded, some divided into three columns, some blank, and so on. Here's what I remember:

On/with the provided sheets of paper, present a

self portrait
self portrait with no reference to body
a compostion of points lines and planes
a modern 20th-century home
a still life...

thats all i can think of off the top of my head

Jan 11, 05 8:44 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
b3tadine[sutures]

it changes all the time, find out who is in charge of transfer admissions and reviewing the admissions "test" and that may give you a glimpse as to what is expected. i did it 10 years or so ago, quite rigorous, but well worth the experience, it sucks however to try and do it while completing studio at the same time. don't expect to get it until the first week of march, and you have 30 days to complete it...

Jan 11, 05 8:52 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
liberty bell

abra, I love your brick question!

Jan 11, 05 10:05 pm  Â· 
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David Cuthbert

i miss school. Now I want to have a convo about the coop!

Jan 12, 05 8:14 am  Â· 
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aseid

when I took it eight years ago here are a couple of questions i remember:

Draw a map of the anatomy of your body

Draw a house you cannot enter

Write a still life

damn, i cant remeber anymore, its been a while





Jan 13, 05 12:14 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
gibberish

it was a while ago:

2 self portraits, one of which to have no relationship to your body.

still life on top of a 9x9 grid.

another grid drawing in black and white only.

there was some collage, if i remember correctly.

draw the house of the millenium or something like that...

i just remembered being humbled by it, especially without very much drawing under my belt at the time...

anybody know what the school's like now that the big H is gone?

Jan 13, 05 9:39 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
RqTecT

ok i got the ?'s

Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor when you can't drink and drive?

Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?

Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?

Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?

Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?

Do you need a silencer if you are going to shoot a mime?

Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?

How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings?

If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?

If a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose?

If nothing ever sticks to TEFLON, how do they make TEFLON stick to the pan?

If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped it from a height, what would happen?

If you're in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?

You know how most packages say "Open here". What is the protocol if the package says, "Open somewhere else"?

Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?

Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?

Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo?

You know that little indestructible black box that is used on planes, why can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance?

Why do noses run and feet smell?

Why is brassiere singular and panties plural?

How is it that a building burns up as it burns down?

Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?

Jan 13, 05 9:49 pm  Â· 
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ConstructionKid

That's all fine and dandy..
To those who went to the Coop, what were your SAT scores and high school grades like?

Jan 14, 05 5:31 pm  Â· 
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pinuproom

it's been seven/eight years (already?!?) since i took the home test--it's not really something you can prepare for.
there was a standard paper size--11"x14" or something like that
some questions i remember:
- document a wall
- unfold a plan from a still-life
- take a newpaper headline and make a collage
- imagine a modern-day pandora's box
it all really depends on who's in charge of admissions that year--
the year i applied peter eisenman was, and there was a lot more emphasis on SATs than usual. (i think that's how i got in--1550, 4.0. although everyone's usually surprised they got in.)
i think that normally the home test is much more important than grades/SATs.

Jan 15, 05 9:59 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
abracadabra

which part of this model puts enough light to your table?

Jan 16, 05 3:39 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
gonebananas

abracadabra don't u think u'r being xtreme verbose?
... or is that gettin' (us) somewhere?

Jan 18, 05 2:14 pm  Â· 
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abracadabra

what if, that comes up as a real question?

Jan 18, 05 2:21 pm  Â· 
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abracadabra

i would say,
yes it would bring enough light to my table as i would see a essentially corbusian concept turned vertical by morphosis and learn something how the light could travel in such section and get excited as cooper union student to see its construction from the brick building where 'i would like to be accepted as a student'. :)

Jan 18, 05 2:32 pm  Â· 
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gonebananas

... u mean from the brick building i shall be accepted as a student!
a bunch of the morphosis lads come from sciarc ;-b ambitions?

Jan 18, 05 3:08 pm  Â· 
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abracadabra

gonebananas, here is a outlined/structured art test info that might be a use to you.
link

Jan 18, 05 4:30 pm  Â· 
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FRO

hey-

I took it in '90 and the photo I took to answer 'visually describe the essence of a window, door, wall, stair, or column' stil hangs on my wall. BTW- I chose window, I got in, I didn't go.

I don't remember the other questions very well, but none of them were 'who is your hero and why?'

Jan 31, 05 9:39 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
3ifs

fro9k, care to tell us why you chose not to go? and can we see that picture or what?

Jan 31, 05 10:29 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
FRO

3ifs-

I didn't go because I was 17 and stupid, or some variation on that. I went somewhere else (and then dropped out after 4 years to be happy) instead. But i digress...

I'll try to get a digi copy of that pic together.

Feb 1, 05 12:14 am  Â· 
1  Â· 
LimitedPromos

Cooper Union is not the same school it was years ago...from what i understand CU lacks the technical resources that will be essential to getting work when you graduate (i.e. software and computer aided model construction, laser cutting, etc.). Cooper was tops when architecture was on paper however architecture is actually being built these days so Cooper may not be the best choice. If you want to design drawings instead of buildings Cooper is the school for you.

Feb 4, 05 2:34 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
JA|||ES

I challenge Eisenman to a glass match (Van Damme style)... ill kick the crap outta em'

Feb 4, 05 5:25 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
ConstructionKid

I'm working on my test right now.

Feb 4, 05 9:23 pm  Â· 
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ccl

ConstructionKid, (and any others who have the test),
What do you make of Question 1 - Cubes
"The plan should be considered to be cut at the center of each cube."

I don't know how to interpret that...any ideas?

Feb 6, 05 11:43 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
djaffe

ccl,
you've already failed buddy...sorry

I'm a public school kid and even I know the answer to that one.

Be creative...think for yourself.
if you don't know...make it up...maybe you'll come up with something that stands apart.

Feb 6, 05 11:50 pm  Â· 
 Â· 
ccl

Thanks for the boost, djaffe. I'm not asking for hints on how to 'pass' the test. I just think the language is poor...glad I found help at this forum though, thanks.

Feb 6, 05 11:54 pm  Â· 
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b3tadine[sutures]

its funny when i did the home test sites like this never existed, but if they had i would have stayed away from asking anyone any questions about the test. part of the beauty of the test IS the reading/mis-reading of the questions and how you interpret either the question or the disjointed nature of the question.

btw, i would be skeptical of any answers, and anyone claiming to know that there are easy answers to any question...

Feb 7, 05 12:00 am  Â· 
 Â· 
ccl

I was talking about the language, people! Nevermind! Forget it!

Feb 7, 05 12:01 am  Â· 
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b3tadine[sutures]

i don't know how to interpret that? i think i answered your question above, trying reading it again.....hehehe.....

Feb 7, 05 12:07 am  Â· 
 Â· 
ccl

Thank you, but I mean I understood and knew what you said about shying away from discussion and all that, I was just curious about that one line because the language seems to be poor or unclear to me. I will use my interpretation, (like I would have anyway) thank you all for your time. When did you guys get yours? And when did you do the home test/go to Cooper, Betadine?

Feb 7, 05 12:10 am  Â· 
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dartsofpulp

did anyone here manage to get in to cooper?

Apr 8, 05 11:56 pm  Â· 
1  Â· 
badass japanese cookie

(cricket noises)

Apr 9, 05 7:48 am  Â· 
1  Â· 

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