This kind of assistantship is pretty common in other disciplines. I'd be interested to know if the stipend is per semester or per year, and if the commitment is only for a year or if you can expect it to continue over multiple years.

In the past, schools attempted would increase the demands of an education successively over multiple years until a cohort was all capable of profomoring work at a professional pace. The belief was that this gradual introduction would enable more students to succeed. We now know that setting a clear expectation at the beginning and giving students some time to adjust to that expectation, with formative feedback, produces much more effective results.

It is also the case that schools have to publish statistics that indicate which proportion of students that enroll leave with a degree in a timely fashion, and a poor number will reduce the number of highly selective students that apply. Most elite schools have realized they can accomplish both by having a pre-curricular requirement (a summer program) which you must complete before you enroll. If you drop out then, they don't have to count you, do they?

Practically though, if you can't hack it well enough to keep your assistantship through summer boot camp, then you should be seriously considering another profession.

That sounds interesting. What type of degree were you applying for?

M.Arch II - it's a 3 semester (1.5 year) degree! - I've been accepted at Columbia also, but they don't hand out financial aid to international students!

Right now I'm really finding it hard to decide between the MSAAD degree at Columbia or M.Arch II at Cornell. Reason: Columbia is right in the middle of NYC so everything is convenient (public transport etc) but expensive whereas Cornell which has offered me the fin-aid, is located in a really isolated area!

Does anyone know how the architecture industry in NYC is doing? - in terms of hiring grads?