I did New York/Paris at Columbia about 3 years ago. I think it's a great idea (if you can afford it!) to do one of those programs before making the jump. It allowed me to catch up on studio/design skills and also figure out where my interests lie in the field (which guided which Masters programs I applied to this year.) It will certainly help you create a stronger portfolio - I credit NYP partially to all my admissions success so far. Quality of work varied, and we were sometimes treated as 'lesser-than' grad students in terms of resources and respect, but if you're able to put your ego aside and soak everything up, it will be a great experience for you. As far as I know, all the programs you listed are viewed pretty favorably, and I would also look into Berkeley's summer program. Feel free to send me a private message if you have more questions. 

I did the summer program at UC Berkeley - and it was a great way for me to test out whether or not I would want to go to graduate school. It was also very helpful in getting feedback for my portfolio and meeting faculty at the school. At other programs, graduate students are the main source of contact, while at the Berkeley program the faculty seemed to be heavily involved in the curriculum and were great resources while I was applying. The lecture series was pretty great as well since you were able to go to the architecture lecture, city planning, and landscape lectures. They encouraged a lot of inter disciplinary work which I found helpful as well. Hope that helps!

Hello,

really Nice Information.

thanks for share it here.

www.3d-architectural-rendering.com

Have you decided which program you'll attend for this summer? I did Intro at Columbia last year and am going for Career Discovery this year.

It'd be nice to meet /get to know others who are attending CD before the school starts!

I just applied for the GSD's Discovery program, Intro to Arch at Columbia, Jumpstart at UCLA (even though I don't think I wanna go to this one), [IN]ARCH at UC Berkeley, and Making + Meaning at SCI-Arc. I'm also fresh out of undergrad school with zero experience in architecture. If anyone has any info on these programs that would be very helpful. Even though these summer programs are usually 5-6 weeks, I really want to go to a good one to get some real exposure to what architecture is like.

I'm also thinking of applying to these summer programs. Right now I'm filling out the application for UC Berkeley's IN ARCH program. Can anyone tell me how hard it is to get into one of these? What are my chances like?