Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
University of Southern California (USC)
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Kansas State University
Having troubles deciding schools! MArchII, UCB or Upenn or USC or SCI-Arc?
Dear all,
I just received a few offers and this decision is quite hard for me to make, so I was wondering if you guys could let me know what you think. Thanks!
UCB(MArch II option2, 2 yrs) with no $
UPenn(MSD, 1.5 yrs) no$
USC (MArch II) with $51K (Full entrance scholarship?? not so sure)
SCI-Arc(March II) with $22k (I tried to ask for more but failed...)
One of my professor (graduated from USC MArchII) told me that If you LOVE architecture, just go to SCIArc or else Berkeley, but he also suggest that I should take seriously if USC offers me that much money. As for UPenn, that's an IVY school...
SO the problems are :
1.What's the difference between MSD and MArch? I know there are something related to NAAB accrediation. Is that important for a graduate to find a job?
2.To be honest I don't really care about the specific rankings since I think all the schools on the list(like DI or whatever) are great schools, but there is a pretty huge gap between USC/SCI-Arc vs UPenn/UCB, and there is a money issue. Money vs Ranking...
3.Is UPenn's IVY degree better than a UCB degree?
4.An archtiect(She is working at a big company in LA) told me that SCI-Arc graduates are the most popular in CA when looking for jobs. What about graduates from UCB?
5.What do you think of these cities? Philadelphia/ Berkeley/ LA
Thank you all and have a nice day!
take the cheapest
Honestly haven't heard that much about USC's M.Arch program so can't comment on that. But with full tuition that's a hard offer to pass up.
I was also accepted into the M.Arch II at SCI-Arc (I deferred last year) so I will be there this fall. Really excited because of the program, the building, and overall the culture there just seems to be focused on innovation. Plus, I too have heard that job prospects for SCI-Arc m.Arch grads are great in CA, but I have no clue about their prospects in other parts of the US. Let me know what you choose!
All of those schools are great. The advantage for all of them other than SciArc is that if you decide to wander off and do something else later, you have a degree from a great school and that is all they will look at. Most of the people outside of Architecture don't know about SciArc. I am unsure what your undergrad degree is in, however, you will soon learn that when you get out, the pay for intern architects is not a lot. As a person who has been carrying student loans for 10 years, I will tell you, please choose the cheapest one. I don't think you are going to go wrong with any of them, that is, if you choose to stay in architecture for at least the first 10 years out of school. My starting salary out of school was $44,000(which was considered good), sometimes if you are lucky, you can get $52,000. It depends on your experience. Now, here's the kicker, if you have $65,000+ in student loans, then your payments will be about $700+ a month.... Imagine carrying that for the next 10 years, while thinking of wanting to buy a new place, etc. It's not so fun! Look at all of the schools, create a budget, look at rent in each area, and figure out exactly how much you are going to owe when you get out after everything is paid. Excel is an awesome way to analyze budgets.
I've worked with a lot of recent grads from all of the California schools mentioned, and to me the biggest difference is the people behind the degrees.
ucb doesnt know what they are doing, they only have andrew atwood there, I would pick sci-arc, LA is a way better place to be in terms of jobs and architecture culture
Dear all,
Thank you all for your suggestions!!!
Is there anyone know that the estimated money cost/year in LA/SF?(as an international student) Is 20K per year enough?(including house, traffic, food etc.)
Have a great day!
It could be done, but not easily. Housing costs are lower in LA than they are in SF; in both cases you'd be reliant on public transit. Both Cal and SCIArc are easy to get by bike/transit.
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