Non Sequitur Thanks for the advice! I will definitely try that out and explore lighting. Right after you said that it was like it suddenly hit me that that's what I was missing! I'll make sure not to mention any teachers during the interview too.I'll keep the boat and maybe the shore paintings but add a few more interesting pieces.

I had an idea of a painting with the concept of a bus interior on foam core but the windows are cutout. Behind the opening I'd put replaceable views outside the window. This was more of a project just for my room where I'd add an artificial window with a changing view instead of my plain brick facing window right now. I'm actually excited for this year now to improve my portfolio and will get to it as soon as exams are over.

gual  Your opinion really provided valuable information! I'll be applying to Waterloo, Ryerson, Carleton, UofC, and Dal next year while in first year at UofT to avoid the morale-killer among other things while I still build my portfolio for those schools. I think the extra time will help me come up with a more unique portfolio too maybe including outside wall murals and some other  BIG ideas.  

"but the profession has its pros with the working with clients and actually contributing."  hahahaha

gual

"I'd put an asterick next to UofT; so many of their applicants are shooting for Harvard/Yale etc, so the 'non-architecture' pool ends up containing overqualified people with substantial design training."

 

Can you expand on this, I'm not sure what you mean?  Are you saying lots of applicants to UofT's M.Arch program also applied to Havard/Yale but wind up at UofT?

Teddy: Again, just my opinion and I am no authority on how to live your life, but...

Look over the requirements before you go with this plan. I believe UofC requires an undergrad in something, and Dal needs two years of an undergrad (but most people have more than that - a combo of university studies and some sort of college/apprenticeship seems to put people in a good position that aligns them with the school philosophy).

I don't know much about Waterloo but I bet it's got a high cut-off for marks, so maybe you're better taking a gap year and not risking a drop in your grades if all you really want is to head to architecture school ASAP. Planning on switching into one of the arch undergrads after doing some university first may put you in the pool of "transfer applicants", where there may only be 1-2 slots available, rather than the "high school applicants" people. (Though I do not know how Waterloo handles these cases. Do your research, call the schools).

If you NEED to do your undergrad in architecture or design, it's probably best to not settle for an arts degree from UofT. Take a gap year and apply for arch school, some design stuff at OCAD, fine art at Guelph, whatever. Live at your parents, make some money, do some woodworking. On the other hand, I think there's a lot of fulfilling ways of doing an undergrad in something else, then studying architecture. But if you do that, pick something you want to do an undergrad in. It's usually easy to change majors within arts -- do you have something else you want to study for possibly 4 years?

The one-year transfer plan puts you in a precarious position, in my opinion. During my undergrad I had a friend try to transfer into architecture, she was told "your grades are good and your portfolio is solid, but only one kid dropped out so we only had one slot."

 

zenza: Yeah, what I'm saying is that there's a lot of students who apply to the big name US schools with UofT as a backup. UofT has a 2.5 year option for people with arch training and a 3.5 year option that is supposedly open to people with an undergrad in anything. But the reality is that the 2.5 option has loads of people with killer portfolios whose parents told them "we aren't spending the money on MIT," and the 3.5 has many people with arch undergrads who just weren't quite at that level. Many of the people getting into 3.5 have office experience and portfolios filled with architecture projects.

Compare this with, say, Calgary, where it's obvious that an architecture background gets you into the 2-year program and a non-architecture background gets you into the 3-year.

gual: in response with your last paragraph, you are absolutely correct. UofT's advanced standing program is difficult to get into even with a 4 year architecture undergrad degree. I'm currently studying there in the advanced standing stream and only 2 people of the 25 people who applied with me from my graduating class got accepted. The rest got either bumped down to the 3.5 or rejected if they didnt check the box on their application to be considered for the lower option if they didnt get into the 2.5. I don't understand their system to be honest because I'm sure even the worst of the 25 applicants from my year had more background than someof the science or business students that get accepted in the 3.5 year stream. 

The rest of my current peers in the advanced standing stream were also the top of their graduating class in their respective architecture undergrad schools,

Calgary is a great school. I actually regret not applying there. 

stay away from UofT undergrad its not a real bachelor degree in architecture its just a BA with major in architecture not recognized as "pre-professional" degree in architecture. meaning you will only be able to apply for master's degrees with 3years+, only some schools have this option, most schools have 2 year M.arch which requires "pre-professional" degree in architecture which UofT does not offer

if you love architecture so much and live in Ontario then do yourself a favour and save yourself alot of time and money just go get a BCIN number and learn revit and autocad instead of going to school. thats all you really need and have a few friends that are contractors that need some cheap building permits.

^ yeah.. if you want to be a CAD monkey.  There is so much to more to getting an architectural education. 

Question to the OP... How did you not get into Waterloo after passing the interview and precis?  I heard that was the final step in the admission process.

Everyone who gets an in person interview gets to write the precis. This does not mean you're accepted. Interview scores, precis review and high school grades are all part of the process. Also note that Waterloo will also, secretly, rate your high school. Many students from less than stellar schools come in with a handicap. That's a nice 98% kiddo, but that school is know to inflate grades so we're considering you a high 70s.

It's the best and most demanding undergrad in Canada after all.

@accessskb

in ontario there are many architects with an m.arch that run a practice and mostly do work that a designer with a bcin can do

stop thinking cad monkey is such a bad thing, thats what architects are in the real world.

starchitects doing large cultural projects is just a handful of the really successful ones.

 

i dont know anything about the admissions process at Waterloo. but if you get a spot there i recommend you pick Waterloo over UofT in a heartbeat.

you guys, balkins deleted his account.

 

holy shit

Another thing I should mention about architecture at UofT, and I am certain that 90% of you will not think there is anything wrong with this.

At UofT Daniels Architecture you will learn a whole lot of stuff about KARL MARX and MARXISM, but absolutely nothing about BUILDING SCIENCE.

After completing an undergrad degree at UofT in architecture, you will leave as a closet-communist, and have no actual idea how to put a building together.

UofT is another brainwashed SJW nightmare school,  just check out YouTube.

Sjw?