Archinect
anchor

graduate school in a rural area, yay or nay?

connect.12

I've heard many people recommend that you should go to a graduate school in the area you'd like to eventually live, for reasons such as networking, employment opportunities, etc. I'm curious about the experiences of anyone who attends/attended a university in a small town or rural area. 

Did you feel your opportunities were limited by the location?

Was there difficulty finding arch-related employment in the area?

Did you relocate after graduation?

What were the positive aspects of a rural school that you really enjoyed?

Thanks for your input!

 
Oct 12, 16 8:03 am
Non Sequitur

Do you have an example of a decent accredited university in a small town?

I did my M.Arch in a dump of a town... basically a run-down old textile town who's main residents commute 2hrs both ways to work. The catch was that even though my school was the best in the country (Canada), the size of the city had limited services and was often skipped over by big-name lecturers. You get claustrophobic fast.

Oct 12, 16 8:14 am  · 
 · 
Volunteer

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The University of Virginia at Charlottesville. Virginia Tech at Blacksburg, and several hundred more would be examples of good schools in small towns. It would probably be the rule and not the exception, in the States anyway. The more important factor is that a large school has a large number of alumni the school can tap for contacts on behalf of their graduating students.

Oct 12, 16 8:42 am  · 
 · 
connect.12

I was thinking of schools such as Clemson, WSU in Pullman, or even Cornell (Ithica seems very remote). I imagine an Ivy would bring in big names, but I hadn't even considered lesser availability of lecturers/reviewers at the other schools. Thanks for your insight. 

Oct 12, 16 8:58 am  · 
 · 
flatroof

Virginia Tech had Tod Williams speak a couple of weeks back. They seem to get one or two big names a year. Alumni network is large and professors have good contacts.

Oct 12, 16 10:42 am  · 
 · 

Block this user


Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?

Archinect


This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.

  • ×Search in: