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UTSOA vs. GSAPP vs. UCLA (M.ARCH I)
Hi everyone!
I'm in the middle of making a decision on what first-professional program to enroll in this fall. I've got it pretty much narrowed down to three schools:
UT Austin SOA (essentially full tuition)
Columbia GSAPP (17K/yr financial aid)
UCLA (fellowship for 1st year's tuition)
I figure most of the advice I'll get is take the money and run with UT, but that ivy is hard to pass up as well. In particular I'm wondering if anyone has experience with continuing student funding at UCLA - if there's a chance I can get that price tag for the 2nd and 3rd years down it might pass UT in my rankings. I am still really impressed with UT's support in finding work/internships for its students, which is something I'm not sure UCLA does.
I got essentially the same package as UCLA at Berkeley, but the school seems so underfunded in a way I haven't heard about at UCLA.
As well, if anyone has any experience squeezing a few more bucks out of an ivy, I'd love any tips you might have!
Thanks!
Hey Papayaya,
First, off congratulations on your admittance to all 3 programs, they're all excellent schools in their own right and you have a really exciting few years ahead of you.
Secondly, let me outright state that I am a current M. Arch I student at UT Austin and may be biased in my recommendations. I have friends at GSAPP and am pretty familiar with their program, but cannot say the same about UCLA and will not speak on that school. My understanding is between UT Austin and GSAPP you are looking at one program that straddles practice and theory (UT Austin) and one program that is heavily focused on theory (GSAPP). Both are really wonderful programs and you just have to ask yourself what type of architect you want to be.
If I were you I would take the full tuition scholarship at UT, they clearly want you badly, not many students get that level of funding and you will probably stand out as a strong student in your class I imagine. You will have the same career opportunities available to you as the GSAPP graduates do upon graduation, you get to live in Austin (which isn't NYC, but fun in it's own rights), and you will have greater career flexibility due to no debt. The only reason I would possibly go GSAPP over UT would be if you have ambitions of having a primarily focused academic career, the Ivy league degree will help you teach at both high caliber public and private architecture programs, which is possible from a degree from UT, but not as easy.
Take everything I've said with a grain of salt though I love my program and it's perfect for me, but a student at any other of your prospective schools probably feels the same.
PS. Under our new dean Michelle Addington, exciting things look to be in the future for UT. Read here:
http://archinect.com/features/article/149997749/michelle-addington-discusses-her-new-deanship-at-ut-austin-and-the-educational-opportunities-arising-from-the-political-hotbed-that-is-texas
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