Hello, I got my BFA in Architecture from Parsons the New School for Design in 2015. 

I now wish to study further however at the same time don't wish to be in school for over 3 years. I understand that my bachelors is a non professional degree and that an M.Arch might help me more but at the same time I don't think I'll lean towards getting a license / starting a US practice. I would be interested in getting into an MArch program with advanced standing, but do they even consider that? What are the odds of being accepted with advanced standing? 

So I'm confused between applying for an MArch or MITs SMArchS, GSDs MDES, Yale's MED and Columbias AAD programs. I have worked in the field after graduation and took some time off as well. My only concern is that I have been reading that the MDES and SMArchS are very research based and not studio based, thing is that I want to design and create and make models, use all the facilities of the school as opposed to doing just research, but at the same time learn a few things more in depth. So my questions for any MDES or SMarchS grads is that was your program entirely research based? Or did you get your hands dirty as well?