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A Question About LAIAD (and WLAC)

DavidTheLearningArchitect

Hello, so to start this off with a little bit of history I graduated in the summer of 2018 from High School with relatively good grades and a decent enough GPA to get me into any CSU here in CA but not strong enough for any UC's. Another note is, my family has split over the years so I live with my mother and sister now who doesn't even make enough money to pay off our rent and bills in due time. From that I guess you could already gather that I'm not in position to attend some fancy art school to study Architecture or anything design related especially not since most start at a hefty 30k per year price tag (after financial aid). The thing is, I took a gap year and architecture only became an occurring career choice of mine since the invitation I received from an aunt to travel to Europe and spend my gap year exploring new cultures & scenery. It reminded me of my years as a kid when I would passionately build scaffoldings, towers, and bridges using my grandfathers extra wood and metal materials he'd buy from our local general store. Before that trip to nostalgia, I was working my butt off to be a fashion designer during my senior year of HS and to eventually study business at a local Cal State but I found that life to be unnecessary as I was already selling quite well with my clothing line and didn't see the need for a business degree when I've learned so much from books and working as a learning spectator/ride along with my best friend in his successful real estate work... so I cancelled my enrollment entirely and never looked back at that school again - here I am now lol.

With that little story out of the way, I found myself in some trouble. I decided to reapply recently this late summer again with architecture in mind but there was only two Cal State's offering Architecture and that was both Cal Poly's. I wasn't accepted to San Luis and Pomona had so many students apply that they had to take down the choice of major from the application website a few weeks before the deadline in which is when I attempted to apply. So now all I have left is Community College and I wish to pursue my start in Architecture education as early as possible. I know California has plenty of CC's with an Architecture program but none have quite impressed me as LAIAD. 

Now my question is, does anyone have a clue on what the process is for someone like me who has no college credits and experience to apply at this school? Are they serving accredited education to undergraduates who want to earn their B.Arch? Is there any other CC's within range that also have a good arch program and good transfer rating to top schools like LAIAD apparently does? I hear that LAIAD is in partnership with WLAC but what does that mean for me? I have no general ed classes done so will that be taught at LAIAD or will I also have to enroll at WLAC and have my financial aid pay for both WLAC and LAIAD? If so does that mean I'd have to attend both of those schools at the same schedule?

I apologize if this was way too much of a read but I seriously want to start getting busy after a long year of doing nothing more than thinking and observing but with ultimately no progress.

 
Sep 18, 19 11:04 am
Obscura

Hey There,

While I cannot speak to your questions regarding accreditation, I can speak to the quality of the education you will receive at LAIAD as a former student. I attended LAIAD after having graduated college with a non-architectural degree. The classes are taught at night, so it is possible to have a part-time or full-time job while a student. At LAIAD, you will be able to build a really impressive portfolio of work that will allow you to be accepted to architecture programs elsewhere, as well as receive scholarships. These benefits will outweigh the relatively minor cost of attendance. I personally attended UC Berkeley for my M.Arch and received a generous scholarship package. I attribute that to having been a student at LAIAD. The staff is extremely helpful, so I suggest writing to them with specific questions regarding credits etc: getinfo@laiad.com

Good luck!



Good Luck!

Sep 18, 19 2:41 pm  · 
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