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McGill M.Arch for international student?? Other options?
Hi, so I am planning to apply for a M.arch program in Canada and I've been researching and reading previous threads here in the forum. My plan is to take one that doesn't take me longer than 2 years because I am currently studying architecture here in Peru so I'm planning to take the advanced placement. So far I think McGill is really the option I like most but I'm curious of why it only takes 1.5 year to finish it while others take 2 or more years? And I've also seen that maybe is not the best option for an international student. I really would like to study one that gives me an inside of how things are done there in Canada, I was really excited about Waterloo too until I saw is unprovable that they accept an international student and it also takes longer than 2 years.
What about other options like UBC, it's in the second place in the international rankings among canadian universities next to UofT. Now I've seen a lot of negative comments about UofT and its undergraduate program and toxic environment but what about its M.Arch program. Is it also that bad? Because it seems that they're most probable to take international students.
Finally I was reading this page (http://www.acsa-arch.org/resou...) and one program that really called my attention was the one from Carleton but I haven't seen a lot of comments about its M.Arch program. Do you think is a better choice for an international student?? I'm really excited about McGill, I would say is my number one choice and UBC and Carleton are in the second place, I'm not sure about UofT I hope that you can give me some comments about its M.Arch program or maybe I should consider some other universities.
Sorry for this long thread and for my bad writing, but I hope you can help me about taking the right decision.
@Non Sequitur can probably help best with the Ontario schools - though I believe he has a low opinion of UoT too.
When I went by, UBC's bachelor wasn't anything special but the M.Arch looked good. Plenty of initiatives for low/zero carbon architecture in Vancouver too. Campus is nice, but there's always construction and the city is fairly gloomy+pricy to live in.
For duration, I don't think 1.5 vs 2 years matters but may be wrong. Unless you go to Harvard or Waterloo, it doesn't really matter where you get your M.Arch in Canada - long as it's accredited. Best of luck eh, and kudos for doing your research!
Thank you so much for your help!!
Thanks newbie for the shout-out. I'm on holidays so I'm not really floating around the forums much, but I'll throw in my 2 cents' worth.
Jmmu23...
I think you've misunderstood McGill's M.arch options. Their 3 term (1 full year) M.arch is primarily reserved for their own undergraduate students. Those external to their home-grown undergrad group need to validate their existing degree and may need to take up to an additional 2 terms before entering the professional M.arch. I've heard that in the past they would accept some external students directly into their professional M.arch but those spaces, if available, are very limited and obviously, competition is very strong. If admitted, you'll likely need to do the 2 terms + 3 terms which comes out to 2 or 2.5 years depending on the timing of the additional 2 qualifying terms.
The same applies to Waterloo, and yes, they do accept international students but with Waterloo, the M.arch runs continuously for 6 semesters (3 semesters per year aka no breaks) plus 1 to 3 additional qualifying semesters. So you can expect a 8 to 9 term (or more depending on your thesis progress) for a M.arch at Loo.
UBC and UofT all require 3 years regardless. These schools do not have architecture-related undergrad (or in UofT's case, a very bad one) so everyone who enters M.arch is treated equally.
Carleton is a little different than UBC or UofT since it has it's own undergrad but you need to have an architecture-related undergrad with significant design studio in order to be considered for their 2y M.arch.
So, if you're really stuck on a 2y M.arch, Carleton may be the easiest one but keep in mind that each international applicant is different and that not all architecture degrees are equall.
The real question here is, why bother with a Canadian M.arch?
Thank you for your answer, yes you're right I misunderstood the M.arch program from McGill, I saw the comparison chart and while most of the courses are similar to the ones that I've taken here there are some others that I've not taken. I'm still excited about McGill, maybe a half year more is not that bad. The thing is that I consider a 2 years program because I do come from an architectural background, here in Peru we study architecture for 5 years to get a bachelor's degree and after that it takes at least 6 months to 1 year to get licensed here. I was planning to take my master after getting license. But things here in Peru haven't been good for a while and after this pandemic they're not gonna be good for a long time, it hurts me to say it like this but it's true. That's why I'm looking for graduate programs in other countries that can give me the opportunity to work there and so far Canada seems like the best choice.
Licensing up here is 3 to 5 years post m.arch and you need to pass 4 exams.
Would you recommend me to do the academic certification process?? Do people that take that path get hired??
The institution name on the degree is not what gets you hired although a March from McGill is much more impressive than one from say UofT or RYU.
About UBC, will it take me 3 years even with the advanced placement??. I think I'm gonna still looking for other universities. Like I've seen in other threads, it doesn't matter where you study it all depends on your portfolio and skills. Thank you again for your help, I've seen your comments in other threads and you have no idea on how helpful they have been. Good luck and stay well.
https://sala.ubc.ca/admissions/master-architecture
From this (halfway down page), if you do qualify you'll be doing two years M.Arch. But the accepted degrees seem quite specific, so if you don't have either Bachelor of Architecture or Bachelor of Science in Architecture they acknowledge you're out of luck.
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