Is there a substantial amount of difference in how much debt you will take on? 

I'm at the Wash U master of architecture right now. My final decision came down between Berkely Upenn and Wash U. Money also was not part of my Consideration as well. I am very happy with my choice, but I chose this program over an Ivy because I genuinely was more attracted to the student work and was interested in the firms Wash U places students into. Those things should probably be a big part of your considerations as well. 

That being said I will tell you some relevant information.

Facilities:

It is a small program with 20-25 In each M.arch 1 Class. they just built a New Graduate student building which is an extremely nice studio it's basically a glass box. It has tons of natural light, nice desks overlook the main quad, and has an indoor courtyard space. It's split with the MFA students. It is cool to wander through their personal studios and check out what they're working on. 

Studio :

At wash, U Craft is the name of the game they are super focused on architectural drawings and physical modeling as opposed to rendering and other types of representation. Expect to make tons of iterative study models when you come here. The course selection is limited when it comes to theory and history, but I already had a Philosophy/Art History degree so that wasn't a concern for me. As for the studios, they seem to strike a good balance between pragmatic and speculative architecture. You won't do projects in the studio that are merely theoretical it can be unpractical but never completely unrealistic. You will almost always have a hypothetical real-world site and real-world client. 

Culture: 

I really like all students in my class its too small to get cliques so you'll have built-in friends.  There is also a substantial international student population from china mostly in Landscape Arch though. My M.arch 1 class only had three international students, it was supposed to be 6, but the middle eastern and European students deferred due to covid. I would say the biggest thing for me is the teachers really personally care about the student's mental health and well being which is very important, architecture school can be extremely stressful. If you are struggling with your mental health, or other personal issues they are more than happy to work with you and make sure you are ok. Not to say there aren't some intense teachers but there is a culture of trying to build a more sensitive and empathetic culture around architecture which I know can be extremely toxic at some schools. Also our studio professor last semester really advocated on our behalf to have the first-year students in a socially distanced studio the whole semester. I am pretty sure we may have been the only M.arch 1 students in the country to have a totally in-person studio which was honestly amazing. 

I read a lot of these forums as a prospective student and they were never helpful. Too many bitter people, so I wanted to share my experience. Those are all great schools just choose based on the program, not the rankings. You won't excel in a space that doesn't make you excited about architecture. 

If you wanna talk about it further you can Email me at 

[email protected]