From my experience, this is just my speculation and what I have observed this year. The better the school, the more they look for your educational background. I have talked to people with 10+ years of experience, established in their careers and a beautiful architectural-focused portfolio getting admitted to just ok schools while some with a really, a just ok portfolio and no experience but did their undergrad in Ivy and recommendations from their well-connected profs got full rides to multiple top schools in the state. And it's looking like this is the standard for any top 20 schools now. You have done nothing wrong and worked really hard, but I think the more involved we are, the worst the application process is. Re-applying will always work but I would assume its going to get worse every year.

Sorry to hear that, I was sort of in the same boat. I knew that I shouldn't have had any expectations, but I still felt that I had a solid chance at many of my ambitious reaches. However, I was rejected from many of them straight up and accepted into only a few and one with a good scholarship. None of them were my top choices so I also reconsidered doing another cycle. I really spent time diving into forums and doing the research. I hate to say it but to be honest it will likely hurt to do another cycle. In most cases, seeing someone has been rejected in the system will give the reviewer an expectation, looking for flaws and points why the applicant was rejected, and if anything was improved upon. This may not be the case for schools that dont keep old files, but many of the Ivies ask if you have applied, you can lie but there is the risk. Also many of them only allow you to apply 3 times in your life time, there is a reason for that. Needless to say, fresh applicants have a better chance, if you are applying for the third time, they will really be scrutinizing your file, as the jury also changes every year, which means you have been rejected by different commitiees. But there is always the exception of some applicants that do something spectacular in the next year and come up with a brand new portfolio. But I would really think hard about betting your time and effort on this slim chance, your attitude and mindset will be different doing more cycles, the pressure of recieving rejections will be different. Do not place your life on hold for this. The schools that accepted you might also rethink offering as much as they did since you chose not to attend without a solid reason in the previous cycle. It really is a crapshot and you are going in pretty much blind. Many factors come into play, the boat has sailed, I would take the best offers that you got, but hey, take it with a grain of salt since i am just another applicant in this forum. Good luck to you.

re-applying def works! I know quite a few people who got into MIT, GSD, Yale in their second/third round of application. If you have reached to the interview stage, it means those schools are interested in you and you have potentials!

I agree with mrcutout. Reapplying worked for me as well. In my first try I spent very little time on my application, essay and portfolio (a week) and I did not make it to school I wanted or got waitlisted. This year I approached mor holistically to my application and put more time, thinking into them. I applied less schools - only to the ones that aligned with my expectations from architecture school. Also, if you can share your portfolio we can hive even more helpful feedback. Portfolio is deal breaker and how you present your work is quite important.

Thank you for your comment. I shall better conduct more in-depth research about the schools before applying for sure. Regarding my portfolio, I know I came to the M.ARCH thread to discuss my issues because I thought it was generic enough. However, my portfolio is closely related to Fine Arts (Media Arts) that uses technology. I am not sure if it is irrelevant, but I am happy to share what I have.

Hey Dwem. I cannot be exact about your particular application because it seem as if it is relatively strong. It seems like you're trying to move into academia or fine-arts? It's important to be very focused with the degree/discipline you want to enter. I am myself very interested in art-and-technology and can talk extensively on the topic, both in terms of content and the contemporary U.S. discipline, if you want. Also, yea it just generally seems like you didn't apply to enough programs. Reapplying works but you have to justify the gap-year by doing something productive in the meantime.

Yeah, I can confirm what Dimes says, and I guarantee that no one makes it to the GSD on a third try, I mean that's what I was explicitly told!

Email!

This is great to hear! Congratulations!

Konsta, you have interesting research interests. I would immediately think about adding GSAPP and Penn to your list. As well, it may be the best path to just look at each M.Arch (or other degree) program and to figure that out yourself, as you can gain a much more nuanced interpretation of each university. I am not sure what you mean by "not enough non-top universities with more affordable prices" as you listed all private/Ivy-league institutions, which are very expensive. Also, you're international, which probably makes it more expensive. I would look at the u niversities in the U.S. that have the most endowment and can therefore give more funding out.

A great way to figure out the "ethos" of a school is to look not at the website, but the work of the faculty. Tells you a lot.

Thanks Boy racer, I have some prejudice that GSAPP is too expensive and doesn't support the students financially, and since I don't have much money, I didn't put it on the list, although all the students' ideas seem very interesting. Penn is very good, added him to my list, thanks. Following your advice, I went through most of the architecture master programs and filtered out 30 of them. But I don't know how to find out wich universities have the most endowment.

Thanks Graphemic, that's exactly right. I will follow this advice

Konta, take a look at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment

Australian Universities probably

I think Parsons is

Yes! M.arch 2, Fall 2023.

Yeah, definitely excited! I'll be flying down to St. Louis in a week to tour the campus

Just got a follow up to reconfirm place on the waitlist. "Although we are not able to offer you a place in the incoming class at this time, we may be able to do so in the coming weeks". Hope they update soon

Does anyone know how much time GSAPP give us to make a decision after we get off the waitlist?

Two weeks written in the letter if you got off waitlist

Have you already been notified?

yes about a week ago

Which program have you applied, nan?

m.arch I srry for late reply