How to choose grad school 101:

1. Look at length and cost or program
2. Look at faculty and their areas of interest
3. Narrow your list to schools with an academic focus that best suits your interests
4. Pick the cheapest
5. Submit a kick-ass folio that showcases your unique creative flair
6. Profit?  see point 1 above and tip below

Protip, do not take on further debt for an arts degree... especially if you're blindly jumping into architecture.

Some private schools have bigger aid budgets than public schools and can make themselves the most affordable option by awarding bigger grants and less loans.  Private schools in the tier right below the Ivies will often offer excellent students very lucrative aid packages to lure them away from the more prestige-named schools.  Sometimes they do it for diversity candidates as well.

If essay doesn't work at this stage of entering, then you can use additional resources after a while. They already have experience of such works, done perfectly well. If you are not sure, contact them.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Graduate Architecture programs at USC, please consider checking out the following resources:

• The Process is the Product is a short video that gives some insight into the graduate architecture programs at USC and the things that we value.
• USC Grad Architecture Instagram is the official account of the M.Arch and M.AARS programs at USC which will give you a sense of some of the things happening at the school, the broad range of work our students are producing, and the studio culture they share.
• The USC Architecture Faculty Sizzle Reel showcases some of the creative practice, design research, and academic scholarship our dynamic range of faculty are engaged with.
• Alumni Diaries: 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School is a recording of a virtual event where 10 recent alums came back to discuss what they learned in architecture school at USC and how it helped them get to where they are now.

Hi, my name is Polina, and I am currently an M.Arch student at Columbia GSAPP. You can find more about them on their website (https://www.arch.columbia.edu/), or I just made a video interviewing my fellow classmates about their GSAPP experiences – maybe this can be helpful?

Cost is definitely a factor but you shouldn't use that has a decision on an application for a Grad degree. The point being you will not know the cost until you are accepted and presented with the "full package". 30 years ago I drove 900 miles in the dead of winter to arrive for an appointment at the Chair of the Graduate Dept office - to present myself and my work. Some months went by when I received a phone call. I was the recipient of a full university fellowship.
Chase your dream. That's a fair part of what this is all about.
As to where? I can't help you. I was focused on a very specific aspect of Architecture that took me back to the Renaissance.
I applied to this program specifically for this reason.
The short version:
Know what your body of research is and tie it to a place or an institution that will advance it. Best to you.