Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
University of Southern California (USC)
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Kansas State University
Grad School Inquiries
Hello, I am an architectural designer considering grad school for the next application cycle, Fall 2024. I am reaching out to gather insight on schools I am interested in, particularly at these schools:
MIT, Harvard, Pratt, Columbia, UT, and Rice
I would like to hear people's personal experiences on attending these schools and ask:
What architecture topics did your school focus on, and what is the teaching style? (Was it more conceptual or technical?)
What type of student does your school admit, and what type of students were in your cohort?
Lastly, was going to your school worth it, and would you choose that school if you had the chance to do your M.Arch again?
Thank you in advance for your help!
just remember that no arch degree is worth 100k debt so take the absolute cheapest degree you can. The rest matters less.
Also, all of your schools are on every single other applicants list and this have plenty of info out in the forums. Just pick the cheapest.
NS is right, but each of these schools is around 75k per year these days. No degree in architecture is worth that. Case in point, you graduate from GSD and get a job in some hotshot firm. Starchitect firm will pay you around 40k a year, corporate max 50k. Totally not worth it, unless you score scholarships.
Also worth taking the time and apply to other schools than the top5.
this is clown level advice on par with AA DRL Schumacher so he can pay everyone half in the office...
It’s not about the school, but what you put into it. Sure the names can get you connections, but they won’t make you a better architect than other schools.
I really never understand these kinds of questions. What you should be asking, and not of us, but of yourself, is this; what is my big question? Until you find am answer to that, you'll never find the right school. If you dodge that, NS and others are on point. You're just grabbing at debt.
Well, I kind of disagree with the "school does not matter" statement. I currently work at a niche starchitect firm and almost everyone they hired is from the top 10 schools (with about 60% from GSD, Yale, GSAAP). Only those who have been with the boss from his years taking off are from less-known universities. That being said, if this is anyone's goal then going to a less-known university is not worth it. I believe people will end up where they should be. I would say the most important thing is to keep up with your passion; architecture is too demanding of a profession for unenthusiastic people.
Are the bosses in your firm convinced by real-world experience that the Ivy grads are better? Or or they taken in by the pure snob appeal of an exclusionary hiring policy? Ironic that a place that came to prominence using the labor of non-Ivy trained people no longer considers a non-Ivy education to be good enough.
I'm not disagreeing with you, however. Bias towards hiring Ivy grads is both real and prevalent in the USA. I have witnessed it at several firms.
That’s a really good question. I think the answer to that question could be complex, 1) close proximity 2) managements relationship with the school (some people teach there) 3) fellowship and research dominant firm 4) the firm itself has a pretty strict atmosphere, and I think they way they identify who are stress-resistant are based on their ability to get into / finish coursework at the Ivies.
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