see the other posts on this topic. my gut feeling is, if you don't get in any schools, work more on your portfolio. i base this assumption on the fact that you don't have an arch background, not because I doubt your abilities. don't worry about things you can't control (ie gpa). perhaps post a copy of your portfolio online and have your fellow archinecters give you some feedback?

I guess it depends on what your goals are. Ivy's will gain a reputation based on where they go; however, studying in Grad school can be what you make it-you can put forth some awesome stuff or not, and primarily where you go has little to do with what you put forth. I am in a similar situation, my GRE scores were awful-I don't take standardized tests well, but I do have a high GPA and a strong portfolio and I have good recommenders; however, If you don't get into your top choice, I wouldn't fret-you can still make the best of where you go!

Sol?,

you will definitely get into some of those places you listed. don't fret about your gre's. Mean avg is around 1200/1250 and those are for really good schools. If your portfolio is good with strong concepts and critical thinking, that will come through more than gpa.

In my perfect world of admissions...I would let all people named Guiggster get in. No, I would look look at the 5.5/6.0 on the analytical writing and say, "he knows how to clearly analyze problems," something I imagine architects need to excel at. Then I would look at your background and say, "he was analyzing problems in biology eh? thats a difficult field." And I would assess from there.

Or in the real world I would look at your freehand drawing skills and judge you on how cool your portfolio binding is.

By the way, my dad is a philosophy professor at USF so I looked into their arch program as well as some other Florida schools, and I get the impression that bzkr is right when he says you will def. get into some of those schools.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I will let you know what happens. I know that I will make the best of wherever I go.

However, one of my questions is, if I do not get into a "top" school, then do I wait another year, go to a lower-ranked school, or go and then try to transfer? Has anyone transferred successfully? Is it worth the effort?

Your list includes some good schools, some of which also have pretty high acceptance rates - so I think if your portfolio and other materials are strong you will get into at least some of them regardless of GPA. Your GRE scores are fine - it just isn't a big factor in the decisions of most places.

Transferring at the graduate level is unusual. It does happen occasionally, but some things to consider would be:
1. When transfer students are accepted it is usually as a lateral move - meaning that a transfer from two more or less equally competetive schools is much more likely than that a transfer will be accepted to a so-called "top" school from a relatively lower-tiered program.
2. Some programs don't accept transfers at all, other than to consider them as regular applicants to the first year of the program (in other words you'd be starting over.)
3. Other programs accept them only in years in which the second year class is expected to be smaller than usual - sometimes due to a lot of leaves of absence or people dropping out. In this case the transfer applicants are usually in competition with the advanced-placement applicants (who usually have some of the strongest portfolios because they've had the longest histories of studio work) - so you'd have to have a portfolio that was up-to-date to display your graduate level work. This is difficult since at the point that you'll be applying you'll have had only 1 semester at best, and you'll also be very busy so it may be difficult to find time to spend on portfolio and the rest of the application process.
4. In any transfer situation you may find that the school expects you to repeat some coursework because they don't think the course you took at the first school is similar enough to the second school's version. If enough of this happens - for instance if they want to place you in lower level studios - then you'll end up spending an extra semester to a year.

Transfers are sometimes a good idea if you find that your first school is not at all compatible with your goals and interests. However, it is usually not a great idea to choose to attend a school with the plan to transfer later. Transfers at this level are tricky and usually best avoided.