if we compare UBC and UCLA in terms of digital courses and studios and the faculty..which one scores?? also at delft hyperbody to that list

@"The Co-op Guy"

@nycer

would love to share a ride! email me. pillow2015 at gmail dot com

@byen01

Thanks again. I did read Mike's blog, in fact, ran through all the UW & UBC's blogs on Archinect. They did help a little.

For me, UW's specialised studios are a main draw. I share your interest in furniture design and UW's wood-working shop is probably one of the best around. I also love the fact that every spring, they design and build small community projects for Seattle-area nonprofit groups.

As for UBC, I like their mentor, co-op and international programs. Beyond that however, I am a bit lost when it comes to specifics. I am not sure what are their strengths and to be frank, not very impressed by the works I saw on their website.

@Christian, I also feel the same way about UW producing stronger and better detailed designs (particularly on the smaller scale front). Also, Oshima's a great prof., and it's pretty awesome having Kundig and Deguchi practicing in your backyard. Make sure to check out Suyama Space if you end up at UW.

Hi guys!

I am considering registering at MIT smarch on architecture and urbanism.

if anybody attending MIT open house on April 5, can you please share your opinions afterwards?

I can not fly over, yet i really would like to hear some feedback from the open house!

Thank you in advance.

Rejected by Berkeley. damn.

Is anyone waiting to hear from GSAPP? Am I the only one?

Whatever type of result. I'm just curious about how many people are still waiting for an email. 

Rejected: UC Berkeley. It's ok no UCB. Mind's make up for UBC.

@ want it bad- i'm still waiting on gsapp MArch 1. kind of infuriating at this point. @ christian lam- i hope i didn't sound (hypo)critical regarding not being able to visit programs, especially considering at this point i'm probably going with SAC without having visited. but i'm fortunate enough to live in easy travel distance for most east coast programs, and i think visiting GSD was in particular an eye-opening experience (in that after visiting i lost all interest. princeton was the opposite, but i can't imagine that anyone who goes there for grants or tuition would be at all pleased if harvard had been their ideal.

update- just got my gsapp rejection. final tally: in: SAC (städelschule), pratt out: gsapp while i plan on attending the pratt open house, i think my mind is already set.

For people applying to Sci.Arc:

As no one replied here about Sci.Arc admissions, I just called them, and they told me that results will be sent on Monday 26 (or even this week). 

I need to know urgently if they will offer me $$ (in case I get accepted) to have something to negociate with GSD's financial aid office (They offered me 10k). However, I think I red here that international applicants could expect no more than 10k from financial aid at Harvard, in which case I'm just wasting my time (not 100% for GSD though, I still want to se what happens with Sci.Arc and $$, without considering negotiations with GSD).

So, Does anyone know something about maximum financial aid amounts for international students? And also, How successful financial negotiations are?  

IN: Yale

MIT

Columbia

Berkeley

Going to all of their open houses, will post thoughts in early April.

@jpugarte1, I don't know what the maximum financial award an international student can get is, but I can share some things I learned about the financial aid process through my own experiences. Unfortunately, the GSD claims it doesn't do matching (negotiating) of financial aid packages with other schools. This doesn't mean that you should give up on securing more financial aid though.

Negotiating with top tier schools like the gsd is tricky because you are basically telling the schools that if you dont get more money, you will go somewhere else. I think you would be better off writing a letter of financial appeal, stating that you would love to enroll in the program, but cannot afford the cost of attendance and are afraid that you will lose your ability to attend. You can also mention that you received a more favorable package from another school, but that should not be the emphasis of the letter. I think the important thing to remember is that the tone of your correspondences with the school should be humble at all times as the officials will be more likely to consider your situation.

There is no guarantee that this will work, but hopefully this will help.

Waitlisted at GSAPP.. should know by late april/early may. Anyone know if there's an order for the list?

everything out, but GSAPP....

i might not go due to money and if that is case soali you can have my spot.

kinda bummed that im out at UCB and if people got their UCLA acceptance already that means the chances im out at UCLA as well. Not that I would go back to UCLA but having one choice and that choice being the most expensive is not looking good in my books.

@smwong,

Thanks, I'll consider your advice in case a make an appeal. 

16K from Yale! Happy! 

Just a update I am a international student and just confirmed with UCLA that my admission package which should be sent on early march was lost somehow on its way.

Those still waiting on UCLA and Pratt...

Called them both to see if I could get anymore info from them. Both schools claimed that not all decisions had been sent out already. Pratt said we should hear back some time this week, UCLA said that we should hear back within the next 4 weeks.

in: Umich (10k), GSAPP (10k), UT Austin (???)

out: GSD (ah, well)

Has anyone heard from Umich or Austin regarding financial aid? 

The Umich merit scholarship was included in my letter but no mention of additional aid/work study/loan/etc. 

Still no word from UT Austin regarding any type of funding.

@jason_sf

Apparently Pratt has only received my GRE scores on the 10th (while the others received them back in January). So that only means it still is in review... Meaning I wont hear from them in WEEKS! How am I supposed to know whether or not I should go to the open house when I may find out about my application after the set date?

Pratt's admission process is horrible...

ntlaa, check your wolverine account under Financial Aid Summary. I also got the 10k merit scholarship, and under the summary I also received 5k in grants and a bunch of loans. Are you going to the open house?

Ind123, Pratt also received my GRE scores very late, but they still sent my acceptance letter on time, so you schould call to make sure they received everything else.

@soali

It was just my GRE scores that were missing, everything else was received. I just can never get through to admissions to speak to someone. How did you hear from them? Via email or postage?

It was an email. But, they did send me an email the day after I received the acceptance saying that my application was complete and ready to be reviewed. So, no doubt that their admissions office is not the most organized.

so the final tally is 

IN: MIT & UPenn

OUT: Columbia & Princeton...

Not bad considering I thought I was gna get slapped by every school. I'm probably headed to Cambridge; I've been wanting to study at MIT since I was 14 years old. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the open house because I'm international and it'll cost me around 2000$

So if anyone by any chance goes ; it would be very much appreciated to share your thoughts regarding the school. For some reason I get this sense that MIT is so low key on this forum ... seems very secretive when comparing it to GSAPP &  GSD .... 

I wonder why.

@Ind123

I don't think that your late GRE scores have will have prevented Pratt from reviewing your application--it's the least important component of your application provided you didn't completely bomb them. The open house is on 4/5--I suspect we should know before then. If not, you can't visit the school on your own. I think there's a lot to be said about seeing the school more informally and trying to meet up with current students and/or faculty, rather than relying solely on "the big show" at the open houses. Try calling them if you need to discuss anything--email is often not very effective. Best of luck to you!

^oops. meant to say, you CAN visit the school on your own

Has anyone on here applied to Vtech at all? I haven't seen any chatter at all on when the decisions are coming out.  I am still waiting with my fingers crossed.

@Nathan Stolarz

I applied and haven't heard anything either... It's the only school I haven't heard back from

just got another 'unofficial' acceptance letter from UC Berkeley - it's a PDF this time. Still does not discuss financial aid. 

To anyone waiting for UCLA official confirmation, the website status has updated and now gives me the official acceptance letter with links to accept.  It's dated March 2nd though lol. Yeah right, I've checked every day since February...

UCLA has not updated my website status yet their student helper send me a pdf of acceptance letter which also dated March2nd too ... without links to accept though...

Same as LUcive, got another two unofficial acceptance letters from Berkeley. One was from the Dean of the College of Environmental Design and the other was from the chair of graduate advisers.  No financial info yet, and I'm worried that I may not have been awarded a departmental grant/ fellowship because there was no mention in the dean's letter.

Has anyone heard from Cal Poly Pomona? I

I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on MIT and GSD open houses from those who attend as well.

@smwong & LUcive

Also got those two official looking, yet still unofficial letters from Berkeley. However, there was mention in mine that they are recommending admission to the program with one year of full funding. Not quite sure what to make of this. Does that mean they will definitely offer that to me, or is it just a recommendation and I will have to wait and see until it's official? Definitely calling them tomorrow to clarify. Hopefully they'll come back at you guys with some $$$ as well. I decided to go to the open house after all and ditch Penn. Hope to see you there, though that might to difficult to uncover given the anonymity of this website. Liked your Jupiter idea, smwong.

It sounds like you are getting that.  It would be pretty bad form if they "recommended" funding then pulled it out from under you.

I also received those letters from UC Berkeley also last evening, but didn't get any mention of funding.  It would be nice if they were just upfront about it if they aren't offering money instead of not saying anything.

I actually applied to the 3.5 year M.Arch / M.S. Structural Engineering Program, but the letters only said that I was recommended for the 3 year M. Arch with no mention of the 3.5 year program.  Has anyone heard about getting into that program yet?  The 3.5 year program is what I want to be at Berkeley for.  If I wasn't accepted into that, I think I'd rather attend GSAPP if I am just getting an M. Arch degree.

@Berkeley posts

I received the same 2 letters last night at 8:45 - "M.Arch Award Letter" and "Dean's Letter". Offered one year funding of tuition and fees. I estimate that to be around 40k in loans (living included) after the  two years for the M.Arch I degree.

GSD would cost me 100k+ (after grants, living included) for the 3.5 year M.Arch I.

is the GSD really worth it?!?!

@ Christian Lam

Hey fellow Singaporean! I really shouldn't be in this thread as I'm not applying this year, but it would be great to hear more about your experience applying as a career-changer. My email is monosierra@gmail.com. Tks!

Michigan advanced standing (2 yr no money offered) vs. Pratt (3 yr 17K offered)? What do you think?

Michigan

I was wait listed at parsons and ccny.... im waiting for pratt....

i dont know what to do now :(

is there anything i can do to get off the wait list?

^ Hope that not enough admittees enroll in those schools during the registration period. Call admissions to see how many were taken off the wait list in past years to get a sense of your chances. After the enrollment deadline, wait.

@lnd123: I hear you man - waiting forever just to hear a response from a school only to find you have to do more waiting is downright agonizing. I'm only waitlisted for one school right now - must be nerveracking for multiple ones. Hopefully people turn down their spots at those schools (some are bound too). I'm hoping people reject their spots at PennDesign to make room for me ;D

While I'm posting, anyone have any first-hand experience/knowledge about UNLV's program? I was accepted there and have a fair grasp on their strengths/weaknesses (mainly size and funding), but I haven't been to the campus to check out the program. Lining up a visit soon. Just thought I'd ask - doesn't seem to be a program that comes up in discussion much here.

@greg.horen

Mathematically you just need to earn 51k/annum to level the two since you will start working earlier from Mich. Anything less in reality reflects the premium of Mich over Pratt, if you are willing to pay.

now, you can consider the schools on their own merit?

When is the enrollment deadline?

@ Vexillation

I was accpeted to UNLV also.  I took a tour when I was visiting Vegas last fall.  The facilties at UNLV are awesome, its all new and updated.  The Architecture building is fairly now, open and nice.  Tuition is cheap, especially if you get in state.  In terms of reputation I haven't heard alot.  UNLV in genereal isn't too great, its ok.  I have a few friends that came here from Vegas, because they though UNLV wasn't that great (non arch undergrads though).  I'm very hesitant to attend, because of UNLV's meh reputation overall.

I emailed them with some questions and these were my responses:

M. Arch students in the 3+ program  typically take 12 credits per semester for the first two years.  These courses are designed to cover what you would have taken had you been an architecture major as an undergraduate.  If you have a background in design, some of these courses are occasionally waived, the specifics depending on your background, You can find a list of the typical classes on our website, <architecture.unlv,edu>. 

Once you complete the preparatory courses, you begin the two year master's program proper.  For it,  there is a set schedule for 9 credits of the semester's load. The other three credits per semester are for an elective course selected by you to further your individual educational goals. The electives can be taken in the School of Architecture or in other programs on campus or abroad.

There are graduate assistantships available, but they are quite competitive to get.  You have taken the first step by applying on line.

We would like to know whether or not you are coming as soon as you can tell us, but not later than May 1.

@ Cornellians

Just called Cornell's finaid office. Apparently there are only loans available to M.Arch students. It doesn't seem fair that a B.Arch student can get full tuition because of undergraduate funding, but they leave the M.Archs (which is arguably an equivalent degree) hanging with huge amounts of debt...

@m3tropolis and jason_sf, congrats on those awards from Berkeley. I spoke with the admissions office and they said that if you were awarded a departmental fellowship, you would have been notified in the two letters, which I was not. I am surprised since I have demonstrated financial need and thought I would get at least a small need-based award.

Whether this means the graduate division is going to offer me all loans or maybe there is still an opportunity for other grants/fellowships, I dont know. It's hard to make a choice based on an incomplete offer.

Anyways, I will still be going to the open house events on the 1st and the 2nd, so if anybody is interested in meeting up, let me know.