@ Blue

From your list, I would be facing a difficult time deciding between the GSD and Princeton.  I like large environments where I can be exposed to as many different ideas and explorations, where I can discuss with as many different people as possible and simultaneously learn from what they are exploring. I also prefer being exposed to all disciplines in the design field.  That said, GSD has about 700 students, with probably classes of around 40-60 students(M.Arch I +II).  However....Princeton is VERY seducing, it sells itself as being a more selective program.  From what I heard at the open house, they accept about 20-22 people, and have about 10-13 people enroll (M. Arch).  it's a tiny school, and thinking about all the people you beat to get into their program, probably affects your ego( in a self-assuring way).  However, i would have a tough time being with such a tiny class, for 3 years, and would probably always be bothered by missing an opportunity to expand my horizon (exposing myself to as many design minds as possible).  To me, Yes the pedagogy is very important, but i really believe that the learning happens when students begin to push each other.  In my mind, the interactions between the students overweigh those between students and faculty (this is just in terms of learning and exploring, not connections.. etc)

 So then, one would probably ask why these schools, and not others, if its just about the student interactions? I would respond to this, by emphasizing that these schools, do a good job in selecting candidates that guarantee a rigorous learning environment, where all students are extremely interested in what they are exploring.  Anyways, to get back to the point.  Since, im all about giving my self the opportunity the expand my horizon, such an exposure at a school like princeton, can arguably seen as insignificant, in comparison to that at the GSD (simply based on the number of students and that studio arrangements are mixed, so that people of the same discipline dont have desks next to each other, which at least enhances the chances of learning some landscape tips or urban design thoughts, while studying, say, architecture).  At princeton, your going to be talking to the same 12 people for the rest of your studies.....so, in my mind, GSD wins the "exposure" game.  

However, that said, Princeton is good at giving money to those selected few, and it becomes significantly cheaper to attain a great education from a super-prestigious school.  In other words, it is much much cheaper to go there than it is say at GSD...! They are super rich and make sure they keep those that they want.  

So in all, due to the $$$ I would probably end up at Princeton, but constantly bugging myself about the missed opportunities and potential exposure at GSD  (which to me, are very important).    

@mrkl28

Have you received anything from UBC yet?

@Christian Lam

Not a final decision, no.

I've been accepted here at the University of Melbourne though. But I did email Patricia Poehnell to followup with my UBC app status. The first time she said to just wait for the letter. I emailed again saying I got accepted into U.Melb and asked for a possible informal desicion email. She said this (unedited): "Mark,  just to be on the safe side, I would definitely accept the offer from U Melbourne." Which to me sounds like I didn't get it. :( But yeah, I suppose I should wait for the email.

Did anybody else hear from UBC? Seems like there aren't many on grad cafe.

*Mail

@mrkl28 Don't lose hope yet. Aren't you accepted at CCA also? I was hoping there's someone else on this forum accepting the UBC offer or making it to the open house. Yes, I'm crazy enough to fly over 15,000km to attend one. But I'm taking the chance to check out the housing options before relocating later this summer.

Re: UBC Decisions

I too am still waiting on UBC. I applied last year; they take their sweet time sending out DHL envelopes. 

Meanwhile, VTech wants me to make a decision by April 15th. Is this normal?

@FederallyFunded, PradaTransformer, npats and James Petty

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and advice! I'm leaning toward Princeton because of the money, but the small size is definitely an issue. There are good and bad things about going to either a big school or a small school, but ultimately I think it's maybe crazy to turn down the money that Princeton can offer. I know some people at GSD who love it, but I don't know anyone who's gone through the Princeton program recently. They're all really great schools and are substantially different, which makes the decision more difficult I think. FederallyFunded, you definitely verbalized all of my concerns in your very thoughtful post--I guess I'll have to see if the open houses make the decision more clear to me. Thanks again--much appreciated!

@ Blue 

Let me know what happens

Heard Saturday that I was wait listed at UW, anyone else?

@FederallyFunded @blue

I do agree to an extent to the point that GSD has more students and therefore you will have broader exposure to different ideas. However, you will not always have the opportunity to interact with all of those students or what is the chance that those students don't have the same view as you do?? While at Princeton, the brilliant students you will meet that represent a diverse group of students with diverse interests MAY influence you in a better way. I have seen portfolios of people accepted to both GSD and Princeton and I think those that got into the GSD had nice portfolios with pretty renderings while those from Princeton were simply extraordinary. So, to me Princeton vs. GSD = Quality vs. Quantity and I am very open to criticism.

I'd like to share an abstract from an email I received from a former student at the Princeton SOA who graduated there approx. 5 years ago:

 "Princeton is a truly amazing environment to learn in with the most intimate group of brilliant teachers and students... I think it is by far the best in terms of theoretical/philosophical exposure; although you will have the opportunity to study technology it is not the foreground unless informed by intelligent thinking; the networking and one-on-one time you will have with the avant-garde of the architecture world is unparalleled...

... the success rate of Princeton grads is unbelievable and you will have the potential to make connections with influential people in whatever areas you choose.  The name helps open doors, but not because of the name - because its graduates continue to distinguish themselves.  All of my best friends, and the people I respect the most, I met during my two years at Princeton."

So, @blue I hope I helped you in some way about your decision! I know that the Open Houses will help a lot, too.

I am attending Princeton SOA for MARCH I AP and I cannot be more honored to be accepted in the most selective architecture school in the US!

@ tschural

Congrats on your acceptance.  I hope the best for you!  We are trying to have a reasonable and unbiased discussion here, at least I am.  its one thing to be self-assured that you eliminated a huge(and competitive pool) and another thing to discuss pros/cons of each program.

I agree with many of your view points, especially in terms of the theoretical approach at Princeton and the intimacy of the environment.  However, I can not go so far as to accept your evaluation (quality vs quantity).     Don't forget that the GSD also gets about 2.5x amount of applicants that Princeton does (if you do the math, the numbers are just about the same).  Frankly, they are just as competitive, regardless of the fact that princeton does a better job selling their "selectivity".    

To me it is outright ridiculous to even consider this a discussion of quality vs. quantity.  If it were that easy, I dont think we would be having this discussion.  This really makes me question the validity of your opinion.  I think there are a lot of variables to that equation, which you are missing.  Some of those variables may weigh differently for each particular student.  

@ FederallyFunded I am not saying one school is better than the other. The meaning of Quality vs. Quantity in my view is that Princeton is able to accept such a small number of diverse students while GSD because of its greater acceptance number can get more of the same students. The caliber of students is the same. What is more important is where you DO fit into. Does it make sense?

@tschural

Yes that makes sense  :)

@SitterlyDesigns

UBC decision is also by 15 Apr so is UW and quite a number of others.

@napa,

waiting for the official letters to be in before turning down UW this week. Hope that helps.

@Christian Lam

Yes was offered @ CCA, however I can't budget such a high tuition fee and it seems to me like they're giving offers out to everybody who has applied. Oh and I must also say that UBC is my first choice. Eagerly waiting for than damn DHL envelope!

Are there any other Australian applicants applying to N.America schools out there?

I have just received an email from SCI-Arc with official acceptance documents, but there isn't anything related to financial aid (not even something that says that they will not give me $$). 

Has anyone got any info about financial aid?

I emailed them asking about it, didn't get info either . I'll let you know.

Wow, left this thread for awhile when it was still 300ish and now there's 1100ish comment here. Anyways, here's my result: GSD-Wait listed, Toronto-In.

Definitely going to Toronto since I had my undergrad also in Boston. I'm excited to experience a new city.

@qtip

Did your SGS status change before you got notification? I'm still waiting on Toronto :S

My SGS status changed to 'Decision Made' a couple days back, but today I suddenly got an email with the offer. Last year's post from gradcafe shows that most people who got the offers, get their result around this time. Good luck, Clarke! 

Thanks qtip! Status has not changed yet, but hopefully I'll know soon. I did notice that all the results were up by April 1st or so last year, so there's still a week I guess :) This could either be the best or worst birthday present this year. Congratulations! Toronto is a fantastic city

0$ SCI , GSD for sure now. Its one year longer and much more expensive tho :(

@mrkl28 and sitterly designs: I have also applied to UBC and still waiting for a reply. Had called up regarding the status and it seems this weekend they sent out the final letters via postal mail....soo eagerly waiting!

@ tschural

I thought Cooper Union was the most selective in the US. But yeah I do agree Princeton has one of the lowest acceptance rates. 

help, i wonder if anyone have the same situation as mine. 

I received emails from UCLA of acceptance notification, yet my online status is still '' no decision has been made''. I have mailed them for a week yet no reply. Up till now I have only received informal acceptance without a formal letter. I am choosing between USC and UCLA and decided to go for UCLA. While USC deadline is tomorrow, UCLA still have not provided me a formal letter.. how come...

@Starkitect: Thanks for the heads up! I'm eager to get the waiting over with.                            @Christian Lam: Thanks for that information. UO's giving me until May 1 to decide so didn't know the norm.

I applied to 10 schools because I don't have a design background (law & econ.) I enrolled at Boston Architectural College this year to show other schools that I'm serious. This is what I got so far:

In: VA Tech, U. Oregon

Wait listed: U. Colorado

Out: GSD, GSAPP, MIT, UC Berkeley, Yale

Waiting: UBC, UNC

i think ucla is out to torture us :|

@k2886 -  Seriously   -____-

agree.........

I'm also anxiously awaiting a decision from UBC.

@Christian Lam,

Where did you find info on the open house for UBC?

@SitterlyDesigns,

when did you find out about VTech? and what program did you apply to?

This page is ridiculous.

yeah....go to a certain school because is is soooooo presitgious and soooo selective"

Just sit down, look at student work from your various school options, work from the faculty, and what resources are available to you. If you can't discern any differences or preferences, you have a problem, because these schools are all very different.

Nobody is going to be giving so much more respect because you went to Yale and not Princeton, Columbia and not Harvard... blah blah. You should be focused on more.,...i dont know.....important things?

To Nathan Geller

My daughter received an email acceptance on March 2 from VA Tech for the M.Arch 3 1/2 year program.

@ those who are waiting for UCLA formal letter,

I'm not sure if you guys have received letter from the chair of AUD. I got it this morning. They also sent out Open house invitation email as well as financial aid information. They gave me 0$. - -"

and USC required to reply today! the chair says " It would be a shame if you were to miss out on this wonderful opportunity to come to USC by not registering your acceptance on time." 8K scholarship offered. I wish they give us more time. Many other schools give until mid-april!

WashU (35K) and GSAPP (10K) I'm choosing between those two. any suggestions!

@phycon

I got that so. It is pretty surprise they only send out open house invitation before a week... (Although I cant go anyway) 

USC also said  ''I f you are interested in accepting our offer, please make sure that you do so by 6pm [Pacific Standard Time] today''  , Missed already..Though I planned to go for UCLA, USC more organized admission procedure in comparison  is definitely giving me better impression towards it. 

They have not sent me financial aid information with the invitation email, did you receive both within the same mail? They have only once mention a few words of offering me fellowship in a greeting letter....  

@Jennifer I found out from the acceptance package they sent via DHL. Just got news I got accepted to Columbia GSAPP! Unbelievable but possibly unbelievable that I am turning it down for UBC. @otterson, getting more ridiculous I guess?

@Christian Lam

congrats on columbia!

I made my comment because I had been off this forum for a week while on spring break and  now that I see it again, I see the same names making the same comments about the same schools, I can't believe the number of times i see people talking about how "selective" something is.

When I start school this fall, I sure hope nobody chose it with the top concern being "selective" or "less selective"

@otterson. Thanks! I am with you on this. But I guess sometimes we need something to feel good about ourselves. Hopefully that power comes from within so that it will not be easily taken away from us. We just need to believe in ourselves.

^ truth

i've seen a lot of students in school who are only happy if they had the best jury in the whole studio; these are the people are are unhappy the most often. and the most successful ones are the ones who have felt ok pretty much either way.

@ngcorliss

UCLA financial office sent "provisional award letter" in a separate email. Then, you have to log into their MyFAO with UCLA logonID and pw to see the award. They just gave me a bunch of loans. No mention of any fellowship in the package I received two weeks ago when they said they were recommending to the Graduate division. 

and yeah, the deadline is passed for USC and I haven't replied them yet, also. I guess I should do it at least tomorrow so that they can admit those in the wait-list although they are going to do it without our reply anyways, right?

@phycon 

Thankyou for you reply. True that USC will probably turn to others :) yet I have replied them my decision still. 

I guess because my status is still ' no decision has been made' I cant check the myFAO :(

@Nathan Geller

VTech sent their decisions to me via email on March 15. I applied for the M.Arch 3 program.

It is official, Alejandro Zaera-Polo will be replacing Stan Allen as the new dean for Princeton. 

Opinions? Does anyone know anything about him?

@phycon

I got the same amount for UCLA as well. I finally regret not caring about my academic GPA :P

Not sure about AZP as the new dean.. I was at a lecture by him this past friday at UMich for the preview weekend, it was actually pretty disappointing. I know myself and most of the students there were really excited for it, but he talked mostly about theoretical prospects of the 'envelope' which could have been great, but hardly got into the ramifications of this in his own work (not more than a brief mention of the Yokohama Port Terminal and even new projects, and a lot about other architectural examples that attempted to explicate his four types of envelopes.. ) Overall just lacked an interesting and clear presentation, with lots of "uhs and ums". Maybe he was tired/unprepared but to me that isn't an excuse to give an ill-formed lecture.. of course this shouldn't be taken as criticism about his capacity to be a great Dean.. 

I'm assuming Stan Allen is stepping down to teach more? Hopefully for those at Princeton he isn't leaving..

@faintest ink @ The Co-op Guy

If I'm not mistaken, Alejandro Zaera Polo is offering an advanced studio at Yale this year. Or at least that's what Robert Stern's letter says.

That's unfortunate. I heard Stan is a great studio prof.

Has anyone heard from U. Cincinnati yet this year?