This past winter I applied to several M.Arch I programs and would appreciate the insight of those on this board w/ regards to my school choice. I applied to: GSD, UMich, UMiami, Princeton, UVA & Yale. I was accepted to Miami & UMich but was dinged by the others. My application process was pretty brutal in that I experienced two major family tragedies in the autumn that, at the least, had significant impact on my M.Arch applications. So, I'm now trying to decide as to whether I ought to defer my acceptances and wait a year, improve my porfolio/retake GRE's, and reapply or to go ahead and enroll at Miami.


My background: Undergrad: Political Sci & Philosophy w/ 3.8 GPA & Notre Dame. Grad: Masters in Urban Planning at Cambridge (UK). GE 660 m 660 v 6 writing (though i had tested better before things went south). I've always been interested in new urbanism (gasp - i know its considered an anathama to the modernists out there) so I'm attracted to Miami as its the center of the NU movement. Of the schools I applied to, Yale was probably my top choice as it one of the only "elite" archie schools that offered any daylight for classical/traditional/new urbanist notions of architecture.

Miami's not ranked in the DI - in part b/c the survey of professional practicioners failed to include any new urbanist firms (DPZ, Calthorpe, ASG, etc). And I dont give much consideration to the concept of 'ranking' artistic style and education, but I would like attend school in the most rigorous & challenging environment possible. And I've heard mixed reviews on the quality of studio's there. Other the other hand, the 3.5 yr program allows for a combo degree of M.Arch + Masters in Suburb & Town Design.


Anyways- end to this monologue. I'd appreciate to hear your thoughts on Miami, etc. Thanks in advance.