With no arch. education or experience what do you use to establish that order and list of schools?

archinect, of course!!!

I guess I should go ahead and give my full story here. It'll help people respond (which I would really appreciate the help). While I said I came from a non-architecture undergraduate degree, doesn't necessarily mean I have no architecture education or experience.

So far, I have visited all the schools mentioned, sitting in on crits and courses, and basically my list came from what I saw as far as rational, clear and considerate critiques of students work. Before visiting, the list came from other reserach into the schools.

Anyway, I have taken one architectural studio as well as a few fine arts courses, which I can draw from for my portfolio. In fact, I did apply to graduate schools this year. I was only accepted to Penn out of the list I mentioned. And I also have received a few strong job offers with some companies.... However, I have been an undergrad at Penn for four years now and so I'm not really hot on spending another 3 years in the same location. Also, making money and living in San Francisco (where my job offers are) sounds more tempting at the moment.

And so the GSD was my top choice, and I was denied. So besides accepting Penn's offer, my plan is to work a year or two, perhaps further fine-tune my portfolio by taking the GSD career discovery program. I'm hoping this will make me a better candidate for schools for a second application in the future, but I want to make the right decision between working or accepting Penn's offer and not reapplying to my top choice school. Anyway, a few other stats on me, my essay and recs were definitely good, and my GRE is 750Verbal 750Math 5.5Writing. Okay...thanks for your help in advance.

Sorry that was entirely too much information, but maybe some of you can give me perspective on what I should do.

PeteyPablo: Whether or not that answers your question, I'd appreciate your advice on my decision, and I guess just take my list as a given for now since I have other things to consider... ;)

You were a math major and got a 750 on GRE math? Doesn't that put you in like the 5th percentile?

Beyond that, I was also an econ major, and only applied to DAAP (cincinnati), since I will not be able to leave the city for at least a year anyway. I was accepted and decided to attend, mostly because of their co-op program and the fact that they only cost 10k a year for full tuition.

Since my background is not in architecture, the co-op thing is a huge deal--I'd like to work in arch as part of my arch education, since I haven't been able to between undergrad and grad (like people with B Archs). I understand penn puts major emphasis on professional practice--do they have co-ops? If so, that would be a major attraction for me. They also have some pretty interesting dual-degree/certificates going on, which I'm sure you're familiar with. I'm very attracted to the real estate cert., and penn would have been probably second on my list if I had applied elsewhere. Do they have an MArch/MBA?

SO that's my two cents.

BTW, was your econ major in wharton or not?

chartsandgraphs...

just curious, what firms in SF did you recieve offers?

i'm currently in SF headed toward Penn in the fall.

cincydaap:
Without an actual degree in architecture, my job opportunities aren't actually in architecture. One offer is with a pharmaceutical/biotechnology consulting firm, and the other is with a hedge fund doing financial analysis. So basically my math and econ background led me in this direction.

Btw, which program will you be entering this fall?

c&g:

i'll be in the MArch1 program

cincydaap, are you attending the open house or have you already visited Penn?

i'll be at the open house.