i have yet to reach a person on the first try..i always have to
leave a message..and i love the part of their 'customer
service' message that says, "Multiple messages may effect
speed in which your call is returned.." or something to that
affect..basically saying if you call and leave a ton of messages
we're gonna put you at the back of the line...and call you at
our leisure.
I've been waiting 2 months to get confirmation to take my frigg'n xams already. This on top of the 2 months it took them to tell me no, they hadnt rec'd my request to transmit. Then theres been the last 6 years....
When I applied for my council record, they cashed the check within a week. But it took 8 months for them to actually establish the record so I could start recording my IDP, and this only after I sent a somewhat nasty e-mail to them. This set my whole IDP records back, and I never did get started doing them in real time, they are all going to be done in retrospect, which I only hope will be OK. I got a reply from my nasty e-mail with the grammar of a kindergartner, it went something like this: Your will have had your record established Monday. Sincerely, Shaniquah Jones. (made-up name, but it was something like that)
I have a LARGE box full of NCARB and IDP and ARE catalogs, pamplets, guides, documentation, flyers, mailings, handbooks, correspondence, a hand written account of every minute I have ever worked at an architecture office, etc. All of it is thoroughly confusing. If I have a question, I dig thru this box and curse and throw stuff. NCARB information is repeated multiple times in these handy dandy publications, but never stated in quite the same way. I always get confused about whether they are talking about NCARB certification or licensure in any given paragraph.
14 years ago, I started putting all of my IDP VU info onto Excel spreadsheets, even wrote a routie to convert my company's project codes into IDP VU codes. I kept this updfor a few years & checked w/ NCARB off-n-on about using my very efficient method of cataloguing my time instead of the archaic, stupid 'fill-it-out' by hand' method. After about 6 yrs of that, I realized that those goofballs were gonna remain in the 1950s until I retired. Not a good excuse for me to put IDP on the back-burner, but the thought of taking all of my digitized experience & dumbing it down into endless hours just made me say 'screw this' . I was already making good money & getting nice work w/out a license. Livin' life seemed more important than doing paperwork that meant (& still means) little.
Don't get me wrong, I think getting your license is a good thing. Maybe NCARB has changed & I can now use my IDP times 3, but I think I've moved on at least until I stop work.
It's now taken me 5 months to get them to send my IDP record to the Great State of Michigan. This is the second transmittal of this record - it's already been evaluated and deemed complete. They've sent it to the wrong state (once). They've forgotten to mail it (twice). They've sent me a certificate congratulating me on completing IDP (I now have three). They've sent me invoices for different services which don't apply to my case, and each time with a note that says that they cannot process my application until they receive complete payment. Goddamn them.
And I have recently received a nice postcard from them reminding me how much NCARB certification can help me expedite reciprocity in the states in which I am not licensed. I am, for some reason skeptical.
And when I was doing IDP, one of my work verification forms never made it onto my periodic assessment report. When I asked, they said it that it had been rejected. And while they couldn't tell me over the phone why, they then they said that the reasons for that rejection were detailed in a letter. When they tried to find the letter on their computers, they couldn't. They finally admitted that it had never been written, and the verification form had probably just been lost.
I just don't understand the wait times. From the time that I sent my last IDP record in until the time that I received registration was a total of 16 months. But only 7 months of that was the time that I was actually testing.
From last IDP record until I got word IDP was finished was about 2 months.
Then about 2 months until they transmitted my record to my state and I got permission to test.
Then about 2 weeks to get the letter and authorization number to sign up to test.
While I was testing each test result took 3 to 9 weeks to get to me. Sometimes I was waiting on results from several tests at once.
When I passed my last test I had to wait a month for that last test result.
Then I then had to wait for my state to approve me, which took another 2 months.
Then, waiting on NCARB certification (for purposes of reciprocity) took 8 months - which is the most ridiculous wait of all, because at that point they already have your whole record compiled and checked and all they should have to do is update it with your state registration number and send you your certificate.
NCARB...
Did it all,
took one year.
One test +/- per month
Graphical tests takes less time...use aresolutions.com for help
Areforum.org is a blessing...
I can't realize I went 9 times to prometics test center...and gave them so much money...
Expect to spend around 3K for the exams...on fees,books...and post-exams compulsive spending to change your mind!
I finished all the tests in a little over 6 months, but like others had the experience that the waiting through each NCARB stage (and then waiting for the state's board meeting so that I could be approved) took more time than the testing process. Usually I would wait and wait for each NCARB phase until they had exceeded their own estimated timeline, then I'd call them and someone there would say "I don't know why that hasn't been processed yet, it will be processed by the end of the week." Then I'd wait 2 to 3 more weeks before I received it.
One thing I've noticed is that whenever NCARB posts something in your record with a date that it was processed, or whenever they tell you that it is complete and being mailed, the postmark date is almost always about 8 days later - so any phase takes at least an extra week because your paperwork is sitting in their mailroom.
Oct 1, 05 2:28 pm ·
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NCARB....Need I say More?
Share with us your experiences with NCARB. Good or Bad - Preferably BAD!
you mean besides the pathetic and bass-ackwards software that they cobbled together for the a.r.e.? or does that count?
That's the spirit. And yes, the tests contribute greatly to their shortcomings...please go on.
i have yet to reach a person on the first try..i always have to
leave a message..and i love the part of their 'customer
service' message that says, "Multiple messages may effect
speed in which your call is returned.." or something to that
affect..basically saying if you call and leave a ton of messages
we're gonna put you at the back of the line...and call you at
our leisure.
I've been waiting 2 months to get confirmation to take my frigg'n xams already. This on top of the 2 months it took them to tell me no, they hadnt rec'd my request to transmit. Then theres been the last 6 years....
When I applied for my council record, they cashed the check within a week. But it took 8 months for them to actually establish the record so I could start recording my IDP, and this only after I sent a somewhat nasty e-mail to them. This set my whole IDP records back, and I never did get started doing them in real time, they are all going to be done in retrospect, which I only hope will be OK. I got a reply from my nasty e-mail with the grammar of a kindergartner, it went something like this: Your will have had your record established Monday. Sincerely, Shaniquah Jones. (made-up name, but it was something like that)
I have a LARGE box full of NCARB and IDP and ARE catalogs, pamplets, guides, documentation, flyers, mailings, handbooks, correspondence, a hand written account of every minute I have ever worked at an architecture office, etc. All of it is thoroughly confusing. If I have a question, I dig thru this box and curse and throw stuff. NCARB information is repeated multiple times in these handy dandy publications, but never stated in quite the same way. I always get confused about whether they are talking about NCARB certification or licensure in any given paragraph.
14 years ago, I started putting all of my IDP VU info onto Excel spreadsheets, even wrote a routie to convert my company's project codes into IDP VU codes. I kept this updfor a few years & checked w/ NCARB off-n-on about using my very efficient method of cataloguing my time instead of the archaic, stupid 'fill-it-out' by hand' method. After about 6 yrs of that, I realized that those goofballs were gonna remain in the 1950s until I retired. Not a good excuse for me to put IDP on the back-burner, but the thought of taking all of my digitized experience & dumbing it down into endless hours just made me say 'screw this' . I was already making good money & getting nice work w/out a license. Livin' life seemed more important than doing paperwork that meant (& still means) little.
Don't get me wrong, I think getting your license is a good thing. Maybe NCARB has changed & I can now use my IDP times 3, but I think I've moved on at least until I stop work.
It's now taken me 5 months to get them to send my IDP record to the Great State of Michigan. This is the second transmittal of this record - it's already been evaluated and deemed complete. They've sent it to the wrong state (once). They've forgotten to mail it (twice). They've sent me a certificate congratulating me on completing IDP (I now have three). They've sent me invoices for different services which don't apply to my case, and each time with a note that says that they cannot process my application until they receive complete payment. Goddamn them.
And I have recently received a nice postcard from them reminding me how much NCARB certification can help me expedite reciprocity in the states in which I am not licensed. I am, for some reason skeptical.
And when I was doing IDP, one of my work verification forms never made it onto my periodic assessment report. When I asked, they said it that it had been rejected. And while they couldn't tell me over the phone why, they then they said that the reasons for that rejection were detailed in a letter. When they tried to find the letter on their computers, they couldn't. They finally admitted that it had never been written, and the verification form had probably just been lost.
I just don't understand the wait times. From the time that I sent my last IDP record in until the time that I received registration was a total of 16 months. But only 7 months of that was the time that I was actually testing.
From last IDP record until I got word IDP was finished was about 2 months.
Then about 2 months until they transmitted my record to my state and I got permission to test.
Then about 2 weeks to get the letter and authorization number to sign up to test.
While I was testing each test result took 3 to 9 weeks to get to me. Sometimes I was waiting on results from several tests at once.
When I passed my last test I had to wait a month for that last test result.
Then I then had to wait for my state to approve me, which took another 2 months.
Then, waiting on NCARB certification (for purposes of reciprocity) took 8 months - which is the most ridiculous wait of all, because at that point they already have your whole record compiled and checked and all they should have to do is update it with your state registration number and send you your certificate.
NCARB...
Did it all,
took one year.
One test +/- per month
Graphical tests takes less time...use aresolutions.com for help
Areforum.org is a blessing...
I can't realize I went 9 times to prometics test center...and gave them so much money...
Expect to spend around 3K for the exams...on fees,books...and post-exams compulsive spending to change your mind!
NCARB:
Negating Critical Analysis, Reinforcing Boredom
Neglected Crappy Architects Regurgitate Bureaucracy
Gotan,
I think your URL is wrong:
aresolutions.com is a real estate consulting company
altough areforum.org looks helpful. Thanks
It's www.ARE-solutions.com
I finished all the tests in a little over 6 months, but like others had the experience that the waiting through each NCARB stage (and then waiting for the state's board meeting so that I could be approved) took more time than the testing process. Usually I would wait and wait for each NCARB phase until they had exceeded their own estimated timeline, then I'd call them and someone there would say "I don't know why that hasn't been processed yet, it will be processed by the end of the week." Then I'd wait 2 to 3 more weeks before I received it.
One thing I've noticed is that whenever NCARB posts something in your record with a date that it was processed, or whenever they tell you that it is complete and being mailed, the postmark date is almost always about 8 days later - so any phase takes at least an extra week because your paperwork is sitting in their mailroom.
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