Please help, any input is appreciated...Thanks.

we, the internet people, aren't very good with complex questions. We prefer multiple choice types like, which school should I go to a) Bovine design school of Iowa, or b) Boston Assmunchers U.

We also like yes/no questions like 'Is $32k enough'.

Your question appears to solicit a 2000 word response minimum.

this makes for a good lesson --- one that will serve well both in school and in practice ---

you want a busy person to give you some of their time.  They may be willing but have limited time.  If you ask them, "What should I do?"  They don't know how to answer clearly and succinctly because they cannot address such an open-ended question without dialog, inquiry and some unknown quantity of time.  they can tell you are sincere, are smart enough to ask for help, and that you are articulate, but you're making them have to work too hard to offer assistance to you.

what to do?  help them out.  help them (us) help you. 

you've articulated well your understanding of the criteria to consider when looking at graduate programs.  You've even weighted the criteria in terms of order of importance for you.  Use your weighted criteria to try to figure out the answer to your question yourself.  Don't spend too much time.  Just take a go at it. 

Then come back here and say, "I want to ......., I think the criteria useful in choosing where and how to obtain my education are..........., based on this I've identified the following list of options.........along the way I've learned ............. and now i think my goal is to attend either......... or ......... because ............ and .............  What do you think?  Am I missing anything?  Is there a better way to look at this?  Are there other options I'm not considering?"

Then ask specific questionsbased upon your research into your options (because by the time you've worked through these issues on your own, you will have specific questions).

I think if you do this you'll get much more feedback.

Okay, usually I would not respond to such ignorance no more than I would tolerate it.  But, I find it strange how some individuals can spend days, weeks and even months on end writing essay style responses ranting and raving about NOTHING.  However, as soon as you make them read and analyze a posting of SUBSTANCE suddenly they cannot think past A, B, C or D.  If that is really how some of you got into Top Tier and IVY League schools, or college nonetheless, then you really prove the meaning behind the quote "Money talks and B.S. walks" to be true.

Now if you READ the introduction CAREFULLY you would see that my intentions were to get recommendations aside from RANKINGS based on my Background Info and the Selection Criteria that I am using during MY research (not you research for me and report back).  This means: if you know of a school(s) that meets some of the criteria and feel comfortable recommending it, please do so.

[NOTE: Since posting the original thread I am also considering non-M.Arch programs too.  My initial plans were to go with a M.Arch because its the most logical route considering my career interests (I can be a Interior, Set or Exhibit Designer without a M.Arch but not vice versa.)]

Currently, my finances are restricting my school visits and when I hopefully get around to it later this year I will be completing applications WHILE visiting.  Additionally, being that everything that is posted on a website or told during a school visit is not always the same when you become a PAYING student, it is helpful if you get a little heads up on which schools are worth the investment when EVERY penny counts.

@jmanganelli -- I already have a few schools in mind, however when I posted a similar thread early last summer (2010) with a few of those schools, I did not get any responses. Thus, I wanted to approach this thread in more of an open-ended way and narrow down and ask additional questions as the thread progresses. Also, the open-endedness may not only help me but other applicants who are in the same situation as well.

THANK YOU in advance to all of you who choose to respond in a RESPECTABLE manner. Please, if you DO NOT have anything decent to say, that is relevant to this post, please read and move on WITHOUT posting.

I think that while the moderators are updating Archinect they need to create a "Report Abuse" function to stop all of you fools from posting unnecessary comments. There are to many INTELLIGENT individuals who are being turned off and are turning elsewhere because of such ignorance.

If anyone knows of additional websites where it is possible to seek info. from other MATURE individuals please feel free to post or send me an email.

Peace and Blessings to all!

"Report Abuse" button?

I'm sorry for abusing you mittens. The whole point of arch school is to have your profs make you abuse resistant. They accomplish this by making you feel dumb about everything you say/think/write/draw (justifiably so). I'm just giving you a head start. Welcome!

You seem to have a firm grasp of English language, and your bulleted list making skills are top notch, yet something is still missing. Mainly perspective. You are asking which one (out of a hundred) schools is best for you. Fuck would anyone know. Most informed user on this forum is perhaps familiar with a handful of programs. It's like asking what's the best beer in the world. It's Yuengling if I only have 2 bucks to my name. It's something else if I have a fiver. But yet, you are also asking what the best bar is to have such beer in. All of it is just too vague to solicit any INTELLIGENT responses that you seem to crave so much. Revise and resubmit. 

Consider your first lesson as free.

Also, you blah blah blah too much :)

Artistic-

I feel obligated to tell you something about the field you are contemplating, minus the sarcasm, and will make it fairly short. Sounds like you have some pretty large issues to sort out. Perhaps sitting down with a faculty member or some sort of advisor at a respectable architecture program to get a lay of the land. Do you want to practice as an architect? Or is it more broad than that? If you are pursuing a master's (3 yr degree) in architecture, the curriculum will be very focused on getting you ready for architectural practice. Structures, building science, design studio. But I would start with what you are looking for. Are most interested in sustainability?  Or design? Or digital/fab? Think about those things, develop a sense of who's doing what, and what you're excited by. Start there.

1a & 2a should really help you narrow down your choices.  Affordability and preparation for real world practice seem to be discussed on here a lot.  Maybe un-affordability and lack of preparation is more accurate.

#3 NC does NOT have four seasons as far as I am concerned.  I lived in the mountains along the blue ridge parkway for about 4  years.  Compared to New England the winters were nothing.  There was a dusting of snow in mid April in MA this year.  You should probably forget about MA or schools in any of the bordering states if you can not handle a long cold winter. 

What state are you in now?  Is there a state school program there?

"In the name of that sharp female newly-born, and called La Guillotine, why did you come to France?"

"You heard me say why, a minute ago. Do you not believe it is the truth?"

"A bad truth for you," said Defarge, speaking with knitted brows, and looking straight before him.

"Indeed I am lost here. All here is so unprecedented, so changed, so sudden and unfair, that I am absolutely lost. Will you render me a little help?"

"None." Defarge spoke, always looking straight before him.

"Will you answer me a single question?"

"Perhaps. According to its nature. You can say what it is."

"In this prison that I am going to so unjustly, shall I have some free communication with the world outside?"

"You will see."

"I am not to be buried there, prejudged, and without any means of presenting my case?"

"You will see. But, what then? Other people have been similarly buried in worse prisons, before now."

"But never by me, Citizen Defarge."

Defarge glanced darkly at him for answer, and walked on in a steady and set silence. The deeper he sank into this silence, the fainter hope there was--or so Darnay thought--of his softening in any slight degree.

He, therefore, made haste to say:

"It is of the utmost importance to me (you know, Citizen, even better than I, of how much importance), that I should be able to communicate to Mr. Lorry of Tellson's Bank, an English gentleman who is now in Paris, the simple fact, without comment, that I have been thrown into the prison of La Force. Will you cause that to be done for me?"

"I will do," Defarge doggedly rejoined, " nothing for you. My duty is to my country and the People. I am the sworn servant of both, against you. I will do nothing for you."

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Book the Third, "the Track of a Storm." Chapter 1, 'In Secret.' 1859.