+q, did you read Vineland by Pynchon? That's the only place I recall seeing that "with'em" construction before.

Congrats on getting the process so close. Good luck with it.

portfolio: 5/7 copies done
letter of intent: rough draft (one more pass shall do)
recommendations: ??I don't know what is going on with these people??
transcripts/gre: being sent.

I'm still nervous, as always. Mostly about the letters as some of the people I have emailed do not live anywhere close to me now, so I cannot hassle them in person. For example, one of the best professors that I had (2years ago) now lives in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Professors that previously responded quickly to email are taking long periods of time to respond, etc...I want this headache to be over.

wow, I am so glad to not have to be doing this right now. Good luck!

portfolio(will take me another good month)
letter of intent- one more revision
recommendations-done
gre-next wednesday
transcripts-half sent
stress level-high

Portfolio...I will print and bind as needed. (Which means I'm setting myself up for disaster, as my printer will probably break around the deadline.)

Statement of purpose...looking for people to get to me with criticism, which does not seem to be coming

Recommendations...two out of three, one is a month late and I'm in a different hemisphere and he ignores emails. AWESOME!

Transcripts received

GRE year ang a half ago

Me laying in bed staring at the ceiling mouthing the word "why why why" over and over again...alll the time.

- are these for december dates or january? if jan - you guys are way ahead of me ....
the worst thing for me these days (nb. this is my 1st stab at applications.) is that i'll take one look at an early deadline and think -' yes, i really should take another year off..., so much more responsible...'
o the crap i can convince myself of....

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hasn't recieved all the recommendations yet. I hope I get mine soon. And I hope everyone else gets their's too. Its so frustrating when you ask people to write a recommendation far in advance and they take months to get back to you.

Anyway, I'm having a nervous breakdown as I'm sure everyone else is.

the well regarded MIT program has a Dec 15 deadline, so I took my cue from that and got everything done for that deadline.
Im going to send the rest (due in Dec or early Jan) in a week and those due mid-Jan in about 2-3 weeks.
Gotta push them evaluators, thank goodness I chose people that are as obssessive as I am, they respond to everysingle e-mail, and got it done in less then 3 weeks.
Some more of my buddie applying this year are having similar problems getting recommendations.

I just wanna be done!!!!

woah man. what's up with you guys? I haven't started my essay yet, and I'm definitely still on the millionth draft of my portfolio. I just keep finding little things that bother me. For those of you who like to push it to the very end, I hope this makes you feel better.

I'm finishing my renderings on my first project as we speak.

Emails this morning.

In the middle of my self-appraisal and sense of accomplishment i realized :
1. women are a complete waste of energy.
2. i'm eager to start the next project.
3. I'm probably going to miss the dec. 15th deadlines.
4. I'm behind in my bills and I don't give a shit. All I care about is grad school.

but in the end is it all worth it?

please say yes.

i just had a quick question

does sending application early matter in arch school admissions?

like law schools?

No.

Oh, this post brings back memories of about one year ago for me.
Good luck to you all. A recomendation, don't use Opalux paper as a cover for your portfolio. It begins to curl after a weak or so. I found this out after sending three of my six portfolios out last year.
It looks nice but it don't work.

How much do they look at the GRE? that's the only thing that scares me...

rsteath, we have a whole thread on it. seach the archives for GRE.

poll: i'm in the midst of the grad school app shit storm too, cramming for the GRE on my sat. afternoon and oh ya... working two jobs. How many of you are working full time on top of all this? I feel like i'm going to need to take a week off to get my folio to where I want it.

ps: mlertpac - i do feel much better

PetePeterson,

I was putting in a lot of hours at work and trying to do the applications at the same time as well as the portfolio. I talked to my boss about taking some time off to complete everything properly. He was very understanding and told me to take whatever time I needed to complete it. It made the whole process much easier to get through. I can actually see the end of the road now. Sending everything out this week, then I'm off to vacation.

We just got hit with a big project that will last till about a month after apps finish. The 9-10 hrs I put in weekdays is frowned upon and they're wondering why I haven't been in on the weekends.
3 months ago I could've taken a week off almost without anyone noticing, then this comes at the PERFECT time.

Woah, mine's not that bad, but I am working every free moment I get and am unsure whether or not I'll make the December 15th deadlines. Still haven't attained any of my recommendations, I'll find out who did them and who didn't in a few days time. Anybody done any portfolio printing in the DC area who can recommend a good cheap printer? How much did you all end up spending on portfolio printing?

Gravitas, try the Anaconda Press in Forestville, they've done two sets of portfolios for me that came out really well for a good price. They've got a sweet digital printing press. Ask for Octavian. I spent about $85 per book, 70 pages full color spiral bound with a cover that I provided myself.

Thanks seven, I'll check em out. Here's another question for everyone. How strict are schools on statement of purpose lengths, for instance does a 500 word essay simply imply a 1 page essay or is it literally around 500 words?

Damn statement of purpose! A pox on its house!

Curious,
Where are you guys applying?

sci-arc, ucla, columbia, uva, gsd. I don't really plan on getting accepted by any of them. I couldn't really afford it if i did any way....

Columbia:gsapp, UCLA, SCI-Arc, GSD, Yale, and TU Delft. I would also be curious to know how strict schools are on the essay length. I bent the rules a bit on the length for some applicatioins, yet made sure to omit anything that wasn't necessary. Sent everything out today: I am in a temporary state of relief.

geland: yeah i'm definately going to be taking next week off.

I feel for you guys on that dec. 15 deadline; I'm a canuck and fortunately deadlines up here are a little later (first app due Jan. 6) Maybe because mail has to be delivered via dogsled at this time of the year?

Just sent 3 out of my 5 applications. I dont know if I will be able to sleep for the next few months.

What is your no. 1 choice? If you get accepted everyywhere, where would you go?

No 1 Choice-GSD

For those of you that are sending things off already, what deadlines are trying to meet? I'm nowhere near finished but my soonest deadline is Jan 15th and I plan on making it.

MIT's deadline is the 15th. I may actually make that one.
No. 1 choice = Columbia/SCI-ARC

columbia, UCLA, Berkeley, UW, & Penn. Arg...Berkeley's app needs to be in by Dec. 15th (almost done). Penn is no.1 choice for me.

Top two choices are MIT and Berkeley. Unfortunately they are the first to be due in. Looks like I'll make it but I wouldn't have minded a a few weeks more on my statement and biographical essay. Hopefully, they'll be good enough...in any case, I don't imagine they'll make or break me.

UCLA
essay-90%done letter rec. 1/3 profolio-25%done
gre-done

tontek, i'm applying to three of those schools. Would you say that you have what you might consider a backup school in your list? I'm starting to think that I should have applied somewhere that I might actually get into.

berkeley = #1
i just put the app in the mail yesterday. mit is due soon as well and i live in boston so i'll just hop on over there sometime next week and drop my package off rather than spend the extra $ on postage.
guiggster - what is it about mit and berkeley that appeals to you? for me its the "social basis of architecture" at berkeley and SIGUS at mit.

The social basis thing is appealing, but it is the work in Building Technology coupled with focuses like the sba and sigus that appeals to me. I'm interested in deep ecology and ethos in architecture and think that building technology (eco-friendly) will basically facilitate better design concerning that area of thought...if that makes any sense.

yeah yeah, im just always curious what people are into and why they choose certain programs over others. i'm into community design and working towards better typology for underrepresented social groups.

wow that sounds pretty thoughtful 8888 and guiggster. I am interested in similar issues. Although I am not applying to Berkeley (Im refraining from the left coast).

I know MIt has many programs thta focus on housing and other issues for under-priviliged communities.

How's your portoflio by the way? Can't wait to see it

yeah mit has the sigus program. a friend of mine is doing that in january - they're going to do a build in manilla. i can't wait for her to get back and tell me all about it.

q+ - what other programs are you applying to that have those types of programs?

none really

Yale has that house competition, but I am actually not aware of any other programs like MIT's

I am applying to places where I like the design and history/Theory education.

GSD, Columbia, MIT, Yale

I am sure that within those programs I can bring in the issues I care about. Professors always like it when you have a passion and bring in something to studios they didnt think about, and I thinkmany times those are social/environmental.
I would really like to go to the GSD, I think they have a very strong design-oriented program and some of my buddies theere just love it, it seems like it is a good complement with the UF design education.

I am working on putting my portoflio on a web-site, I want to share some of my projects with you guys. I have used, politics, religion, and socio-economic status as design issues that drive the process it-self.

holy crapola.

" I have used politics, religion, and socio-economic status as design issues that drive the process it-self"

where did you go for undergrad???

Although most professors don't really use these issues, I do it because I enjoy it.

and you've incorporated it into your portfolio?

of course

can you post your portfolio? im super curious.
i'm interested in these issues and i talk about it in my essays. however, the projects i did in school were assigned and therefore controllable to a point.
but i also think that i came to this realization of wanting to do "humanistic" architecture after i graudated from undergrad and had been working for a while. i became dissalusioned with the field and was involving myself in a lot of community service work outside of my job and architecture and wondered why i couldnt combine the two. hence, my interest.
but my portfolio does not reflect that desire. at all.

yah man-I want to share and of course get my fellow archinecters feedback.
It is going on-line in about a month.

*anti-per bump*