portfolio - scrambling
letter of intent / personal statement - done
transcripts - processing/sent? (sent direct from my school..)
rocommendations - received some... others were SUPPOSED to be done, but i haven't gotten them....

not positive, but i think most grad schools only let you begin in the fall of whatever year. better check that out before putting anything off.

letter of recommendations - requested them in SEPTEMBER, only one has been sent in to the schools
statement of purpose - done
actual application - done
GRE - retaking the MFer on tuesday
sample essays - work-in-progress

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

portfolio - done (printing is a bitch)
GRE - done (got it out of the way in Oct)
applications - done for GSD and Berkeley, almost for the others
transcripts - ready to send
recommendations - 2/3 done
essays - hating them... are yours very specific? i don't have an arch background so i'm leaning towards not making it more personal vs. specific. really hating the process.

printing is such a bitch, man!

i don't have an arch background. i just pretty much told them the process of my thinking and how i make. i did some research on the schools i want to go to and wrote why i wanted to go to them. nothing fancy. like 4 paragraphs, but it's such a pain and i'm still not done.

I'm assuming the essay topics are consistant year to year? I've got a year or two before applying to grad programs, but maybe I'll start making a word file for each school and working on the questions - that type of writing always comes out best for me if I work on it a little, then give it a break, then revisit it after a bit. maybe eventually I'll get them to evolve into something good.

yeah, right.

Sounds like a plan, except a lot of things change in a year or two...you, your accomplishments, your view on your future, your writing ability. I would say, take a look at the questions and brainstorm some, but leave the writing for a few months before applying.

Actually, I wish that I had researched all grad programs and applications at some point during my undergrad years. It probably would have focused me a bit and made me a better candidate.

pencebor,

i decided to take a year off too, but ended up taking off three in the end. i had a good job and the opportunity to see some buildings done til completion so made the choice.

if you can work in the field then time off isn't a waste at all. hard part for me was suddenly losing a good income and watching my savings run down. even with a scholarshp and a pt job i couldn't break even going to school...staying with the income and a senior position to look forward to was sooo tempting...

8888: I might be late with this but why are you applying to the M arch I program if you already have a degree in architecture? you need the m. arch II, or is your degree not accredited?

portfolio... almost... done... it's 4 am and i'm still working away. but i'm determined to have this thing bound tomorrow. heh. i won't be much use at work tomorrow....

bLayer, i've got a Bachelor's degree with a major in Architecture. I need the professional degree to "advance my career" so I'm not a cad monkey forever.

Oh, and I'm a glutton for punishment.

I'm done with essays that were specific to Berkeley and MIT but I'm trying to figure out how to adapt them to other programs now. Portfolio is done but could use more work. I keep adjusting it when I have the time. Its really short which makes me nervous.

And I have my recs from my two profs but my boss is slowly killing me by taking his sweet time and givng his envelopes back to me one by one. Nice.

It sucks and looks a bit superficial, but I went the "talk about the school in the last paragraph" route for the MIT one. The Berkeley essays, because they are split into Bio and Intent essays can be a bit more focused on the school. But I feel like for the one pagers (as all of my schools are with the exception of Berkeley) one needs to include bio and intent in one page. It just seems logical that at the end you will relate this to the school to which you are applying. This hopefully means that when I tailor the essay to other schools it will be little more work than changing the tone abit and altering the final paragraph. I hope that doesn't seem too disingenuous to the admissions board.

that's what I did for my MIT one. but what I said in the last paragraph goes back to tie with the stuff I wrote above it.

yeah guiggster i don't think that's superficial either. i mean, how else are you going to do it?

mostly you DO want to talk about yourself, whether its your interests, experience or aptitude in a certain area. and then of course at the end you need to clearly define how you relate to their program. and if you've talked about yourself the entire essay, it makes the most sense to illustrate the potential relationship between you and the school at the end.

i mean, that's what my essays look like.

berkeley, mit, cincy went out this morning, should be there by tomorrow noon.

the rest will fall into place after a few essay tweaks, i'm almost home...

when they say 12 pages, does that count portofolio cover and backing?
...almost done with berkeley portofolio but trying to figure out whether I can add an extra page or two...

dang it i'm cutting it close...

portfolio - taking the prints soon
letter of intent / personal statement - done
transcripts - done
recommendations - done
Gre- done

applying to ucla, penn, yale and sci arc.. with no safety schools.

tontek- no it does`nt include the cover and backing. you talk about adding just two extra pages when i`ve added nearly 4 extra excluding the front and back.

yeah meta, i'm just curious how strict they are with # of pages, thickness, & dimensions for portofolio. sucks that penn has 10 page front and back limit.

at the ucla open house, they showed us a whole bunch of porfolios. and some as "bad examples" and "don't dos". then we asked if those were admitted, they said yes because the contents were strong.

about the page limit and size of portfolio. berkeley states taht portfolio should be less than 1/4" thick, and 12 pages max. i didn't really pay attention to this until today, a few hours after i had mine printed and bound. i'm not really worried though, because mine is 14 pages plus covers, and approx. 3/8" thick, which is fairly close. honestly, if i get rejected because my portfolio is 1/8" too thick, or two pages too long, i'm not sure i really would be happy at that school.

plus, it will give me something trite to blame if i don't get in..."the work was great, just made the portfolio too long"

on another note:
-portfolio: done
-recommendations: 2/3 (third is supposedly fedexed tomorrow)
-transcripts: done
-gre: done (but wish i had done better)
-personal statements: outlining now

applying to berkeley, sci-arc, ucla, university of michigan (is u of michigan a safety?...probably not)

winding up the portfolio and the statement, do you guys feel your portfolio is no good/ could have been better/ could have proof read again if you had another day? because i do... i just wanna get them out on the streets soon. they`ve been in here too long.

i always feel that way...if i only had a little more time. the truth is it always "could have been better", but what it should be is "the best i could do in the time i had".

also, looking at the same images for a few months while making the portfolio seems to make them feel boring.

I feel like for my portfolioo to be better I'd have to do the projects over. This of course is not a great feeling, but I guess it means that it is about as good as the projects allowed.

i think that we all feel that there are weaknesses to what we have produced, especially as we look at it over and over again. but all of our projects have strength and as long as we are committed to our original vision, whoever looks our work will see it.

best of luck to all of you.

anyone else applying to berkeley? cause that personal history is really really obnoxious.

and portfolio got finished last night after a snafu with printing. :-p of course i had to choose paper that costs $1 a sheet and of course my computer likes freezing up mid-print. silly me thinking it'd be an easy evening.

guiggster- i totally agree with you. i think my portfolio itself looks good and i'm not so happy about the quality of my projects. oh well. no time to redo those...

MIT going out the door today, and berkeley going out weds or thurs. (depending on this damn biography)

hey a question regarding reco letters: I've got two from profs that i know are solid but the third prof i haven't seen in a few years. I was in several of his classes, and I know he liked me, but he hasn't heard form me in 3 yrs. You guys have any experiences with a, "Remember me?...." opening line?

One alternative I've got is to replace this with one from an old cycling coach from my athletic days. I competed at a very high level (canadian provincial/national teams) and this is a significant part of my personal history. He could perhaps comment on my work ethic, dedication, and leadership in a sporting/team environment and relate it to the rigors of a MArch program.

Does this look way less respectable/valid than a reference from a prof?

peteP i think most school expect two academic and one professional rec. so i'd say go with someone who knows you really well and can vouch for you as a person rather than someone who might not remember you that well and give you a generic recommendation. i think a personal reference such as the one you suggested would be excellent, especially if it relates to your personal journey.

these berkeley essays are slowly driving me to insanity...very slowly

wilday, agreed.

its like they expect everyone to be a minority from some poor rural area and that your experience overcoming that adveristy caused epiphany and made you understand your calling as an architect.

sorry, but i'm a white girl from suburbia and i like designing buildings.

thanks 8888, hey I'm a white boy from rural canada maybe that'll help???....
Seriously though, are you kids struggling with the "i've always wanted to be an architect b/c...." syndrome in writing your letter of intent/purpose? I'm in the process and trying to be super-conscious of not being too cheesy...

i be a minority from some poor urban area and my experience overcoming that adversity caused epiphany and made me understand my calling as an architect

i'm a hispanic boy from sub[urbia] (Miami is all Sub[urban]) and i like designing buildings + other stuff.

although in all reality I just happen to fall into architecture, it was never a life-long dream or anything, it kind of happened. I think Im not the only one that really wanted to be an artist, but once in architorture became addicted.

And the cheesiness is hard to avoid. I had a few cats look at mine, and I feel confident, but...
I never said any of the "architecture was my life-long dream" type things (as you can see above it wasn't. I just said Im good, you need me, I need you, let's dance. Of course in more words to make about 700 words or so.

And the cheesiness is hard to avoid. I had a few cats look at mine, and I feel confident, but...
I never said any of the "architecture was my life-long dream" type things (as you can see above it wasn't. I just said Im good, you need me, I need you, let's dance. Of course in more words to make about 700 words or so.

(sorry if i offended q+ or anyone else)

i just felt like the berkeley essay questions were explicitly looking for a particular demographic that didn't include me. sigh.

never felt offended 8888, I understand the frustration.

I sometimes feel that it takes the same amount of discipline to escape the suburb as it does the hood or the farm. I find suburbia an awful, mind numbing place, if you get out of that (REALLY GET OUT OF IT) you have my utmost respect. Write about that. Say that you feel that the suburb is an oppressing place that you have struggled to get out of it and make soemthing of yourself.

It seems like there are several of you applying to Berkeley.....is there anyone applying for the MS or are you all MArch? I'm sorry if you covered this already, I might have missed it....

well i already submitted my berkeley package. but my personal history was about my religious and familial background relating to my commitment to community service. and how that informs my interest in the particular brand of architecture want to pursue.
but yeah, suburbia sucks. try growing up in a town full of mcmansions. it is enough to want to make you either give up on architecture or commit your life to better design.
alas, not my story. free to anyone else though. :)

statement done and will keep on revising to the end.
transcripts sent
gre done
portfolio reviewed and will keep on revising to the end.
only thing left is to fill out the damn applications themselves.

schools: ucla, sci arc, columbia, aa and bartlett.

current mood: francis bacon painting

8888 -

agreed. i'm worse off for berkeley (being asian). great, another asian guy that played violin in high school... whoop dee doo.

was thinking that i should make a fictional biography and write it like a short story, prefacing it all of course w/ a disclaimer. and start with a bang like garcia-marquez... "It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unbuilt buildings."

"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unbuilt buildings." --funny stuff ACFA

ACFA very funny. actually i know that for UPenn's undergraduate application essay they ask you to take page 257 (or something like that) from your autobiography. so some people do past tense stuff, and lots of people do future things. its quite cheesy but clever. two of my best friends went to penn for undergrad.
and as for cheesy, whatever. go on with your bad self. i mean, if its you, it might be cheesy. its very hard to talk (write) about yourself accurately, and i think the cheese ends up being a good coverup for people's insecurities.

I sometimes feel that it takes the same amount of discipline to escape the suburb as it does the hood or the farm. I find suburbia an awful, mind numbing place, if you get out of that (REALLY GET OUT OF IT) you have my utmost respect. Write about that. Say that you feel that the suburb is an oppressing place that you have struggled to get out of it and make soemthing of yourself.

:D

but dont hate:: we are architects, we can fix this mess!

8888 - i feel less cheesy and more like a prostitute to academia.

pencebor-

i have mixed feelings of suburbia, having grown up in it. in the end, it is mind numbing. the mini malls and large swaths of parking lots just reek of sterility and conformity. and yet... i find myself waxing nostalgic over it from time to time. something like a badge of honor that i grew up in it, and got out. proud to have done it.

it's like mallrats. you had to grow up in a suburb and go to THE mall to appreciate that movie in the full. no NYC kid could understand.

straight outta the burbs. word.

dude. the mall that mallrats was filmed it is right near where i grew up. and clerks too. sheesh.

jersey, man. sucks. can't ever imagine living there ever again.

Hey, 8888's a girl? Whaddya know.



That sounded like a "that explains a lot" comment, but it wasn't.

never knew the burbs were so hard to get out of.

i grew up mostly in the white-trash-ish area of town (the kind of place new urbanists think are so great nowadays) where education and funding were clearly defficient, and had to fight to be allowed to go to a suburban school on the other side of town so i would have a chance to go to uni. the burbs may suck but at least you get taken care of....

cheese-y architecture-an-me type letters can be funny and creative but usually are a turn-off. when i was looking for a grad school i stuck to my interest in the program and previous experience related to it....i know, sooo boring, but it made the task easier.

are you guys filling in the financial aid forms too.. now or later?

meta it depends on the school your applying to.