doesn't the fafsa take care of it for all schools? fafsa will be available in early january

man, i feel soo behind. I did visit all 3 programs I'm applying to, but i feel like I'm in over my head. so far:
1-Letters of recommendations: sent out, waiting for them to write them and send them to the schools,
2-transcripts are all in
3-finished all "form" parts of the applications, sent in my UVA part 1
4-statement of purpose is coming together. Maybe 3 more revs?
5 - portfolio- Thank GOD my 1st choice doesnt take portfolios.... the other 2 do, but Ive started them and Im just fiddling around w/ it, trying to figure out when Im going to find time to scan all my HUGE non-CAD measured drawings.
6- GREs.... putting them off for so long hurts big time... Im taking them on the 31st of december and have had NO time to study for them

working 40 hour weeks are NOT fun and not condusive to doing any of this grad school stuff. why cant i just write in my statement "hey, ive been doing this stuff for years, I know what im doing, just accept me Dammit!" someone want to help me get back my sanity?

laxchc11 dont worry too much. I would write that, I think is better than the cheese (see above for more information on cheese).

oh yeah. cheeeeeeeeeez. you know you want it.

MIT out the door by fedex today... berkeley going out tomorrow...

would you consider "ive wanted to be an architect since I was 7" to be cheese?

That was a joke, but I think I got one of the closest BA degrees to architecture without actually GETTING a B.Arch degree. The cheese is everywhere, but i want to stand out next to the kids w/ English and Music degrees that are applying against me (if you cant tell, im applying to the Career Change/First Prof degree programs at each of my schools, even though I already work as a CAD monkey at at firm). I am stressing out hardcore, so this explains the rambling and the asking of retarded questions

for the essay- I think it's best to sound unpretentious, true to yourself, and explain what it is that you enjoy doing, things that matter to you, which lead to the decision of your desire to be an architect. I guess, work your way up from ideas that don't sound stereotypically "architect", and then tie back. Or perhaps this approach is easier for me seeing that I do not come from an architecture background?

does that make any sense? I think there's no cheese involved when you keep it simple, easy to read, and real.

i agree. "simple, easy to read, and real" really helps the committee getting thru hundreds of essays.

I am not even worried what to write on those standard applications, and not even what they will write for my recommendations, because I trully believe that your portfolio is the key, is the main gateway. Not even GPA or GRE, all that can be learned overtime, but what they are looking for in those great schools is the promise of future. And your portfolio can show that promise. The portfolio has to show something human about you, that you care about this world, that you want to improve it. Your projects must somehow convey that idea, I trully believe that this is what they are looking for. However, if they don't see that promise, then they look more into your GPA, GRE and recommendations..... For example, last year my friend was accept to Yale graduate school, he only got his portfolio because other material was lost in the main or something, he had a lot of stress with them, but they accepted him simply based on his portfolio... I could believe it!

So...
Are we all posting our portfolio in a month?
I don't really want to see them now, itll probbly just stress me out, but after the major deadlines it would be good to see what y'all been up to.

Anyone including pictures of themselves in their portoflio or applciation, I think the GSAPP makes it optional.

2 down... 4 to go.

and yeah, i think seeing other portfolios will freak me out. and i'm done w/ them. so i don't need the stress

ditto on the freak out

i'll post mine when all through

i've seen puttings pics of yourself as the hot new thing, and maybe i get the point as to association and remembrance and such, but frankly think its stupid since it in no way matters to your work.

anyone applying to sci-arc---

i'm fillling out the application, and on the last page there is a checklist of all of the materials needed to apply. Is the applicant supposed to fill this out, or is it for them to check that you include everything in the packet? thanks

"on the last page there is a checklist of all of the materials needed to apply. Is the applicant supposed to fill this out, or is it for them to check that you include everything in the packet? "

hmmm. same question for the yale app.

I filled it out
it was helpful as a reminder

i didn't
will yale reject me now?

definitely. you're screwed.

kidding!

It's funny how we all feel that any little thing will bring upon eminent doom on our applications.

To how many schools have you guys applied? I'm wondering because right now I'm looking at $400-500 in application fees. I studied history in undergrad and I feel like I have a good chance of getting into some schools. I've applied to mostly all state schools: Minnesota, UW-Milwaukee, Virginia, Florida, UIC. Is 8-10 applications normal or too much?

I'm applying to 5 or 6 so that sounds reasonable, if a little high, to me. Just be sure to not apply to any schools that you really have no intention of going to. I know people who have applied to 8-10 schools, and only really wanting to go to 2 or 3 of them. It makes sense to have one safety school, but i would keep it at that. It becomes a waste of time and money when you add up all of the fees, printing, binding, transcript fees, shipping fees, etc.

good luck!

Yeah, I decided against ASU even though I felt it could have acted as a safety to some extent. I would have had to break my current work contract, move my life back to america, haul my stuff from Pittsburgh to Tempe, and find a place to live within about a month of getting my acceptance. Plus, I don't really like the idea of living in Arizona.

I applied to 4 schools. I'd be excited to go to 2 schools, and the other 2 I wouldn't mind going to. I made sure that they all more or less matched my interests and what I'd like to do. I don't believe in paying so much money and spending so much time at a safety school. Plus I'm an international, so it's really important that the folks back home have heard of the schools I'm applying to. I don't know whether this makes sense. It's near to impossible to obtain a visa and work in the US if you went to a mediocore school. (so if you're wondering if homeland security is doing their work, I guess they are- preventing people from staying and entering)

woo! thank you fed-ex, for not messing up and delivering my MIT app on time! hate to put up an ad, but i recommend fed-ex for application mailings.

i am applying to 3 (UVA, UT-Austin and TAMU).... I really only want to go to one and I dont think I'll get into the other 2. Guess we'll see what happens in April.

labphonic good luck,
Im applying to 5, I wouldnt mind going to any of those 5.
I will probably end up going where I get the most money from. But if all is equal, my no 1 choice is GSD.
And I did the math, and I spent a little over $1,000 in applications.

Counting everything for 5 schools, so an average of $200 per school. Than includes even some models I re-made from scratch, ink, paper, shipping, fees, etc....

these rankings:
http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=30235_0_42_0_C

All my schools are in the top ten. Not sure how I feel about that.
Did/Have rankings affected the schols you htought of going?
What do you think?

q-

personally, i wouldn't worry about it. i assume that you knew that the schools that you are applying to were hard to get into before you saw these rankings, so this doesn't really change anything. plus, i personally think it is impossible to really rank architectural schools without a huge allowance for error.

here is how i look at the rankings: i think that the average architecture firm in the u.s. kind of sucks (not all of them, just the average ones). those average firms ranked schools for DI, and the scores were averaged to find the top ten schools. so the scores are only as good as the average firms making them.

q- good luck getting money from Harvard-not likely

does DI rank retarded application processes?

you must finish the entire va tech application including three statements before the online recommendation requests are sent out. the recommendation requests and application have the same deadline which works fine in instantaneous-land. only two of my recommendation providers report having received a request. Since there is no online interface once the application has been submitted, I’ve got to go find a human being to resend the third request.

To add, if all of your schools are in the top 10 (with the exception of clemson which is a kick-ass deal), go take a hard look at the salary poll.

tinydancer why? Is the GSD tight with its money?
Im sure thats the case, but well see what happens Im sure Ill go where I need to go. Im very much broke and without help I cannot go to any program, even if accepted.

I think any ranking has a bias, and doesnt matter.

I sent Columbia and Yale this weekend, and I am oficially done. Now I will just sit back and wait till March/April.

I don't attend the GSD, but I went to the open house last year and spoke with students when I was applying- yes, Harvard is very stingy with their money. Most of them had HUGE loans taken out to pay for the tuition. Take that into consideration when you choose which school to attend. Money counts for a lot!

Hey PetePeterson
What Canadian schools are you applying to?

And which ones do you think are the best?

Benoit:
UBC, UofC, UofT, and Dalhousie
As far as what are the 'best' i haven't come accross any sort of rankings per say for canadian schools like you see in the states. Maybe that's cause there's only 10 in the country.
I think it's a really individual process and you have to look into the programs and see what fits for you. personally I'm applying to these schools b/c they're the only ones that take grads with non-arch degrees (like myself) into a MArch program.
I've heard Manitoba has a great program but I don't have the requisite arch-type undergrad that they require for the master's program.

where(if) are you applying?

I am about 50% done with the whole process, but I just bombed the GRE. I have been working for the past seven years in architecture and planning firms in four states. Do schools look at professional experiance at all. DO I HAVE A CHANCE?

schools - UVA, UT-Austin, UW-Milwaukee, UM-Ann Arbor and maybe Rice

from what I hear the GRE certainly does not hold as much weight as say your portfolio. There have been a few discussions on this already(don't know if you've tried searching these?). I think people were saying its not something that matters too much unless the numbers are REALLY good or bad.
And yes i think your experience would be huge... perhaps ba

Joe- i really hope you have a chance, since I'm in the same boat as you (less experience in the field, however). Are you applying to 1st Prof progs? When visiting UT-Austin I asked about the GRE and they said that they as a program do not care what your GRE's are, its the overarching graduate school as a whole that requires a 1000. UVA seems to be the same (except they dont actually note what their preferred GRE score is as a grad school). Honestly, if you have an amazing portfolio, the school will push as hard as possible to get you in, no matter what your scores are. I wish you the best of luck, and since you are applying to 2 of the 3 programs to which I'm applying, maybe I'll see you this fall!

from what I hear the GRE certainly does not hold as much weight as say your portfolio. There have been a few discussions on this already(don't know if you've tried searching these?). I think people were saying its not something that matters too much unless the numbers are REALLY good or bad.
And yes i think your experience would be huge... perhaps balance the score out? (just my logic though...)
All the best

Thanks for the encouraging words guys, and good luck to everybody!!!! laxchc11 I am applying for Master of Architecture first professional too since I only have a BSAS from UWM. Hope to see you there!!!

PetePeterson

I will be graduating from the university of manitoba this spring (undergrad).

I am still not sure which schools I will be applying to. Umanitoba for sure and probably some american schools as well as some in europe.
I will be taking a year off to work and travel.

yeah that's a good question: did you all include professional work in your portfolios? i have an undergrad BA with an arch major and i've been working for three years. i opted to not put professional work in my portfolio. i show academic and personal stuff in my portfolio, and i figured that my resume and my recommendation from my boss would speak for my professional experience. the professional details and drawings that i might show would only be a product of my office, not me.

bargain with a professor about the rec letter? that sounds... serious.

and i'm including prof. work w/ mine. but it's clearly delineated and separated from the body of my work. i figured that the portfolio is looked at somewhat briefly and if i can include more pretty pictures, it might have a positive effect whether professional or not. and i created a lot of the pretty pictures too.

I did include professional work for a couple of reasons. First, to show what kind of work I did for 6 years after school. Since I have worked longer than I was in school I felt it was important. Also, I was lucky enough to work under one person, and did all the drawings, and most of the design work under his supervision. Plus the work I did was half intresting like a building overlooking Wriegly Field, a FLW lookalike, Holabird and Roche rennovation, etc. However, I do agree with 8888 and did put more academic work than professional work because I feel schools are more intrested in "personal" design and visual presentation. I think schools look at a portfolio to see what you can bring to the table for them, but maybe I am wrong???

no joe i agree. maybe if my experience was similar to yours i would show professional work. but nothing that i've designed in my three years has been built (no fault of mine, just slow projects). as well, most of the professional work i did consisted of crappy vinyl siding details or standard wood-frame details. and i felt like showing professional work was talking about my employer. whereas only showing personal and academic work was showing my creative capability, etc.

not including any professional work since they dont allow me to design at work (Im a CAD monkey, I draw what the architects design). My portfolio is all photos, work from studio art in college and my measured drawings from my HISP major.

Just realized today that my UT-Austin due date is Feb 1, not Jan 15 like I had originally thought.

Still have to have my portfolio done for UVA by then, but this sure does take a load off since I dont care if I get into UVA or not

Well I guess the rule of thumb here is to show professional work if you did most of it and/or a major contributer, and it was interesting enough to make it worth wild. However, make sure to show more academic work than professional work because it is all your work and nobody elses.

now i really want tosee you guys's portfolio.
joe arch sounds like interesting work

I didnt include any professional work. I havent done too much, and havent worked longe enough to have major input into anything.

I included a two page spread with two professional projects from my firm, only because my boss referred to me as project designer of these projects in his letter of recommendation, which he showed to me before he mailed it (I mailed it). Otherwise I wouldn't have included them, it would have seemed as if I were overstating my role.

how many pages does everybody have in their portfolios. I have 21 sheets including cover and back pages. I am making it double sided so it is only 10 or so pages so it looks very thin.

I had 64 total including covers (i think)
double sided about 32 pages.-pretty thick little book.
7 projects and some sketches

how about dims too?

27 pages (printed single sided and folded on 13 leafs + cover) @ 6" x 9" top edge is long edge bound on left. heavy folded paper so it feels really nice and substantial in the hands. tasty.