I just did some rough calculations: I have estimated that there are about 149 screen names of people checking this thread.

When you factor out the various screen names dusty and MArchLXVII use, there are 6 people checking this thread.

20,000 views / 40 days open = 500 views per day / 6 people = 83 views per person per day.

If we assume that we are spending an equal amount of time looking at our mailboxes, voicemailboxes and carrier pigeon cages, I have determined there are approximately eleven minutes per day when one isn't waiting for a message from a school.

Thus, the answer is = We have a bit of a problem. You could be using those eleven minutes to apply to more programs people, c'mon.

strugs, you are one funny man/ woman

Yay, MIT acceptance via email!

congrats shellaby..........is that your top choice?

It's a showdown between MIT and OSU, I think. Maybe Wash U if they offer a good scholarship.

Right now I am trying to decide between Yale and MIT..........Yale offered a small scholarship and MIT offered a huge one. I am leaning MIT. Any thoughts? anyone?

strugs, i think you hit the nail on the head. now i wonder if architects/potential architects are more prone to OCD disorders- i'd like to see a statistic for that, compared to the rest of the population.

anyone in the midwest receive anything in the mail from penn or gsd? i feel like there are only 3 midwesterners here! represent!

cotd, I think you should go to MIT.

flickbee- I'm a midwesterner, just heard from UPenn today. I called yesterday and they said they sent acceptions/rejections at the same time, so should know either way today. Good luck!

mab82 sci-arc doesn't have spring break...they get out so early in april, isn't that right?

cotd

Same boat.

Here's a random question: let's say your parents can technically afford to pay your way entirely through grad school, but (for whatever reason) they won't necessarily do it, or they'll LEND you the money, or at most give you partial grants. The FAFSA and other forms however will show their assets, which will make it look like there's no need for any grants (and some might argue that there isn't).

Will schools basically not offer any grant money in that case?

harvard has 2 tiers of grants, smaller grants for people who have wealthy parents, and larger grants for people who do not. you can get the smaller grants no matter how wealthy your parents are, if you are poor, but you will be ineligble for the larger grants. i do not know exactly what the cutoff for a tier 1 grant is, though.

odp....

I taked with Yale about this very thing. They say that the grant alotments are given based on your need. So, if your parents have a decent amount of money but plan to give you zip, it looks to Yale like you have it covered. And, Yale looks at your step parents as well. Both my parents have remarried, so in Yales eyes I have four financial supporters................and in reality none of them will give me a dime. The woman at Yale told me "everything that you have financial means to pay for (parents money included) will have to be covered by loans".

sucks huh......

but even if I had all the money to go anywhere, I think I still like the MIT program better.

After I graduated from undergrad my mother looked at me, put her hand out and made a scissor cutting gesture.
What did it mean? That I was financially cut.

Thanks jualn and cotd.

I realize you may not know the answer to this, but these "smaller grants"--are we talking small as in a couple thousand, or small as in $10-15,000, which some might say is small compared to the total cost of attendance (tuition + living expenses)?

I also realize that many schools have separate scholarships for both merit and need, but I'm talking about through the standard finaid channels.

odp

I am just now getting my feet wet with all of this. Not sure of the answer.

...spoke with UT-Austin again. No MArch2 applicants in my chosen program have been notified, because they're too busy mailing/emailing MArch1 applicants of denial/admission. So, this may mean that MArch2 applicants in any program have yet to be notified from UT (it may not, though...)

She did say that they were working to get all notifications out before the end of the weekend or the absolute latest...Monday *arggghhhh!*

joe bloggs

They take into account that you will not be earning an income while in school. But, if you have a large savings account.......that would count against you.

cotd - understood. Same here (as you can tell)

Joe Bloggs - I would imagine that if your parents don't have means and you don't own a home, or you do own a home but have a significant mortgage to pay, you'll be considered needy. Unless you've saved up $100,000+ in cash over the years.

Sweet, accepted to MIT. Now it's a showdown between them and UCLA for best program and most grants. Airfare booked a week ago for bicoastal whirlwind tour.

congrats appleate.

anyone else going to the MIT open-house

Im there.

oh man, reading these posts about MIT is unbearable.

i would say that it is rare, even from the most generous schools, to be awarded a grant that exceeds the amount of tuition.

at the GSD open house, the director of financial aid said (if i remember correctly) that a tier 1 grant was a maximum of around $8,500, and a tier 2 grant maximum was about $17,000. only in rare cases, he said, did the GSD exceed those amounts.

at least for the ivy league schools, the way to look at it is in terms of percentage of tuition off. i would say 50% is a very good grant, 75% exceptional, and higher means you're one of the chosen few. many people won't even see 50%. yet, 50% is around 16k, which is only about 33% of the total cost of attendance. anyone needy enough to get a full scholarship (if that even happens) will still likely need to take out loans to cover living expenses.

based on my experiences this year (accepted to MIT, GSD, Penn, and Michigan, though i haven't seen the financial aid papers from MIT), even schools that really want you still expect you to take out a minimum of $18,500 (the federal max for direct loans) before they start handing out grants.

for the big name schools, if you can't afford it, someone else will...

cotd

Isn't the Yale one on the same day?

If so, I'm going to the Yale one, since I've yet to visit, but I went to MIT's fall open house.

yes, Yale is the same day. sucks.......

surely they know that.

odp

so what did you think of the fall open house?

jualn - Thanks! Makes sense.

oh super excited! upenn! hurray! now the only thing is the confusing wording of the prereqs- in the letter they state i need to complete physics (taking right now) and a history of arch and maybe another design studio? it's really unclear here-i've already taken one, but they only specify that i need to take physics and history of arch.

anyone else accepted to penn with conditions?

cotd - it made me like the school a lot, and confirmed the good things I had heard (pluralistic, interdisciplinary, access to Media Lab during electives). My only hesitation is the size (15-20 per class, although it gets larger by a few each year.) As has been discussed on this thread several pages back, there are pros and cons to large vs. small, and I've concluded that I prefer larger.

odp...

yeah, the size thing is a personal choice. My girlfriend is at the GSD right now, and personally I fing it too big. Don't get me wrong, it is a great school, but I prefer the smaller schools. My favorites are Rice and MIT. Still waiting on Rice info, but doubt they will beat the deal MIT has offered.

Yale or MIT is not a bad choice to have to make, good luck

flickbee

No, but I was rejected from Penn unconditionally :) I do recall Penn's prereqs being the most extensive, I think they wanted multiple history of arch's spanning all of recorded human history.

Yale however did accept me with the condition that I enroll in their August training program, or something (free of charge, which makes it better). Anyone else get this?

cotd

Thanks, good luck to you too! I have heard that Rice offers the best financial aid in the country, often giving tuition + stipend, but I don't know that for fact, and if your MIT package is great then it might be on par.

flickbee - I was accepted to Penn on the condition that I take a history course and complete their summer drawing studio. the summer prep. thing was NOT optional, nor could the drawing course I am currently taking place me out of it. AND, the 7 week course costs a THOROUGHLY LUDICROUS $8,700.

in case you can't tell, I will not be enrolling at Penn. the total cost for the first year was going to be over $40,000 in tuition alone and they gave me a mere $5,000 in grants, $24,000 in government loans, and $13,000 in private loans.

no thank you.

flickbee, etc..

my penn acceptance is also conditional on the summer design studio and taking physics (which i can do while there). it is a bit annoying, i had hoped to take the summer off to travel. but as of now it is my only acceptance, soooo ... i'll take it. unless i also got 9k scholarship, and i'm waiting on gsd, columbia, sci-arc, so we'll see how it all plays out.

cotd-

have you been accepted to rice or are you speculating?

oh no.....

I have not heard a thing from them. Just an acceptance would be speculation right now. Nobody has heard from Rice, right?

flickbee & jualn, i got the upenn acceptance with the condition that I complete calculus and physics. It Did not mention anything about the summer drawing course. Physics & calculus will surely make for an excellent summer!! Do either of you know anything about the class size for MArch 1 there?

is anyone visiting penn?

I just got an email from Pratt saying that my file is complete and they will review it and send the decision in the next few weeks...the agony. They also mentioned that I should check my email regulary as some graduate chairs send decisions by email. Check my email regularly...what a novel idea!

Joe Bloggs

Yes, I have to do the summer thing at Yale if I go. Fortunately, however, it's free.

2-headed boy (and others who have this weird penn condition)-my letter was unclear-it seemed as if they wanted me to take studio but when they specified what courses i needed to take it just listed history of arch and physics. i took one summer studio, and have a number of art studio classes, but no real arch background (aside from the summer at columbia).

though i'm more excited about penn than anywhere else, if i can't take care of these prereqs while i'm still in chicago, that could be a deal breaker for me: i have a job that i love and i really want to stay through august and i've just started a non-profit and want to see something happen with it before i leave the city!

hypothetically i could see them letting you take physics elsewhere or history of arch, but maybe not the studio course. this is a totally unfoudned statement, however

my sense of the summer thing at penn is that it is required for anyone without a b.arch, but i'm not sure. it basically turns it into a 3.5 year program with the number of credits, i think.

hmm... i.. didn't get a letter from columbia.
oh well.

Has anyone called the GSD lately?

I have a 0.08% chance of getting in there, but I'd kinda like to know b/c I have a cramp in my refresh finger.

good luck to all, having heard from the last of the schools i applied to today, i hope to break this terrible addiction!

Rejected from Penn. MArchI. Yippee.
Still waiting to hear from Columbia and Pratt.

Fingers Crossed Tightly.

Congrats to all of you who have good news and to those who received financial aid.

On the topic of financial aid. I was under the impression that on the FAFSA form, if you were applying to grad school, parental information was not even required. Is this incorrect or is it just a requirement of the schools?

aar

FAFSA does not need parental information, but Yale requires that you also complete the Need Access Info. Need Access requires all parental information regardless of level of study.

-- If I recall correctly, info from your parents isn't necessary on those forms if you meet a set of conditions (for both FAFSA, and the Yale form, I think it was age > 27)...

What I don't understand is, how some schools will STILL require you to submit parental financial info no matter what your status...I have been out of school working a long time, I have zero financial connection to my parents, I cannot even imagine asking them for that info...

I mean, if you are 50 and going back to school, would you still need to submit info for your parents? I asked that to someone at GSAAP, and they actually seemed to think so...

Ridiculous.

i think someone mentioned the penn open house was on the 10th of april? i plan on visiting but not that day.

i just spoke with someone in the admissions office at penn and she said it was possible to complete the prereqs elsewhere, ie community college, even the studio