1/2 tuition plus a small stipend is pretty standard for AP students at Princeton. Basically, the admin tries to make the debt the same for all students coming out of the school - in other words, those there for the longest will typically get more support, wheras AP or MArch II students usually receive less support.

if you applied to, and got accepted to both programs, hopefully you are intelligent enough to already know the difference in the two. i mean, come on, they are not similar in hardly any respect.

i visited both schools during final crits fall 2005 and this is how i saw things:

Princeton: there were 2 reviews going on the morning i visited. i was completely enraptured by paul lewis' studio crit and pretty much stayed there the entire 3hr morning session. it wasn't until the end that i realized i had been sitting there the whole time and didn't get a chance to see the other crit. that's how great the studio (work presented, actual presentations, and discussions b/w critics and students and b/w critics). sure i only saw that one, but it's a testament to the quality of the school. everyone had amazing physical models, drawings, renderings...

GSD: there were 8 or so reviews going on that day. i could barely stay in 1 for more than 15 minutes. i was bored out of my mind and had to really really try to stay focused and attentive to what was going on. i was utterly unimpressed with the work presented. i forced myself to go back in the afternoon and finally found 1 studio that was rather interesting. i barely ever saw a physical model of any sort.

overall i was thoroughly disappointed with the GSD and thoroughly impressed with Princeton. I have a friend who started the MARCHI that fall; said he liked it alot b/c of the different approach to architecture (compared to Yale undergrad arch major), but apparently he's pretty bored (somethinn i heard from a mutual friend). the school itself is indeed huge and you feel it when you're there. your studio space is TINY compared to Princeton, or even Yale.
I've heard the same comments on Princeton, that it's more theoretical etc, but Paul's Studio really changed that perception for me; it seemed almost entirely design-oriented and the design was awesome. Princeton definitely seems like the better school to me.

My biggest fear with Princeton though, is its POTENTIAL to be completely isolating. the MARCHI class is each year is a dozen or so students; the entire school 50 or so. if you don't get along with/mesh well with your 11 classmates, school's gonna suck regardless. also princeton's graduate population is also tiny (i think arch is their only professional school), so it's possible that going to princeton for architecture pretty much means architecture is all you're going to see, unless you have a not-so-healthly obession for undergraduates. and finally, you're going to be in Princeton, which, by any standard and regardless of how close you are to NYC, is a suburb of white america.

i'm also trying to figure out how Yale fits into the picture... it almost seems like the happy median b/w Princeton and GSD (as it usually does) with an education and population size closer to princeton's, but a diversity of program/lifestyle closer to GSD's.

as you can see i'm pretty undecided on any school and would LOVE feedback on my comments and any/all schools forementioned.

2005…