cjacobs...nice job. Which program at OSU? ...when i visited there the facilities are what convinced me to apply. Amazing building and studios.

804 studio looks like a great program.

mctwist657,
I was accepted to the M.Arch program at OSU. Not sure where I will be placed in the program, but I’m looking forward to visiting. I told myself once that I was going to OSU because of the new building...it looks amazing and can't wait to see it (plus it's right next to the horse shoe). If only studio 804 was offered at OSU...then all my dreams would be answered... However now after undergrad(Montana State) I’m starting to feel the pull for the program over the facilities, that's why I’m leaning towards finishing up with Studio 804...I've yet to visit both schools...so only time will tell

Good deal...do you have any other thoughts on the OSU program in general? I wasnt able to see much student work when i went. I was not even planning on applying there, but my wife is from columbus and I randomly went in during a visit to ohio. I am wondering if i still have a chance to get in as i have not gotten any emails yet...so we will see.

Urban Africa is a design studio initiated through UN Habitat. A team was sent to Nairobi over winter break to setup and survey the situation in two slums (Soweto East and Mukuru Kwa Reuben). They came back after talking to the residents with 6 proposals for what they would like to see changed and how they envision it to look like. We then broke into teams to develop these grassroots initated proposals further with the understanding that they were to be implemented on the ground. In fact we have people trying to figure out how to fund these projects, others of us communicating daily with our team members in the slums... we will be going in a week or so to meet with the people on the ground to develop our ideas further and to get some of them started. Who knows where we will go from here...

This is done through Cornell Universities AAP. We have a integrated studio of Architects, Planners, and Landscape Architects with consultant members from engineering and other college within Cornell (sociology I believe). All at the graduate level.

just got an acceptance email from Wash U!! woohoo!

congrats kabean! Wash U rocks!

Hey thanks kabean, I checked my email and I have one from WashU too! Word of warning: it was in my junkmail folder, to pay attention if you applied there and are waiting to hear from them.

So for all those keeping count, I've been accepted to U Houston, NJIT, and WashU so far. So happy, but still antsy to hear from the other 8 out of 11 schools

cjacobs

i don't want to spoil your excitement.
i received email regarding UIUC TAs, and researches.
my email address, assuming your email address as well, were of over 100+ addresses that the email was sent to.
basically everyone who applied, received that email, i think

Question about Washington University in St. Louis.

I got in too. but dude... St. Louis? I'm not sure if I would like to live there. How can i give up the sunny california?

So, free hotel/air-ticket for open house on April 12-14. See you there... Drop me a line if you are going.

----------

OutsideDream86: No news from Univ of Washington, Seattle? They called me last week. Seattle is a sick ass city. the seafood from Alaska... oh man.

----------

yes, we all have that UIUC email.

I know, I'd really rather not live in St. Louis. As I told my family, WashU would have to pay my tuition and throw lots of money at me for me to consider going there. That being said, I'd rather live in St. Louis than Newark, Houston than St. Louis.

Even if I decide not to go to WashU, I still might head over there for the open house to see what I'd be giving up.

And nope, no calls from U Washington...I'm probably lost in their "maybe" pile. I've heard Seattle is a lot like Austin, so that's a definite plus. However, I'm a hot sunny Texas girl at heart, (hot and sunny weather...not me) so the idea of constant cloudiness/rain kind of scares me. I don't even own an umbrella. I used to go jogging in the summer when it was 115 degrees out, no exaggeration. I thought the people getting heat stroke in the Hotter n Hell bike race were sissies.

Interesting link... I bike too, I was on the cycling team. We won the National Champ in 2006. University of California, Davis. Baby!!!

2007? I don't care...

You don't have an umbrella? No worries. You aren't alone. I wear my snowboarding jacket in the rain.

Giving up a ranked 6th, Wash Univ? very tough. Giving up the city of St. Louis? Piece of cake. Don't you agree. Anyway, maybe I'll see you in mid April in the greatest city in the world, St. Louis.

Ding, just to clarify, you got a call from UW that you're in?
I'm from the area and it's my top choice... and thus the one I don't think I'll get in.

Seattle is NOT always painfully rainy!!!!

There are so many completely beautiful days. Boating on the water... summer house or camping up in the Orcas islands... SCUBA diving... snowboarding/skiing in the winter... hiking... kayaking... sure it rains sometimes, but it's not like a lot of other places. When it rains, it rains. There's no "humidity." There is fog sometimes, but it's rather spooky and mysterious, rather than hot and humid.

I grew up there and miss it :)

everywhere: yes. i got accepted. They called me on the Feb 22.

oops. on the 22nd, not on the Feb. i still can't fucking believe Washington University accepted me. Should've applied GSD.... Under estimated myself.

ding - why does that mean you underestimated yourself?

because i didn't aim for the top 5 or top 10. Wash Univ is ranked 6th. that's why.

What does one have to do with another - what kind of logic is that? You base your decision of ranking numbers? Shouldn't you apply where you want to go to school? And to what ranking are you referring?

let me ask you, which top 10 isn't a good school? I don't have financial problems. Why wouldn't I want to go to a top 10? everyone knows that GSD is one the best. I would give up the sunny california move to Boston. Why not? What is your logic?

Why would you apply to a school if you didn't want to go there? It seems presumptuous to assume that because WashU and UW saw something in your application worthy of admission that you assume you should have 'aimed higher'. Most people on this forum would be more than happy to go to the schools you described. This process is important to a lot of people and some humility might be appropriate here.

Would you choose GSD over UCLA? L.A. is an astronomically better city... but GSD is arguably a better school. Whatever, nobody is in to any of these places yet. But that's an interesting thing to consider: how much does actual city play a role in the decision?

anatomical gift

You and I see this application stuff in a different way. I wouldn't mind to apply 15 or 20 schools. What do I have to lose? Cash for applications, fees for printing, postal etc etc... At the end, I get to choose where i want to go.

Bro, I was just saying that "why didn't i apply GSD......". Then, you are being like a little girl here. Indeed, I'm happy with UW and WashU. I have never been to St. Louis and Seattle.

I'm from california. Dude, it's St. Louis. I can go surfing at the damn lake, I can go snowboarding at my back yard. Sunny all year around in st. louis. Organic produce everywhere. No, no... But WashU is a good school, so i applied.

Maybe you will in GSD or a better graduate school than me. If you are stressed or frustrated with your appliction status, please go sign up a kickboxing class. You need to release.

What is your logic next?


--------
UCLA is cool. Santa Monica. Nice location.

what are you talking about..

nothing... apologize for the small drama.

Yeah, Santa Monica is a nice location. For school, Berkeley is better though, in my opinion.

i'm talking about public schools in california.

I think in a way what anatomical means is there is no really ABSOLUTE ranking of schools. Some people who get into GSD might not get into Wash U, and vice versa.

Schools choose students they think are best suited to their programs, so ranking isn't as absolute as it might be in other areas.

got a phone call acceptance/scholarship offer from parsons yesterday...what are people's thoughts of their architecture program?

Exactly Balagan, I went through dozens and dozens of schools' websites to learn about their programs before applying. You know what I found out? I didn't like the programs of any of the Ivy schools. I chose programs that are best suited for me. Some aren't even in the top 50 (of some arbitrary ranking), but I can see myself being happy there and making the most out of my education.

I personally saw no reason to want to go to a top school just because it is the "best"--and what does that mean anyway?--if I was going to spend 3-4 years of my life hating it. And from what I've heard, correct me if I'm wrong, is that in the real world nobody even cares about where you got your degree. If you're dedicated and talented, you'll win competitions/get good jobs. If someone wants to hire me because they see "Harvard" and not ME...well I personally find that a little disconcerting.

So is anyone out there waiting to hear from OSU still? I still have yet to hear, and its driving me crazy...The website status changed from application under evaluation to application under academic review...what does that mean?

ding - before you go around dishing out insults, you might try thinking for a moment. You can see it as practice for architecture school.

OutsideDream86- I agree somewhat to your reasoning, but do you think relying on schools' websites is the best way to judge? You should at least visit schools and try to talk to as many students and alumns as possible. And I know what you mean about going to a school just for the name sake, but at the same time, people that go to the GSD have a lot more open doors. You can be the smartest architect out there, but if you have only a few so-so contacts, how is that going to help you get a job? A lot about being a successful architect also has to do with contacts, dealing with people and knowing how to work the industry. Going to places like the GSD will prepare you for that. And I have heard that where you go to school does have a very large effect on finding work. If you're applying to a firm that has a large number of GSD or Penn grads working there, it's very likely they're going to hire more GSD or Penn grads. Of course that doesn't really mean the work is better, it just means people like being around people who have a common bond. That's just how the world works. There were several things that turned me off from the GSD and Penn when I visited, but part of getting a masters is to help your professional career and those schools will definitely provide you the opportunities to go farther than most schools.

anatomical gift. you just can let it go, can't you? I'm going to the beach, enjoy life here. later bro.

-_-;

I just got into U Illinois - Chicago. That's 2 down, 4 to go! Hope to hear from UMich in the next couple days...

congratulations!
I have a few friends in UIC and it seemed like an incredibly fun place to be at!

Yea, I must admit I don't know much about the program and still haven't found the time to visit. But I blame that mostly on their website being incredibly uninformative. Anyone know enough about UIC that can be briefly summarized? Thanks if you do...

just got acceptance e-mail from wash univ. still waiting to hear from more. how do you rate a school and know which one to go to. what do you guys know about wash u?

I began my undergrad degree at UIC in 1995, but my experience there wasn't particularly good, so I'm probably the wrong person to ask. I understand they've made some positive changes to the program since I left, though.

The way you rate a school and know what school to go to is to go there and see it first hand. Talk to students, see the facilities, talk to faculty, etc. If you don't do that then you are making an uniformed decision based on speculation, other peoples opinions and internet research. Not to say that this is a completely bad way to go about it, but by visting the school you will certainly know what you are getting into before you show up as an enrolled student. You'll know within the first ten minutes of visiting a school if you like it or not.

but there certainly are a lot that you can weed out through the internet research process... heck, I chucked half the schools I researched based on curriculum alone!

I would agree with rationalist that curriculum is the best way to narrow school down. Trying to figure out what other people think the "best" schools are is not only trivial, but often leads to contradictories. This year, to make my first cuts, I decided to sit down and think of key words or definitions of architecture that I either required or did not prefer. Then I went on all the schools' websites and saw how they matched up. There are so many different types of approaches to architecture, so you have to start thinking about which one is right for you. Then you can get into conjecturing a bit more like whether the location (including climate) is right for you. Once you've applied, as in your case ani, it's probably best to have a maleable ranking of the schools so that you know "if i get into A and B, i'm going to A". It might be impossible to visit all the schools, so just visit the top couple that you got into, I would say. In the end, go with the one that you're most sure about so there's less of a gamble.

nomadic~ how did you find out about the acceptance to UIC? email? phone? letter?...

Anyone know when the Ivy League open houses are? I know it was in the thread earlier but I couldn't find it.

nomadic - i totally agree with your approach and that is exactly what i did. I used internet research to narrow down where I wanted to go based on curriculum and approach to architecture. Once I had a hand full of schools that I really liked I contacted students and e-mailed with them to get a better feel for what was going on there.

After I applied however, I went and looked at all the schools first hand so that I could make a decision when the time comes. Luckily I had family and friends in the areas of the schools I was applying to so I could travel on a tight budget. I think it was definitely worth the couple hundred dollars I spent to visit. I just got back from visiting Syracuse, GSD and Yale, and I looked at Rice and UT Austin a few weeks ago. The only problem is I can see myself at every school but they all offer something different. We'll see what happens...

What did you think about GSD and Yale? Those are two schools I haven't had a chance to personally visit yet.

cp- my process was similar, except that I am waiting on visits for most until I know whether I'm accepted. I visited one school because they had an open house on a weekend I was in their city anyway, and will visit another next week for an interview(!!!!!). The rest can wait until I know that they want me.

GSD and Yale are on a whole different level than most other schools. Not in terms of the work they produce (which was deifinitely very very good) but more in terms of what is available to you as a student for the same price as every where else. They have the faculty, the traveling faculty, the lectures and exhibits, and a very talented student body. But what really sets them apart is the money and the resources they have available. They have every tool you could imagine to experiment with and use.

In terms of fabrication I think Yale is a bit ahead of the game. Both schools have laser cutters, 3 axis milling machines, wood shops, metal shops and all that. However, Yale has a water jet and a 5 axis milling machine on top of the other stuff, which Harvard doesn't have or atleast I didn't see them, though it would be hard to hide a 5 axis mill since it looks like a Robotech arm and is about the size of a car.

Anyways, both schools are excellent and don't force any sort of style or approach. I would say the main difference is Yale would allow you to be a little more crafty since they have more tools to experiment with and they have a stronger focus on making things. Your second studio is a building project where you actually design and build a house for the community.

If I got into both programs I would have a hard time deciding between the two. Both are amazing schools and it really depends on what you want. Yale is more crafty and GSD is "the international airport of architecture" as one of there professors put it since everything architecture related comes through there school. I personally am leaning a bit more towards Yale but we'll see where I get in.

Thanks for the lowdown... They both sound like great programs. If I managed to get in to either of them (or both), I'd love to go out there for the open houses, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to swing that financially unless they're willing to cover my travel expenses. Is that something schools normally do?

I just wanted to be 100. HAAAY GUYS.