1. chill out a bit
2. apply to a bunch of schools
3. see what happens
4. go with what feels right, you might not like architecture in two or three years anyway.

Are you a Texas resident? If so, and if you live close to UT, go visit.

I went to UT Austin for undergrad, didnt study architecture but I would highly recommend the school. I took several architecture classes and the professors are wonderful. (Larry Speck especially). Austin is GREAT, and the school is just a fabulous. You dont sound like you are from Texas and frankly when it comes to UT, getting in from out of state is tough. As you probably know if you graduate in the top 10% of your high school class within Texas you are automatically accepted to the university, however that does not mean you are accepted to your prefered major. Anyway, I know the rule is dumb and it is about to get canned, but you seem to be a good candidate, so give it a shot. Im not saying by any means that there are no out of state students at UT, there are many, but it is a little more competetive from out of state, and in state if you arent top 10% you are not getting in.

A side note...if you want to have a AWESOME time at UT and in Austin, dont study architecture in undergrad, get all the partying you want out of your system and hit up the graduate 3.5 yr program at another school. Thats what I am doing and have no regrets.

Good Luck.

Oh yeah, I am a Texas resident. I don't know if I would consider applying if I weren't, as they seem to discourage anyone from trying. They seem to reserve a great majority of accepted spots for residents.

So you are automatically accepted to the school, now all you have to worry about is getting into the architecture program. If you dont get in the first time, you can always try to transfer after a semester or something.

You should look at Rice as well unles you want a 4+2 school sprecifically. Rice and UT are very different so know what you want out of a school before you go to it. I visited UT in the spring for their reviews and I must say that I am glad I am at Rice, but UT is still a good school, just not what I was looking for in a graduate education.

Quite being worried about getting in. You have very high SAT scores and your GPA is high. You have absolutely no reason to be worried about getting in to most schools.

Also, do apply to other schools and keep open you options. Do you want a five year school or a 4+2? Ask you yourself that and other questions.

Ut is way to stuck on itself, threre is nothing progressive going on there. try rice or utsa.

"too"

my advice...

apply to UT. it is competitive, it is hard to get in, but try it anyway. also take a look at rice. visit both, as they are polar opposites yet both excellent, excellent schools.

rice is in texas. UT IS texas. rice is all smart people. UT has as many smart people as rice plus 40,000 frat boys, sorority girls, and slacker kids of rich suburbanites.

if you are at a huge HS you might like going to a small school like rice. i went to a big HS as well and personally i loved the sheer size and diversity of UT. rice was like the size of my high school and it seemed pretty constricting to me.

the great thing about the SOA is that IT is so small (<700 students?) and it does feel like a college-within-a-college. so you can have a sense of community at the SOA and still feel like you're part of something huge and massive (like a 500-student calculus class).

you look pretty good on paper. but if you want to go to UT, and you get in to the SOA, be prepared for nobody to really care how well you draw or paint. (not to denigrate your considerable skills!)

your visual images will look awesome at first, but the first time you have to build a basswood model you'll be humbled just like the rest of us who had no idea what a pounce wheel was. it is how well you design, not how well you draw. it only matters how well you can communicate that idea in your head.

if you are ENTERING your senior year in HS and are REALLY set on UTSOA maybe you should apply for the SOA and take the summer academy in architecture next summer, right before you enter school. that way, if you hate architecture, you've still been admitted to UT and you can switch majors ASAP.

architecture school is not for everyone. and the supplies are expensive as hell.

oh. and syracuse? up to UT's academic standards? ha.

cornell maybe. but although ithaca is gorges -- it's col' up dar.

Ochona,

sounds like you didnt get out much to consider only 20% of UT students "smart."

I know several people who got their B.Archs from Syracuse -- all very capable, talented, and smart ....

Thanks for all the help. I guess I'm still a little unsure of who exactly is getting into these schools. Living in Houston, Rice has always seemed to be impossibly difficult to get into to me. I know a couple of people who have gone to UT Architecture, but I have never been able to ask exactly what kinds of grades they got in high school. Everyone says to apply to Rice, but I have always considered it a waste, thinking that there would be no way I would be admitted. I suppose the standards are not as impossible as I thought, since some of you have suggested it. Any thoughts?

How is it impossible with a 4.32 GPA? Is it based on a 4 or 5 scale. Plus your SATs were 1430. Seriously, worry about about putting together a strong portfolio and stop worrying about your grades.

architecture admissions are not based on grades. they are based on portfolios, interviews, and everything else that is not a grade. Rice could care less what kind of grades you got (as long as you are competent). UT, you just have to get your foot in the door and the SOA will not be all that hard to get into. I've known many houstonians to get into Rice architecture (undergrad) with not so hot grades . . . after five years, they are kicking ass. You won't know unless you try.

many very talented architect also went to the University of Houston...don't dismiss it. It has a very good undergraduate program.

Denari, Jimenez, and many many more.

decisions cannot be made without the cheerleader quotient factored in...hook em horns!

what can you lose by applying to those school? some application fees and some efforts? if you don't apply simply because you don't think you'll get in, you will probably regret it. and especially if you really like those schools.

oh, i got out plenty...20% is probably a high percentage. all the booze and drugs take their toll.

although as it turns out, the girl above in the ass-less chaps made of an old bra is a rhodes scholar.

invisible, please make sure you have the right information if you want to go to UTSOA. UTSOA does not require a portfolio of ANY kind. i cannot stress this enough. it IS your grades, your class rank, your SAT scores, your extracurriculars, and your essay that will determine your admission. the fact that you are a talented artist will help you, but not because you won't have to be taught to draw. oh, you'll be in the nude drawing classes just like the rest of us. it'll help you because it will show that you can apply yourself, focus on goals, and analyze a problem from start to finish.

and, as far as i know, there is NO interview. now, it has been 10 years since i applied, but i also went to their website and things are still the same.

from the website:

"Freshman admission to the School of Architecture is administered by the UT-Austin Office of Admissions. Students may apply for fall admission only.

Architecture is unable to accommodate all qualified applicants and preference is given to candidates considered to have the best qualifications. All applications will be individually reviewed and evaluated. The School’s admission decisions are based on SAT I or ACT scores, class rank, essays, extracurricular activities, strength of academic background, including course difficulty, and accomplishments both in and out of school. Because the University is a state-supported institution, most places are reserved for Texas residents; admission is more competitive for non-residents."

and it is very hard to get in to as well. there is no "getting your foot in the door." sure, UT is a state school with 50,000 students. but out of those 50,000 students only 65 per year are freshman B.Arch students. it matters very little (although i won't say nothing) who your dad is, how charming you are, or who your dad is. although if your dad commissions one of the professors to build a lake house...you're so in, baby.

but then again: i was the valedictorian of my HS class, i had a 4.55 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) and a 1510 SAT in the days when a 1600 was a perfect score, and i was a four-year all-state band member. i was rejected from rice. why?

because i was from texas and from what i understand, they like a "diverse" freshman class. i didn't say GO to rice, i said APPLY to rice.

GO to ut. because the girl on the right is now provost and she's got all kinds of plans in store for us. asslösachapar för allt. heja UT.

ochona cheerleaders often grow up to be president of the united states of amerika!

I highly recommend you attend UT's Summer Academy. It's too bad you didn't got this summer; it would have answered a lot of questions for you. Regardless what your decision is, next summer look into it - it could potentially change your life.

I was planning to attend this summer, but I took an internship offer instead with a firm in Houston. I thought the job would look better on a resume, and the rec letters would be nice to have. I would have liked to have gone, especially considering I could have built my portfolio a little. But since UT does not require one, I decided I should do what was best for getting in there instead of other schools. Ochona, ah see those are the stories I always hear. They lead me to believe that no one gets into archictecture school anywhere. I know this is an overstatement, but when I hear someone with your achievments not getting into Rice, it makes me wonder, who the hell is getting into these competitive schools?

GWB: from the bottom of the pyramid to the top of the pyramid

one warning about summer academy...if you go, you WILL fall in love with UT. i had originally wanted to go to rice as i mentioned above...but six weeks in austin at the age of 17 and i was bleeding orange by the time i started senior year in HS. you should do it next summer.

quick on the draw!

GREAT move with the job. not ONLY will it help you get in to UTSOA, you'll find out what the REAL WORLD of architecture is like BEFORE you get baptized into architectural academia.

and about the stories? well, different people get in to different places. "competitive" is not quite the right word. admissions officers take so much into account when they decide who gets in. different schools care about different things.

rice, for one, seemed (when i was applying) to want a "geographically diverse" freshman class, or at least that's what i was told by my interviewer. she said i'd have a "hard time" getting in because they get a lot of apps from TX, but i applied anyway 'cause my mom told me to. didn't really matter to me by that point, i loved UT and wasn't going anywhere else.

what you don't want to do, in my opinion, is get caught up in the whole "what should i do to make myself stand out to college admissions officers?" trap. because it's pointless in architecture. if you want to impress someone in architecture, say you went to the GSD. that's of course at harvard...and of course it's GRAD school.

I second the great move on getting that internship. I did the same thing and had actually interned at a firm starting in the middle of my senior year in HS. It really helped to balance all the theoretical thinking outside the box of academia. And UH is a quality school and the industrial design program is really growing.

and i second the UH call...indeed, if someone asked me "where in TX should i get my b.arch?" i would UT, rice, or UH.

except that i have to say, the building isn't so perfect...and the last time i was there was right after philip johnson had died. there was a giant (2-story tall) portrait of him hung from the top balcony in the atrium. kinda reminded me of the portrait of mussolini that used to hang off the casa di fascio.

Yeah, that PJ shrine was creepy. They hung black curtains over the entrance too. Really freaky after very little sleep. I think that portrait is still there.

I dont think it is still there, though I could be wrong...but I do know they have Industrial Design within the architecture school and are adding a design research facility in an adjacent building. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at UH and would advise anyone to check it out as an undergrad option in Texas...it is easily the most underated program in the state...and it competes very well against both UT and Rice.

Good luck wherever you end up.

hey austinites...

since we're talking about UT on this thread, where's the best/cheapest place in town to pick up supplies? (other than dumpster diving at the recycling center) Actually, where is the recycling center?

Also, I don't know how different the undergrad/grad admissions policies are but I got into UT (March) with only a 3.35 GPA from undergrad (sculpture) and 1320 GRE and I'm out of state... It seems like your creds are much more impressive and you're in state. But like I said the two may be different. My portfolio was all sculpture and drawing since I have 0 experience in architecture, so I think that what others have said about the portfolio not being too important may be right, at least in the sense that you don't have to have lots of architectural stuff in it. I'm sure, however, that it should be high quality, whatever you decide to submit. But I guess that's just common sense.

Having said all that, I do feel pretty lucky to get in. I was down at the SOA the other day and the facilities are beautiful. They really have that "University" feel to them which I wasn't expecting. You feel as if there's a section of campus set aside for you and it's right on "the drag". These are first impressions but it seems incredibly nice especially compared to our sculpture studios at back at BU.

Another thing that could be important is life experience. One could (and I'm not necessarily advising you to do this) take a year and do something non-academic. I think working in a firm is a great idea. You could also do something like volunteer in a different state/country. There are opportunities for that kind of thing that don't cost much and could be helpful for getting in. Any new life experience will have intrinsic value as long as you stay mindful, and will change your perspective on a great many things.

I would second that you should apply to a bunch of different schools in and out of state. If UT is the best one you get into then you're doing pretty damn well already.

VMster -- ecology action is at 707 e 9th street downtown. 322-5129.

for art supplies i would say asel on MLK, co-op east on dean keeton at medical arts, or the co-op on the drag. for architectural supplies, asel or the co-op on the drag...although...you can probably buy your supply list online for cheaper. no charette's or utrecht or pearl or art store here, sorry to say.

the SOA part of campus is incredibly beautiful. and yes, louis kahn WAS the draftsperson who put the palm trees in the courtyard. he even said so when he visited the school in the 60s.

Ok, thanks ochona

Thanks for everyone's comments. It has really helped alot, especially since information about UT on archinect was hard to find before I became a member and just asked. Should have done that sooner

go east on dean keaton take a right at verbal kint and keep goin straight til you hit keyser soze.

Wait... doesn't verbal kint just turn into keyser soze?