UW

Thank you FRaC, but any specific reason?

Seattle has the second highest number of architects per capita in the US (SF is #1). Seattle has Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, Boeing, Expedia, etc...basically a lot of young people with lots of $$$. The city is building like crazy and is full of many, many smart people (2nd most literate city in the US after Portland). 

I would put Seattle up against any other large city in terms of quality of life (far surpasses NYC, LA, and SF). 

UW is a great school from what I hear...I would say UW

Also, the Pacific NW has a craft + manufacturing community that will run circles around those in CA

hotter chicks, too

CA is progressively falling off the cliff ..

less hotter chicks, too

PacNW is way more progressive than anywhere in CA

Just my opinion, but I think UW-Seattle is an up-and-coming design school that is currently off many people's radars -- choose Seattle!

PacNW is way more progressive than anywhere in CA

fine, but CA is still progressing toward that cliff .. go to UW

The other great thing about UW is that you can get a residency waiver after a year, which makes the second year MUCH more affordable. I went to USC for undergrad and UW for grad (MFA though, not M.Arch), and really did feel like Seattle was a better influence as a city.

Thank you all guys for the input.

I talked to one graduate from UW, she said they job opportunity is actually good  in Seattle, all her classmates has begin to work since Dec. last year. The program is super practical,  craft + manufacturing thing is also great. 

But in terms of lecture resources or information or communication with other schools, Seattle even the whole PacNW seemed to be little closed off. That seems a problem

@ FRaC @mdler, couldn't agree any more Seattle is more livable, and PacNW is progressive

@Dani，It's true UW is more serious, and harder to get in than the other. 

 But USC seems more influence in many ways. Lot of money, great faculty, Fran Gehry , 

Erin,  you went to USC for BArch. Though I doubt about the MAch program,  USC's BArch ranks top 10 in the nation.  What did you think about it.  Did the program heavily lean toward digital and  performative architecture?

Did the school / the City offer much more great lectures than UW. (Since the lectures are opened the whole public, I think you might can answer this question)

And about the residency waiver, I'm definitely going to find out more detail, thank you for this information. 

Another thing bothers me is that the works in UW's website seemed not that stunning

hmm Fran Gehry is pretty awesome

yeah maybe SC not UW

Gerhy is really awesome, creating interesting form, space is unexpected,  full of surprise 

But I don't think I would went down his road. I appreciate Zumthor and other Japanese Swiss architects.  The "low key",  kinda of spirit space

Hey Erin, do you know if that only applies to Americans? If a Canadian came to go to school there could they apply to pay residency tuition fees after the first year, or is that totally different?

i'd only rec attending UW if you want to work in seattle. compared to many other arch schools, UW is far behind in terms of research, technology - which is odd given the tech companies here (McNeel). but it does have some decent ties to scandinavia, japan.

the lectures here are fairly mediocre - there are local orgs (space.city, for example) that have put on better lecture series some years than UW.

also, don't judge a school by its website - for what it's worth, the UW website has improved a f*ckload since i moved here. seattle is definitely starting to come out of the slump of recession, but still light years behind vancouver.

@holz.box - i agree.

BenC, no clue. They have a whole office that deals with establishing residency though, so it would be very worthwhile to contact them, I'm sure they get that question all the time.

milovan, they did not at the time, but I graduated in '05, before Quingyun Ma took over, back when there were only two stories to the architecture building and the grad program barely existed. So I would be very surprised if things had not changed since then, but couldn't tell you which direction they might have changed in.

far behind technology？that seems to be a problem. but is it below the average or seems to be not that good compared to top schools.  and I heard that most UW graduates could land a job successfully, but many USC graduates couldn't. Not much information about cca, but it cost the most, so I just narrowed it down to UW and USC

@milovan, did you attend the UW's open house? how did you find it?

@christian, I didn't. I'm from China, so cannot have the opportunity.

any more insight?

what about USC's MArch program. 

already turned uw down, then got another ad from VT  

holz.box, did you go there for the March program?

vt ranked very high in the DI,  but almost every one talk about its Barch program, is the grad program excellent as well as its undergraduate program.  

and is it a prestige school as USC in this profession

i was @VT for b.arch but hung out with several m.arch'ers.

i think the m.arch program can be good, i don't think it's as highly regarded as undergrad. i'd venture to say it's probably in the top 20. if you go to VT, i'd recommend not staying in blacksburg the whole time - hit up the WAAC if possible. i'm not sure if the master's program has suffered since frascari hit the eject button - but there are still some really strong professors there, with some good ties to EU.

i've never thought of USC as a prestigious (or even top tier) school for arch.

Do you mean VT has much better reputation nation-wide? 

Cause I am an internation student,  I am not familar with US schools. Both schools seems to have strong undergraduate program. USC's grad program is quite new, while VT's has been there for a while. 

As for WAAC, I wrote Steve Thompson? for advice. I will definate go there, just don;t sure when, maybe the second year.  I am a more metropolitan person.