I was there too. I really admire the school but am still torn regarding my decision. Hopefully the group can include people who are still deciding, or we can create a space for open house reactions on this thread.

@snail

just curious, where else did u get in? : )

Yale, Cornell, and Penn. My final decision will probably happen after I see Yale's open house.

make the facebook group! i'm sure there's burning questions from a lot of people who didn't get to go

went there as well, I was really impressed by their program and I am 80% leaning towards gsapp right now. i will make my decision after i visit MIT tmr

@archicowboy    Can you share more about the GSAAP's open house? Because I'm not in America and I really want to know more about the school.   Thanks a lot 

i guess

#1 question is:

HOW IS EVERYONE PAYING FOR GSAPP and WHAT RESOURCES ARE YOU USING TO PAY??

and Trace (if you ever read this): worth 150K+ in debt for m.arch/mRESD?

@batman,

From what I heard from open house today:

1. first of all, get loan to pay for the first semester tuition. 

2. right after you get in school, there are tons of immediately available positions (TA, RA, work-study, librarian, fab lab, out-put shop, NY/Paris program GSI, etc ) you can apply. Some positions cover half of your tuition, some cover 3000-9000 each semester . So if you do multiply positions, you can cover most of your tuition. 

some positions cover half of your tuition? can you explain more what those positions are and who hours it would take to do so?

thanks for your help

@snail Did you attend Penn's open house? Was it mind blowing like gsaap's?? Unfortunately I couldn't make it, would like to hear from those that did. Having to decide between Penn & Columbia... Anyone been to both?? Appreciate any feedback, thanks!!!

@snail Did you attend Penn's open house? Was it mind blowing like gsaap's?? Unfortunately I couldn't make it, would like to hear from those that did. Having to decide between Penn & Columbia... Anyone been to both?? Appreciate any feedback, thanks!!!

@ GSD110: Could you tell me what you thought of two schools MIT and Columbia after you visited the open house of MIT today? I cant visit the two schools, and therefore have to take the decision based on online info and consultation. Many thanks!

@xinyuli

They actually said you can combine positions to pay for most of tuition?  For instance, can you work in the library and also TA for a class?  I'm sure they are super competitive...

From what I understand.. after the first year, funds "magically appear" in the 2nd and 3rd years. They are however still hyper-competitive, their is just more money to be given out. I'm just not sure if I can take their word for it. There is literally nothing said about this on the website or in any formal way.

dlwilson, from a talk I had with my TA from GSAPP over the summer, he told me that TA positions during the semester are very competitive. For every faculty member who has 1 or 2 positions available for a studio or theory class there are about 15 or 20 students that would be trying to nab the position. It can get a little cutthroat, but if you play your cards right you could be set there.

Also, do you guys think it would even be possible to work multiple positions (library, output shop, etc.)? I find it hard to believe there would be enough time in the day to work more than one position with studio and classes all the time. But if they do allow it it might be worth it to try and make that work

that was what I was concerned about. I'd be stoked if i can graduate under $70-80k than 150+ by working multiple positions, but scared of the time factor.

1. i hope they have other, or more lucrative positions than just TA since it's so competitive. 

2. I'm stumped and more curious for this funds to magically appear.  If I didn't get any financial aid from them for this first year, what will make me get it the next 2-3 years?

3. still trying to find out what this position/job that can pay for half your tuition

I was at the GSAPP open house (for the UD) program, and while there was talk of various positions you can get at the school, there certainly was not talk of it paying for half - or anything close to half- of your tuition. For a part time position - say 10 hours a week for the 32 weeks a year that school is in session - to cover half of the almost $45,000 per year of tuition, you would have to earn more than $70 per hour. It gets even sillier when you think of what you would have to make per hour to cover half of the $66,000 tuition for the AAD and UD programs. I don't believe that job exists! You will be sorry if you accept a position at the school with the dream of getting $20,000 plus a year to work in the slide library.

i knew it was too good to be true!

@ RandomWorks

@ batman

as i have been working at studio x for couple months, from what i know, they do have some positions could cover half of your tuitions. if you want to know more, just pick the phone and call the admission office to figure it out

I attended GSAPP, and I have to concur that the TA positons are very competitive. I entered with a scholarship that covered about 1/4 of my tuition and worked a job where I was not give a stipend, but an hourly wage that was somewhat low. 

Teachers can definitely pick their TAs, but how much money you get really depends on what type of class you are TAing. A lot of the history/theory TAs are PhD students. A chunk of the studio assistants are not from the school but work with the person teaching the studio, etc. Your best bet is to approach the professor you have an interest in TAing for and also fill out the application for TA positions. 

Working in the library, print shop, wood shop, fabrication lab, etc are hourly positions (as far as I knew). And they pay a low amount. I had one of these jobs. Most of those non-TA type jobs that get you stipends involve being the head of something. If you manage the entire fabrication lab or slide library. That is great but it is also a time commitment. The only position I knew of that gave half tuition was photographing for the events. The first year you get paid hourly as an apprentice. I wouldn't be surprised if NY-Paris also paid half though. But again, giant time commitments which are very tough when you are in architecture graduate school. Having a job was tough at times for me, and mine wasn't nearly as involved. 

You can have two positions within the school, but from the only person I knew that had this, you cannot have two stipends. So you can have one stipend and one hourly paying job.

Also, the way a lot of funding works is that Columbia gets X amount of Federal money through work study, which somehow gets divided among the different departments. If your department doesn't have a lot of other funds (I assume architecture doesn't since there aren't that many super rich architects) they are going to rely more on those funds, thus giving preference to students who qualify for those funds over students who don't. That might be bunk in this case since Columbia has a large endowment, but my overall impression of Columbia (not GSAPP) was that they extracted every penny they possibly could from you.

^ dang, how did the person with two job do in architecture? crazy i imagine. 

if you  had to pick a position at columbia, what would be best for time/pay/least commitment?

Blah, I don't know. I don't know what all of the salaries/stipends were. I wanted the opportunity to teach because I feel like I would like to teach at some point in my life. I think it depends on what you want. If you want it as an opportunity that might lead to a job/connection/etc or a source of money. 

I worked for the lectures, and although at times I was like "Aah, I have so much work to do!" I saw every lecture at GSAPP for 3 years. Some were boring, but I feel like I gained a lot from it. It also didn't pay well, but the perk was I had a reserved seat for all lectures, which paid off when starchitects came and packed the entire auditorium.

I have to say GSAPP has a lot of opportunities and resources, but when I was there they didn't really make it clear what all of those were. I would be proactive about finding out what they are in terms of classes, sources of money, lectures, etc. The 3rd floor is your friend. They used to tape information on the doors of it (low-tech for the computer architecture school). I wouldn't be afraid to ask them questions. For such a large school, I felt like a lot of faculty and staff were accessible.

thanks for your input. going to check out gsapp next week and get a feel for it. ill definitely check out what i can and if i am able to secure a lucrative temp job id be more incline to go.

snail

i was at cornell and penns open house. did you go? where are you leaning towards?

Hi 1906, would you comment on Penn and Cornell open house? Have you decided?

@ archicowboy

Just curious are you from CED? What's your name?

So where is this Facebook group for GSAPPers starting in 2012?

I just paid my deposit.

@ Vanillian -what course are you joining?  would be commencing MSAUD at Columbia this may 2012..

where is the facebook page? I want to "Like" it

hey ankicha... I am also joining MSAUD at Columbia May 2012... would like to catch up...

@ankicha @Devanshipurohit & anyone else

I will also be attending GSAPP MSAUD in May 2012.  Is anyone looking to live off-campus.  I'm still searching and would was wondering if anyone else would like to look for an empty place that we could bring furniture and such?

@sba39 - Considering we are in a similar situation, it would be great if we could get in touch . My email is ankitachachra@hotmail.com. hope to hear from you soon! cheers!