Yea Living in Gin. Go for it! Best of luck.

I guess one saving grace is that since I've already had 10+ years experience in the business, I'd be going into a higher salary bracket after I finish my M.Arch., so having huge student loan payments would be slightly less burdensome for me compared to an entry-level intern with little or no prior exprience.

10 + years is definite a plus! I say you go for it – many will argue about the high student loan debt (been there, done that) but think of the he possibilities! Endless; reach for the stars - really! That is my 2 cents.

Anyone here going to apply to schools in the UK for fall 2006?

Anyone here going to apply to schools in the UK for fall 2007?

Thanks for the pep rally... Of course, there's the small matter of how to actually pay for my education if any of these schools are crazy enough to accept me... Due to my crappy credit rating, private loans probably won't be an option for me, so I'm going to have to count on either a generous package from the school, or getting a tuition waiver and stipend in exchange for being a TA or RA.

don't skip the pro-practice classes at any of those schools- they will be worth the dime.

Most grad students have no or low credit, so don't worry about qualifying for loans- the ivies will always makesure you can pay the tuition (even if you have to sell a kidney to repay the loan).

Gin, I'm looking for a similar situation. Because of this, I'm applying to seven or eight schools, both top tier, and several that are second tier but have promising looking curriculums and facilities (these include UW, RIT, and SCAD). I figure I'll be perfectly willing to go be a star at a second tier school with an awesome curriculum for free. = )

I can relate... The two schools I dropped from my list (Cincy and Oregon) were my "safety" choices -- good programs with strong reputations, yet still reasonably affordable, and with at least a half-decent shot of me getting accepted.

I've been pondering City College of New York and UCLA to fill that role, but I'm open to other possibilities as well.

UCLA is just as tough to get into as an east coast ivy.
USC just takes a rich daddy...

Ah well... And CCNY isn't even fully accredited yet. I was also considering Michigan for a while, but their non-resident tuition is almost as high as the Ivies.

The only schools were I can get dirt-cheap in-state tuition right away are U of Illinois at Urbana and UIC, neither of which hold any appeal to me. I've pretty much resigned myself to paying out the wazoo for grad school... Or at least applying to expensive schools and hoping for a good financial aid package.

zahand, I am applying to the Bartlett for the fall of '07.

And tk, I am also applying to USC. My dad's not rich but the director of the program nearly reached through the phone and accepted me when I talked to him over the summer. I will admit, one of my recommenders is a friend of his, too. I guess that counts as my rich daddy :o/

I went to MIT & GSD open houses...as a result I dopped my safety choices too ( won't mention them)...

Open House Report.

GSD felt so impressive, I felt like I didn't want to go anywhere else...yet I liked that MIT's Program seemed like it was surrounded by "think-tanks"..at least I wanted to think that, based on the presentation ( nevermind that the POWERPOINT was broken at a University w/ the word Technology in the title during the first part of the presentation LOL)...you can tell MIT is in transiton, but that might be a really good.

Columbia seemed the coolest though....I kind of don;t want to settle for any sort of second tier school now...

so what were your safety schools that seem oh so not good enough now?

WonderK- was this guy a Mr. Doug Noble? It's so funny when he gets all excited like that over his work.

And TK, you may be remembering USC from ten years ago or so, but it's come a long way, and I'll thank you not to denegrate my alma mater so much.

Well, I just sent e-mails to a couple former profs and colleagues asking if they'd be willing to write some letters of recommendation for me... Here's hoping they don't die of laughter.

the schools i recently gave up on were cu denver ( local), upenn, (which is definitely not second tier), berkley ..and those two amazing LA schools.....my point is not to sound arrogant...it is just that I feel less schizo about it now ,...having narrowed it down....I realise that these IViEZ can be a bit homoginized, and more about " what you put into your education that you get back." Ultimately, open house just made me feel more comfortable with my process and identity as an applicant, god knows if they like me...its a crap shoot.

r- didn't say that USC was bad, just that they cared more in the admissions process then most, about who's your daddy...

I won't go into what I thought of USC 10 years ago...

formfunction- I felt the same way after my visit to CCA. Like I finally knew what to write, why I wanted to be there, and how to represent that to them.

I'm thinking of dropping School of the Art Institute of Chicago from my list. They look amazing, but there also seems to be pretty high walls between the departments.

formfunction - so you liked harvard yale columbia princeton better than penn, berkeley, ucla - okay, that's understandable (although they are all really great schools). so your choice was if you can't go to the ones you really really like best you'd rather wait another year and try again? seems reasonable to me as well. i too am deciding if i should apply to a lot or a few.

i just realized,
that sounds lame to talk like that ..I have been schizo afterall...i'll probably go whereever I can...and I am still applying to ...gsd, gsapp,princeton, mit,ucla, sciarc, yale..

rationalist, yes, it was Dr. Noble! He was sooo helpful. I feel like their program might not be such a good fit for me but between his enthusiasm and the school's reputation, I'm willing to give it a shot.

Speaking of schools we're NOT applying to.....I had requested information a number of times from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, but even after emailing the contact person directly, I never heard anything from them. It's too bad because I've heard such good things about Vancouver, but I'm not going to apply to a school that doesn't even have the courtesy to write me back if I'm thinking of going there.

That's one of my recommenders there, so I have to appreciate the extreme enthusiasm, too. If you've got any Q's that I might be able to help you with as far as school culture, students, etc. let me know and I'd be happy to answer either here or over email.

SAIC just sent me a postcard re: a grad info session here in LA, and.... it's on a day I absolutely cannot go. This really blows, because I think more interaction with them would help cement whether I should apply or not, but there's just no way I could possibly make it. Very upsetting.

And speaking of schools which don't bother contacting.... I still have not recieved the SAIC catelog, and I had to request the Pratt catelog three times before I got one. And I emailed the program director at RIT months ago with some specific questions, and have not gotten a response. I can't just call these people up during business hours, as I'm still stealth about the grad apps at the office.

speaking of schools responding or not responding, yale has sent me the same info booklet four times this year, even though i only filled out their online form for it once. they also sent me four of the same poster advertising their open house. i received one per week for a month. well, it's a cool poster, i guess. maybe that means they want me badly.

Many schools don't get their catalogs and applications materials printed up and ready to send out until around October. So some of these schools that seemed to need three reminders before they sent you an application were probably just keeping your name on file for when the materials were ready.

Don't rule out a school just because they didn't send a catalog immediately (or because they send you four of them.) Remember that in most schools it is a bunch of undergrad workstudy people who deal with putting your name into the spreadsheet and packing up envelopes. It doesn't necessarily mean anything about the responsiveness of the administration.

If you're not getting a response to specific questions that you emailed then give the school a call and ask whether that person is the correct person to address the questions to, verify their email address, and verify that email is the best way to contact them. I know a few admin and faculty, even in 2006 - particularly those of a certain age - who just don't use or check email. Surely if you call the school, even if the person who answers can't adequately answer your questions you can arrange a time for a brief, pre-arranged phone call with someone who can. In the age of cellphones this should not blow your cover at work...

yayyyyyyyy... Typography teacher #4 (don't ask!), who is an alum of Pratt, said she'd be HAPPY to review my portfolio before I submit apps. AND that she LOVED a piece that I was scared wasn't even good enough to go in there. So I'm feeling a bit more confident about things today. Yesterday I was stressed and depressed and crying because I didn't think I had enough time. But that makes me feel much more confident.

Well, I've been in touch with both Cornell and Columbia to make arrangements to visit both schools at the end of the month. The responses from the two have been like night and day. The lady at Columbia pretty much brushed me off, saying, "Well, we don't really meet with prospective students, but you can drop by and walk around Avery Hall if you want." Gee, thanks.

Cornell, on the other hand, is rolling out the red carpet for me by comparison. Diane at the graduate admissions office has been very friendly and helpful, and has arranged for me to meet with Lily Chi, the director of the graduate program.

Even the response here on Archinect has followed that pattern... When I announced my trip plans, I immediately had two people from Cornell willing to show me around, but nary a peep from any GSAPP people.

First impressions count for a lot, and Cornell definately has the edge in that race.

Unfortunately, I won't have a chance to visit Harvard or UPenn before their application deadlines. If I had one more day in NYC I'd easily be able to swing down to Philly and visit UPenn, but it's just not in the cards this time. I've lived in Boston and Philly before, so at least I'm familiar with each of the campuses even if I haven't gotten the official dog-and-pony show from the architecture schools yet.

Speaking of deadlines, it's doubtful I'll have all my shit together before Harvard's deadline of December 15th. I still owe some money to Drexel University, and they're not going to release my transcripts until I get it paid off.

The amount owed was to the tune of $3500, but I've made payment arrangements with their lawyers and have gotten most of that amount paid off, and I was on schedule to have it paid off 100% by the end of December. One minor glitch, though: The law firm I was sending my money to has apparently gone out of business (two of my checks haven't been cashed yet, and their phone number has been disconnected), and I have no idea what has happened to all the money I've sent them so far, nor where I'm supposed to send the rest of the money. I'm sure this mess will eventually get worked out, but I doubt it will happen before December 15th. The other schools' deadlines are January 15th, so I'm slightly more optimistic about meeting them.

Regarding my meeting with Lily Chi at Cornell, I need to put together a list of questions to ask about the program. Obviously, there's a million things I want to know about the program, but my mind always goes blank when I'm on the spot and in a position to ask specific questions. (I have the same problem with job interviews... My failure to ask pointed questions has landed me in some crappy situations in the past.)

So... What types of questions are you guys asking when you visit schools and meet with advisors? For those of you in graduate programs (or who have finished grad school), what questions do you wish you had asked back when you were applying to your program?

did anyone every figure out if berkeley really requires the extra 'personal biography' essay? i remember there being some discussion that they didn't actually want it but just forgot to take the requirement off the web page...

Well, apparently the $2400 that I've sent to this lawyer over the past six months has vanished into thin air (along with the lawyer himself). Luckily, I can produce cancelled checks for the full amount, and Drexel will credit my account accordingly when I send copies of those checks to them... Before they turn around and sue the lawyer themselves. What a pain in the ass...

In other news, I've finally registered to take the GRE on Tuesday... Wish me luck.

yay, good luck!

Is anybody getting their stuff professionally photographed? I'm considering it, as I know a photographer who might be able to hook me up at a good rate, and my profs are very clear that it's the ONLY way to go. Have I been hanging out with architects too long, or are these people crazy? Who on EARTH gets their student portfolio professionally photographed???

Wow, just last April I remember crawling the application-admission threads and stressing out, and now here I finally am.

The only school of the seven that I'm applying to that wants EVERYTHING in by Dec. 15th (unlike GSD/MIT who take the portfolio in January) is UC-Berkeley. I find this obstinance on their part so infuriating that I'm pretty much coming up with reasons already why I wouldn't want to go there.

For starters, Berkeley is a fairly crunchy West coast locale. I am a hardcore Boston girl. See? That was easy. Just got another month to finish everything.

Try it!

No way I'm professionally photographing anything. Then again, most of my models are no longer with me. It's probably not worth the dough anyways. But if you got the dough and need the extra boost up on your application, go for it. Although, I've never heard of anyone doing that.

i had a photographer shoot 3 models for my portfolio. 3-4 hours each, 3 days in a row. it was painful and expensive.

Hmm... no one has any photography friends or people with digital SLR's? I'm not claiming to be a pro, but I figure if you have an eye for what looks good (which I'm guessing most people do, hehe), lighting isn't so hard, and as long as it's digital, you can take a ton of photos and see which comes out the best =). I recommend a tripod though, just to make sure it comes out with completely crisp image detail. I guess i don't know what the difference would be in having it professionally done versus doing yourself or having a friend do it, besides the composition and lighting. And a black backdrop, or something that makes the project stand-alone in the foreground. Get a roll of black paper and let it hang? Okay, just my random two cents.

Living in Gin -- maybe you could call/email Harvard and explain your situation, see if they would be willing to wait on transcripts as long as you got everything else in on time. I feel like transcripts aren't the most important thing and they have your GPA on the app form... good luck with all of that though -- sounds like a hassle to deal with, well, with the law firm closing...

Is that true? Berkeley doesn't want the personal bio narrative thing? Cause if not, I'd be a happy girl Haha. That's my last big obstacle (okay, besides portfolio), but they came out with the new website and yeah, still has "personal history statement" as one of the application components. rrg. i know this is everyone's problem with it, but i really feel like i'd just be repeating what i wrote in the statement of purpose, except in more detail.

i know there are tons of threads on this, but for a non-arch applicant, how many projects do you think are ideal in a portfolio (and if they have kind of intricate/involved processes?) i'm planning on 1 research project about the city environment and acoustics, 3-4 film projects, and the rest wll photography though that might be displayed in collage/photojournalistic style... i'm thinking 10 "sides" or 5 layouts total, + or - a page. Since Berkeley limits to 12 pages, I don't think it's a huge deal.... and I could easily expand and make it longer overall with either additional projects or more detailed processes/explanations, but ... everyone says only put your best stuff in, right?

Haha okay. Sorry my posts are always long. I keep up reading all the threads, but don't post often to save people from scrolling through all my rambling =P.

oops -- just saw <a href="http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=47715_0_42_0_C"the other thread</a> on portfolio # of works...

grr sorry for typo in html

Seopee, maybe other people will contradict be on this, but i think a 10-side portfolio is pretty short, unless every side is very stunning. I was reading the Berkeley website and it was weird that they said "12 single or double sided pages" so basically that means you can do 12 spreads if you want and still be under their limit.

I'm with robust on this one. I went for the San Francisco Grad Portfolio Day, and even though the portfolio day brief said 'bring 10-15 works' so I brought 14 pages, the Tyler School of Art rep nailed me for not having a full length portfolio, which is generally viewed as 20 images. When we say, 'only put the best in', we mean it's ok to have 18 instead of 20, not that it's ok to have a half-sized portfolio.

Ick, that sounded harsh. Sorry seopee, it just comes across that way on the net sometimes.

As for the photography thing, that's what my profs encourage people to avoid, because everybody in the art world thinks they can do it themselves, but they say that going to a pro gets your slides (yes, half of my schools still want SLIDES) two to three times as good. I'm torn, and yes, I have a friend with an MFA in photography, so I'm thinking of hitting her up for some help and calling it a day.

I'm with robust on this one. I went for the San Francisco Grad Portfolio Day, and even though the portfolio day brief said 'bring 10-15 works' so I brought 14 pages, the Tyler School of Art rep nailed me for not having a full length portfolio, which is generally viewed as 20 images. When we say, 'only put the best in', we mean it's ok to have 18 instead of 20, not that it's ok to have a half-sized portfolio.

Ick, that sounded harsh. Sorry seopee, it just comes across that way on the net sometimes.

As for the photography thing, that's what my profs encourage people to avoid, because everybody in the art world thinks they can do it themselves, but they say that going to a pro gets your slides (yes, half of my schools still want SLIDES) two to three times as good. I'm torn, and yes, I have a friend with an MFA in photography, so I'm thinking of hitting her up for some help and calling it a day.

ah - thanks for those replies! eeek... though now i'm getting a little worried; i mean, i can stretch the film and photography out but probably to 10 projects MAX... and then i really start getting into my "not best works" section hahahahaha, oh well... gonna give it my best shot anyway...

In a new twist on my application process, one of my recommenders has asked me to write a letter for him to use as a template and attach his name to.

Graduate School of Design
Admissions Office
48 Quincy Street
422 Gund Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear GSD,

Living in Gin is the Muhammed Ali of architecture and the Dali Lama of design. He's like Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies Van Der Rohe, and LeCorbusier all rolled into one. You'd be an idiot not to let him into your program and give him a full scholarship. In fact, you should just go ahead and make him dean of the school.

Regards,

Living in Gin's Recommender

Hmm... Might need a little tweaking.

I'd really encourage not doing this... not just writing it that way, but writing it at all. First, they're likely to suspect this since you'll also be writing an essay for them. Secondly, what kind of a recommender is that? I've had teachers do that for scholarships, but all made it clear that they write the letters themselves for grad apps.

i heard that all the professors at SCI-Arc have their students write their own rec letters...then the profs sign it.

It's not uncommon to ask students to write a draft of the letter. I usually ask students to provide an "outline" or list of highlights of their academic career and accomplishments. I also ask them for some xeroxes of their favorite projects from their portfolio. It's really very helpful to have some input from the student, because it helps me to give the letter some individuality. It's not that I can't remember students (usually) but more that after writing a few letters they all start to sound the same. If the student can give me some highlights about them, and even just some vocabulary that they'd use to describe themselves, it helps to trigger more recollections and reflections to flesh out a good letter. This is especially true when I had the student a few years ago. Most likely I remember the student's personality, the general quality of their work, and perhaps their best project. But it's likely that I don't remember more than one or two projects, what their specific accomplishments and struggles were, or exactly why they'd be best-suited for School A or School B...

Thanks for the helpful info... I feel a bit better about it now. In my case, this is a senior design partner at a large firm I worked for a few years ago, and I'm sure he's busy as hell. The purpose of the draft, in addition to helping jog his memory about some of the work I did at the firm, is primarily to save him the time of writing the whole thing from scratch.

My list of schools has been finalized to an all-star Ivy League lineup of Cornell, Columbia, Penn, GSD, and Yale. I honestly didn't intent to apply only to Ivy League schools, but things just happened to work out that way for a variety of reasons. My co-workers think I'm nuts, but what the hell... I figure I'll see how things pan out with this go-around, and if I don't get into any of the programs I applied to, I'll try again next year with a better portfolio and a revised list of schools.

This whole application process is intimidating as hell, especially since I had a dismal GPA at UIC back in 1996-1997... I'm making straight A's now, but I went through a period where I would have been happy to get C's. But that's ancient history and can't be changed.

"Please list below all your awards, honors, and fellowships."

Umm, well, I won an Eames Chair at the Herman Miller showroom a few weeks ago...

It doesn't hurt be extra confidant and aim extra high and only extra high. But only if you accept the possibility that it might backfire and you'd have to wait another year.

I had to write a draft of the rec letter for a former prof (who also is a principal at his firm). The scary thing is wondering "how good" to make it, even though I know they have the chance to edit it before they sign/seal everything, but I imagined him reading the draft, "Puhahahawha? Among the best students I've had? *chokes, falls out of chair*"

EEK! I just found out that one of my recommenders sent in all the letters already!!!!! Now I'm nervous, and this whole thing feels much more real. I need to hurry up and fill out the apps.

Does anybody know, when you fill out applications online, do they expect you to upload your essay(s) then, or send them with the portfolio?

I am doing both. I figure I will type them in word for upload and add a printed version in the packet I send them...I don't think redundancy is an issue in this circumstance.