Ugh, I think I can feel my brain melting.

I just fired off an email to the instructor of the "Cathedrals of Britain" travel-study course I was hoping very much to take next month. She had put in a good word for me and got me a generous scholarship to help pay for the travel expenses, but I had to inform her that even with the scholarship, the cost of the trip is simply out of my reach, and that I won't be able to join the group on the trip. Talk about one painful letter to write, as I would have given my left testicle to go on this trip.

I just hope this spring doesn't find me having to write an even more painful letter to some graduate program thanking them for their generous financial aid offer, but that I regrettably won't be able to afford the cost of attendance, and thus, have chosen to pursue my M.Arch. at the more affordable Gravel Pit County Technical College and Truck Driving School in Buttfuck, Nebraska.

warning! ugg...I received a "false" email alert from UT Austin.

I had called and confirmed earlier with UT Austin staff that all my applications materials were received and complete at both the University and dept level. My UT university login showed my application was complete and under review.

So tonight I just got an email from UT Austin titled, "UT Austin Application" and I stupidly kinda thought, maybe yes?? But no, it was an email redacting my "complete" status. Now they claim that they never received a transcript that previously had been marked as received. It was a cruel email to get at this stage in the game....gulp...sigh...

Grr, I got the same email! I emailed them, emailed the Graduate School, didn't get any straight answers, then finally caved and paid another $10 to have transcripts sent. Did they get anyone's transcripts? Did I just pay $10 for nothing?!

One GRE score report out of six definitely made it to its destination. The rest? Who knows...

Every time I chat with one school (they have an online chat system that is way easy to use), I ask them how long the app review takes. I get a different answer every time. The answer this time? "A few weeks."

I was hoping to know about school before quitting my job, but I don't think I can stand it any longer....

I should be grateful my job turned out to be so bloody awful. If it didn't, I may have put off the applications for another year...or two...or...?

Lucky.

Maybe...

One month. One month, and I'd better hear something from somewhere. I suspect SCI-Arc will be the first.

I suspect that UW will be the first for me. Actually, considering the fact that some people had been accepted by UW by Feb. 28th last year, I'm already getting anxious every evening when I check the mail.

Yesterday I had a small envelope from SCAD, and my heart nearly broke when I saw it. But it turned out that they just wanted some more financial aid documents.

BTW, is anybody else having to fill out a loan application as part of the financial aid application? I'm NOT liking that procedure, I want to see my damn financial aid award before I decide on something like that.

I can't stand it anymore. I'm going to run around my neighborhood naked tonight. Maybe that'll calm me down.

Go to the gym. I went on Monday, and managed to not think about grad schools for almost a whole hour!

I just got back from snowboarding again...trying to go any chance I can get, so that i can preoccupy my mind on just enjoying myself.

baboomba:

YOUTUBE IT

Ooh it's not a distraction but an unhealthy related obsession... I find myself looking online for cute little accoutrements to decorate my potential studio space. Little lamps, photo frames, and most importantly a 3-way folding cushion that I could use to sleep under my desk.

OCD?

Crazy?

Definitely crazy.

Let me know if you find a good three-way cushion, though.

... I'll take that with a grain of salt coming from the guy who's going to run naked outside to relieve stress...


:P

I received this teaser about an hour ago.


Applicant,

Please be aware that the School of Architecture Financial Assistance
Application is due in my office by March 1, 2007. Any applications
that I receive on March 2 or later will be put on a funds waitlist. I
will accept emails, or faxes. The fax is 434 924-3119. The website is
http://www.arch.virginia.edu/admissions/financial/

If you have any questions please contact me.

Tracey

--
Tracey Brookman
Graduate Admission Director
School of Architecture
University of Virginia

oh, and there are many on urbn.com - problem is they're all around $100. Hmm... will be good for a houseguest coming in May, anyway...

I was fooling around on Cornell's Graduate School website, and there's a section where you can "submit an admissions response form online." Of course, you know I had to try it.

Surprisingly enough, it didn't give me any error messages when I submitted my email address and password... I wonder how far it would let me go before it finally gives me some message like, "ERROR: YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN ADMITTED TO CORNELL. GO AWAY UNTIL WE CONTACT YOU, LOSER."

Not that I'm obsessing or anything...

And yeah, I identify with zundfolge... I would have quit this shitty job months ago if I weren't planning to go to grad school in the fall. If I go, these next six months are going to be the longest six months of my life.

I wonder what is the percentage of last year's Archinect grad school applicants who got into at least one school. As long as I get in somewhere, I'm in good shape.

I can't imagine getting rejected by all (well, actually, I can). What a horrible situation.

I'm worried about being rejected from all :( Actually I'm ok with my portfolio and quite like it, but I have nightmares about my horrible personal essay barring me from getting in. It's baaaaaaaaad. Some versions even have typos. Baaaaad.

I can't imagine getting rejected by all, just because I've put together a list of schools with widely varying admissions standards.

But then again, I have absolutely zero knowledge of the quality of portfolio I am competing against. So it could happen.

I'd almost rather get rejected by every school than to get accepted with a tiny financial aid offer. At least then I wouldn't have to scramble around trying to apply for student loans I know I'll never qualify for in a million years.

I'll be happy if I get in at least one school, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my heart set on Cornell. When I visited in November, the whole vibe of the place just felt right.

Of the five schools I applied to, Yale is already out of the running because I missed the financial aid deadline (thanks a lot, NeedAccess bastards). I may get accepted there, but there's no way I'd take out loans to cover the full cost of attendance even if I could.

That leaves, in decending order of preference: Cornell, GSD, Columbia, and UPenn.

My order of preference changes daily. I could really see myself at any of these schools. Some days I imagine myself in Seattle, living in some cheap little house, researching or TAing and preparing to go to Rome in the summer. Some days I imagine myself in Brooklyn or San Francisco, going to art openings and interning somewhere really awesome. Somedays I think the answer is Rochester, where I could retreat from the world and completely immerse myself in graphic & industrial design (the only school I've seen that has 'minors' for grad students). Somedays it's Savannah, living super-cheap and taking a quarter in France. I'm pretty satisfied that whatever school makes it easiest for me financially, I'll be able to throw myself into completely.

You guys want to hear the ultimate "against-all-odds-even-if-accepted" story?

I'm an older applicant. My mom calls me last week and tells me her boyfriend who she's lived with for 15 tells her he wants out. She's flat broke. Now, I either have to let her move in with me (at least I'm married) or support her by paying her rent/bills.

I was already pushing it by quitting my engineering job to go to school. Now, it's almost impossible.

uh, mom...get a job.

^^definitely.

Read Boundaries by Henry Cloud.

She needs to learn to get her shit together.

Tell her she can live with you as long as she is willing to move with you to whatever school you attend and then helps pay the bills.

Thanks for the support.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with you guys. She's never taken good care of herself. She works but doesn't make shit. She also smokes like a train and has no intention of quitting. Antidepressants...the whole deal.

Regardless, I'm going to school. Attack ship on fire.

I don't have a *favorite* per se, but I do have a least favorite. Therefore I need to get into at least two schools, one that I like and that other one.

I, too, have envisioned myself in one of my 4 scenarios. All of them seem pretty agreeable. One more so than the others but I'm keeping that one to myself for now.....

Damn DubK, now you've got me curious.

I just made myself a financial worksheet, taking into account tuition, fees, and rent. I figure food, transport (since I'll be moving semi-permanently to the school's city), and supplies will be a somewhat constant number. The most expensive school I've applied to is CCA, coming it at $74,213 total. The cheapest is UW at only $39,334. Later on, I'll subtract the financial aid awards (please, God!) from those numbers to determine the winner, but I strongly suspect that the one that's already the cheapest by $20k from its nearest competitor will be pretty hard to beat. Unless of course I don't get in... = (

well, having only applied to two schools i know i've put all my proverbial eggs in one basket, so i can't say that's a revelation in my case. but with my wife being the sole breadwinner while i'm in school, my only choice was to stay local.

like baboomba and others, i'm an older (34) applicant with a family who is impacted by my every decision, thus my decisions are affected by them in turn.

one school i just might be able to barely afford if i subject everyone to some pretty severe belt-tightening (which is a whole 'nother source of guilt and stress). the other one i pretty much know i can't afford even i get in.

i'm ashamed to say that i've started investigating non-architectural paths as an alternative. if i don't get into school this time, i don't think it can wait another year. even worse is if i get in and realize we can't afford it anyway. then it'll officially be time to sell my soul to the man and get an mba.

ok...i'm getting off the waahhmbulance now. stress is beginning to manifest as self-pity, and that gets tiresome and boring pretty quickly.

I also don't want to bring the thread down with more info about my problems, but I feel your pain Broccoli.

My schools are Harvard, MIT, Rice, UT, UVa, and Yale. I'm not telling which is my favorite (just in case someone is watching), but obviously UT would be the cheapest without financial aid. I'm a Texas resident.

I think my chances are best at UT and Yale because they are both very physical programs. Not as sure about my fit at the other schools, but I like them all. They each appear to have distinct strong points.

I can't wait for decisions!

Yeah, the state schools are pretty affordable even if you start out as a non-resident, if you're willing to establish residency for the following year. I think that if I had to do this over again I'd apply to more public schools.

Just in case somebody is watching:

Please let me in! And can I have some scholarship money? I promise I'll do real good.

reading through last year's acceptance/rejection thread has made be very nervous / paranoid.... three weeks too early.

this has totally messed with my mental state. i think i'm off of archinect until april 1.

good bye.

me too...
see you all later

anyone have the link to the 2006 m.arch thread?

Please let me in, too! I'm a real nice guy and I'll never do anything bad again!

+i,

http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=33323_0_42_0_C

Oh, and I promise I'll write mostly good things about your program on the school blog!

uuuggghhh!

I just want to quit my job already.

Sorry just had to let that one out.

don't we all? I think that's a big part of what makes it seem like the right time to go back to school. We would've done it anyway, eventually.... but a bad job makes it seem like you should go back NOW.

I came across a little blurb on FastWeb about the "top 5 wrong reasons to go back to grad school", and I think getting out of a bad work situation was on there. But for us, I think it makes a lot of sense because if we go back to school in one area or another that opens up more opportunity for us in the field. Certainly everyone has a justification for it and luckily for me, everything that is happening in my life right now is reinforcing my decision.

rationalist, if you thought about it for a few minutes you could probably envision which scenario I am liking....

Thanks for the support. I think what makes it hard is finally deciding you're ready to move into another chapter of your life and then having to just sit around and wait. It's just frustrating. Even if I get dinged at every school I applied I'm still ready to move on. I'm just itching for a change of scenery. 2+ years at the same 2 person firm is officially making me nuts. Oh well 66 1/2 days to go before I'm free.

WonderK- really? If it were me, I'd be thinking about the London situation with longing. I strongly considered Central St. Martin's and the Royal College of Art, but had to face the facts that I couldn't afford it. I'm just going to have to settle for trying to get an internship abroad over the summer after first year.

Looking at last year's thread is a real kick... Judging by the dates on the thread, it looks like a lot of acceptance letters began rolling in around the first week of March... Which -- *gulp* -- begins next week.

Okay, I'm freaking out now.

thats exactly why i had to look at the '06 thread again this morning... i can barely contain myself...

I hold my breath every evening as I open the mailbox. It's pathetic, really.

Am I the only person on this thread applying to Cornell this year? Lots of talk about GSD, Yale, etc., but not much about the Big Red.

Looks like two people on the 2006 thread got into Cornell, and they were both notified via phone calls in the latter half of the month... Beware the Ides of March, indeed.

anyone see anything about carnegie mellon?

do they notify through email or mail?
i thought it was through email first, and then through mail.
so i thought i should be nervous about checking email