losing one hour (day light saving) means one earlier hour of mail delivery, and checking email, and one less hour of being in anxiety

Kristin_kai - M.Arch I, and it was a personal call. I felt somewhat overwhelmed and stuttery :)

Congrats nambypambics, same here (UCLA)! I'm kind of surprised, I was expecting them to be slow like last year!

Just curious, was the good news from Roger Sherman? He must be working through his to-do list today.

Congrats namby!

I am waiting on UCLA...I have heard nothing...of course, I do not really expect to get in. So they were calling today...on a Saturday, to boot. So now I'm wondering about this call I got ...3 times from the same phone # today...could barely hear the person speaking, but from what I could hear I'm quite sure it was a wrong number...particularly considering it was from an 818 area code. That sure isn't Westwood...and I suspect few of the UCLA faculty could bear to have a cell phone number from the stodgy SFV ;p


Non L.A.-locals, disregard the above...

wow congrats everybody! :) i'm sure there's more good news to come! (ha, at least i hope...)

kustaroo - probably, did he tell you he was calling from home?
I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know for sure, because I was so distracted/happy that I totally blanked!!! I probably sounded like, "buhhhhhhhhh mfmasdmfsahfdsa squee!" It was a man that called me, though.


Any thoughts on attending their open house in early April, vs. attending their final reviews in a few weeks? On one hand I think the reviews might give a better glimpse into the school, but on the other hand, the Open House is probably more comprehensive and I'd also get to meet potential future classmates. Airfare costs around the same either way, and it's kind of more convenient for me to attend the reviews, so I might go with that... not sure, though.

zundfolge, the call i got was from a 310 number.

I've heard from a former boss of mine who teaches in Architecture at CCA that the department is a little lost right now without a department head in place. Keep in mind that once the new department head arrives that it takes some time for them to give the program a clear direction.

I was an MArch student last fall at Columbia before having to take a medical leave, and things still seem disorganized there even though Mark Wigley has been at the helm for a few years now. Maybe it's just endemic to architecture programs, though it seems like architecture schools should be somewhat organized--at least to me.

Actually, he sent me an email; he called my parents' house, but I'm off working in Singapore so I missed it; sent him my number here so hopefully he'll ring up. I asked a friend at the AUD about him and her response was "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH the shermanator!", so naturally I'm looking forward to his call. Apparently he's good friends with one of my Berkeley profs, which is interesting—it's all 'bout da network!

As for the open house/final review, I'm already pretty familiar with UCLA (lots of friends & family are alums), plus I'm only getting paid US$850/mo here, so trying to go won't fly. But, if I were you I'd go to the open house—seems it'd be better to talk to people while they're frantically producing, instead of when they're all done and half-dead. Plus, yeah, they'll actually be expecting you, and shooting the shit with soon-to-be students sounds smart!

Anyway, I'm excited that Hiroshi Abe's taking over the school! Looks like UCLA's [still] on the up!

Hahaha.. well he didn't say anything to me that would make me think of calling him "the shermanator" but he was definitely friendly and had a good energy!!

I know what you mean about the students all being exhausted, which is my concern about going during the reviews. But at the same time, I sort of want to know what kind of atmosphere the school has during those tense times. Is it more like "ideas bouncing off each other" in a good way, or like the students are feeling picked-apart? "Attitude" is really important to me in choosing a school and I want to go to a place with a positive feeling. I wonder if those nuances will come through at an open house. When I visited Yale, they held their open house during midtern pin-ups - i did get to speak with students despite their general sleeplessness, and I appreciated being able to see all the work on view.

Then again around the week of the 19th I'm sort of worried that packages will still be coming in the mail at that point! WHAT IF I MISS A PACKAGE!!! The universe might implode, or something :)

That's true, I mean, those are *load-bearing* packages

Oh God please let me get an acceptance letter this week! I havent' heard anything from anyone yet!

Oops, I did it again :P

It's ok, I was going to formally come out of my alter-ego closet in a few weeks and now that I have gotten *an* acceptance I'll share my folio after I hear from everyone.

<3

ha! I kind of wondered why I got a myspace message from you (on your real name) re: grad schools. Now I understand.

and now knowing a little of your work, I'm sure that you'll be just fine

life sucks. i got into a top notch school, and my parents are yelling at me and calling me selfish for wanting to go out of state for an amazing opportunity. they want me to go to the shittiest school next to my house so i can stay home and train to be a house life. life sucks, i feel like shit, when i should feel like im on top of the world right now.

*house wife, not house life.

what school did you get into hallojii?

did anyone here apply to the university at buffalo MArch programs?

hallojii - don't let the parents keep you down. this is your life and you should make the most of it even if your parents do not agree with what is best for you. they will still support you no matter what you decide, and if they keep giving you the guilt trip tell them that you have a better chance of meeting some great, rich, soon-to-be successful guy by going to a top notch school. ;)

everyone else - don't go crazy yet... save that for the end of march if you still haven't heard from schools. most of you should be finding out where you got in some time this week or next, and stressing is only going to make your life hell. spend this time evaluating where you want to be next fall and what you want out of your education. decision time (which will last all summer for some of you (sorry)) is much worse than acceptance time because you will constantly be second guessing your choice.

hallojii, I decided a long time ago that parents can be pretty dumb sometimes. I'm not suggesting that everyone's parents are like that but we are talking about the same generation that is largely responsible for bringing us George Bush and global warming. My cousin's parents actually took him "college-shopping" when he was 17....they went to a bunch of different private schools that had small football programs, so he could keep doing what he loved while studying journalism......but after he had submitted all of his applications and the deadlines had passed, they told him they wouldn't support him at all unless he went to the sh!tty community college down the street. Yes, they are right-wing nut jobs.

What school did you get into? Did you get any money? Are you applying for MArch, and if so, you are probably pretty close to being independent, yes?

I'd rather not mention the school just because it accepted such a small body of students that I wouldnt want some admissions person to be able to track me down on this (paranoid, I know). but it is for MArch 1, and I'm coming straight out of undergrad, so I have a little while til I'm independent. They're offering me good money, but I guess the issue is more centered around the fact that my parents only see the end result--they think an architect is an architect, so it doesn't matter where I go to school, which can be true to an extent, if I only cared about the end result, but I care about my education and what I'm able to gain from such valuable programs, especially programs that have actually chosen me.

thanks mavo and wonderK-

I just need to be patient about talking to them I guess. My parents have helped shape who I am and I owe them more than I realize, but I need them to realize how big of opportunity this really is. I hope anyone else going through the family drama that you thought had nothing to do with formal education is able to get through it. I'm hanging in there.

so, waiting for me when i arrived home yesterday afternoon was a big fat envelope from nc state! i was super excited, but as i opened it, i noticed it wasn't concerning admissions at all! they just sent over some more financial aid forms for me to fill out! i know this isn't bad news, but it's not exactly the good news i was hoping for either! congrats to everyone who has been accepted!!!!

hallojii - which school did your parents want you to go to?

does anyone know when columbia's open house is?

hallojii -

You could always remind your parents that an education and marriage aren't mutually exclusive things. (I don't know if you even want to marry, but it's something to say at least.)

My mother strongly wanted me to stay close to home for my undergraduate education. Eventually (also through the help of my high school's guidance counselor, aka a grown-up who's been at her college-counseling job for years) she understood that I would feel cheated all my life if I didn't go where I wanted to go, to study what I wanted to study. She was ambivalent at first about supporting me through art school all the way across the continent and was always trying to encourage me to move home. After I'd been on the opposite coast for a while, she eventually realized that I'm thriving after all, and now agrees that I know how to steer my life and that I made a good choice. Ultimately, most parents want you to be happy. Sometimes they misguidedly transfer what they want onto you, as if it is what you want. Rather than simply fighting and saying "I want to go," educating them about why your opportunity is so amazing, and the difference between that school and others, will probably go a long way. They are also probably going to miss you a lot, and that may be clouding their words, because it seems unlikely that they really don't understand why a top notch school is better than one with fewer facilities and resources.

Hey - congrats everyone!

Namby - do you have any idea when they are going to mail the UCLA letters? I got my acceptance a week ago over the phone, but it kind of doesn't feel "real" until the letter arrives.

congratulations!

thank you, nambypambics... it has really helped for you and others to come out and give your perspective on this. I guess as much as their words are clouded with the fact that they'll miss me, my words might be clouded with blinded excitement. I need to let the new information absorb, as do they. I need to finish waiting for other admissions decisions before I jump to conclusions and I shouldn't be upset if they do the same.

thanks again, all.

Good luck this morning, folks. Hope it brings you all good news!

congrats namby!! and i would love to see your portfolio! :)

so i got a missed call on my mobile this morning. number withheld (as with all international numbers). WHO can it be????? arghhhhhhhhhhh

off to see !!!
good music to keep my mind off this madness....

Congratulations, Namby!

OK, the night shift for us here (Asia Pacific Region) will start soon.

222 I called UCLA friday and they said they are mailing out letters over the weekend.... did everyone who got accepted to UCLA get a call from the admissions office? Not sure if I missed mine but I think that they just e-mailed me.

222 - sorry, I have no idea when they are mailing the letters. I'd like to see something concrete, too.

hallojii - glad to be of help. It took me a long time to learn how to communicate with my mum, but eventually it worked out. Good luck.

everybody else - thank yoooouuuu!!! Before, I was on "Pins and Needles" and now I'm just on Pins, because knowing I've gotten in somewhere has drastically reduced my anxiety!

I got all excited on Friday because I got an 'Unknown Number' call while I was at work, but it was just the hair place calling to confirm my appointment for the next day. They probably thought I was really rude, I was like, "oh!..... yeah, sure."

hey, good "morning" everyone...hope you all had a nice (i.e. not too stressful) weekend.

all you guys hearing from ucla is killing me...in a just world, i'd get a decision in one medium before others get confirmation in two, but who ever said life was fair right?

congrats to everyone who i haven't had a chance to congratulate yet and here's an orange juice toast to you and to getting news this week.

I'm supposed to be enjoying my 3-day vacation to San Antonio, but all I can do is think about the mail that's sitting in the mailbox from Saturday. And the motel has free wireless internet so here I am obsessing at archinect.

Some things I learned: UT San Antonio has two campuses. One is under massive construction and is weirdly spread out with tons of parking lots. The other is jammed downtown (I think architecture is here? Still haven't been able to figure that out). Also, I break out in hives every time I come here. Also, rents are wildly cheap.

Wow ... I thought I was the only archinecter writing from San Antonio.

Everyone sitting down? My coworker just got into Princeton (M.Arch I)!

Jamediri - I don't why some people got calls, others emails. Maybe it is just up to the individual professor who is assigned to contact you. Perhaps the ones who called me and Namby prefer the phone while whoever called you prefers email. Just a theory. Thanks for the info about the UCLA letters.

so who are we expecting this week? princeton? penn? risd? others?

wrapped in my michigan smock was a $50k scholarship ($25k for years one and two), which is exciting...

Congrats 222's co-worker and nicey!

wowsers...congrats to your coworker. phone call, i'm assuming...?

Michigan sounds very cool! I like the random apron/smock thing! It seems like they care about being a little quirky and making their students happy. Very cute.

Too bad I didn't apply there...

Yeah, phone call.

UMich was on my long list of schools to apply to, but they didn't make the cut to my shortlist for some reason or another. Hearing about all these people getting huge scholarships, though, is making me wish I had applied there.

jamediri—congrats! I think only people who had "issues" with their app got calls, so I don't think you're missing out on anything.

namby-surface—actually I think what's [also] really important is to talk to the profs; see what their interests are, where their research is, blah blah. Not sure whether Open House or final reviews are better for that, though I suppose it might be easier to get some one-on-one action at Open House. (They're coughing up cash now so I think I'll go after all; visit the folks, taco stand, etc.)

Not hearing from the other schools is arrrgh drivin' me nuts though! UCLA wants a reply by the second week of April-ish… is that normal?

Argh, Princeton's calling?! Son of a bastard. I don't like this one bit.

Living in Gin—yeah, Michigan's richitude continues to astound me.

hey kustaroo - how do you know UCLA wants an answer so soon? I haven't even gotten my letter in the mail yet.

Open house vs. final reviews - I feel like open houses are really unrealistic since school is out of session and no one is stressed the way they are during a normal day. But the profs and current students are probably more accessible at an open house. No one would pay attention to you at a final review but at least that would be a real sampling of the school. So it depends on whether you want to watch real stuff from the sidelines or just get to know people at the school in general.

nicey- I'm expecting CCA any day now. Knowing that they've been sent out makes me, if possible, even more nervous.