Thanks cpnorris. I'm sure you're right about putting to much weight on rankings and I am probably guilty of that right now, however there are mitigating circumstances, namely airfare to Cincinnati. Oh well, guess I'll have to bite the bullet, fly there and hope the shoe fits.

Vapor congratulations!

5 out of 5! wow.

did you apply last year? curious, because I may be faced with reapplying next year.

when everyone gets their decisions it, it would be nice if everyone could list their stats and talk about the decision making process, which i find almost as agonizing as the waiting.

vapor, that's highly impressive. Well done!

I want to mention that while rankings for architecture schools are indeed subjective, DI has always stated that they derive their rankings by asking firms who they'd most like to hire, and UC comes up on top for many reasons, which have already been stated. Yeah it's kind of a weird way to rank a school, but how do you do it otherwise? With so many factors involved in architecture, as opposed to other perhaps more cut-and-dry programs, it's easy to understand why no one tries.

I also want to mention that there are so many good architecture schools in this country, you can hardly go wrong. I just met a guy last night who went to Utah for school. I had no idea that Utah even had an architecture school, but here was a guy who was describing to me his passion for modernism, and the rows he got into with faculty members because he deliberately challenged them to try and step out of their personal boundaries. There are brilliant people like this in every arch. school in the country, and at a certain point you have to take responsibility for your own education if you think there is something lacking. Architecture schools do not exist to spoon feed you an education. To learn, you have to participate.

well said, wonderK

WonderK,

thanks again for your valued input. I'm just wondering though if your Utah friend might be better served at a school that embraces modernism rather than one that fights against it? So in that sense doesn't it then matter which school a person chooses? Also, I'm wondering if what makes a student a desirable candidate for hiring right out of grad school is the same group of assets that will guarantee longterm success in the industry?

good point wonderk. as with other professional schools/degrees (business, law etc.), rankings are typically based on competency upon graduation, but architecture is a little tricky because it's now more of an art than a trade. but nowadays, even top mba programs are very theoretical and expect you to learn the trade on the job.

exactly Frocs,

So doesn't learning all that theoretical mumbojumbo pay off down the line making it worth while to temporarily forsake the more practical aspects one can pick up on the job?

Nothing in the mail today. This really sucks, since I'm not only waiting on grad school decisions, but also a big fat tuition refund check from DePaul that was supposedly sent out on the 20th from less than 3 miles away. I swear I hate the fucking postal service in this city.

I just got my Yale financial aid info... and they gave me more than enough money to attend!! I was so worried that even with loans I wouldn't be able to afford to go to school... but now I know I definitely can, at my top choice, and with a good-sized scholarship :) I'm still waiting to hear from a couple other schools, but I'm like 95% decided at this point. It would take a full ride + stipend to make me consider anything else, and I doubt that's happening, so... yeah! Anyway today was a very happy morning, and to top it off I got some awesome 50s earrings and a friend bought me noodles. Well, all it takes for me to have a good day is for someone to buy me noodles... financial aid was just a bonus.

Congrats, namby!

congrats Namby!

No money for me but I got a nice big packet from sciarc about their program...it might be a little too conceptual for me...but they are doing interesting work there for sure.

no matter where you go to school, you get out of it what you put in. the school you go to will in no way guarantee you long term success. if you are a good designer, have a passion for architecture and are hard working you will probably do fine in any school, and in your career. but that is completely up to you.

ann_culture, i think it totally depends on what your long-term goals are. top business schools will pick the brightest students and throw theoretical mumbojumbo to cultivate future movers and shakers. harvard business school graduates are not the ones who successfully enjoy running on abc corp's hamster wheel for the rest of their lives. they're the ones who try to take risks and change the economic landscape. but i think the most business schools can do is elicit that talent from these peope, in the same way an architecture school can't teach someone to become a good designer - it's more of an intrinsic talent that schools than coax out.

but if you're goal is to get hired and make money, it's a different story. when we were hiring at our investmet bank, we had kids from harvard to rutgers applying. there were some really impressive resumes, but we didn't hire them. they would have gotten bored with being a corporate peon and no amount of money would be able to domesticate their intellectual curiosity. and plus, they were probably better off trying to find the cure for cancer rather than creating excel models. the people we were more inclined to hire were 1) the averagely intelligent, non-mutinous kind that don't want to run the show but HELP run the show 2) the people who KNEW what they were getting themselves into and 3) had all the skills necessary to hit the ground running on day one because we didn't want to spend precious resources on training new hires when that money could be going to afterhours parties and stocking the pantry. of course, you try to hire from top tier schools because you expect employees to be able to solve problems on their own and stuff and the school name is just a fast and easy way of hiring bc u assme if they can make it into that school, then they must not be a complete idiot.

so, a very long-winded answer. i think there's a difference between becoming an amazing architect and becoming a great employee. do you want to be a good great architectural thinker or a great cad monkey? hopefully your education will give you a taste of both..and i think most programs try to do that.

congratulations namby!

wooohooo congrats namby!! i think i'm leaning toward yale right now too. ugh....the decision is keeeeeling me.

No Columbia for me. Oh well... The rejections are stinging less now although I do wish I could hear about them all at once and get it over with already.

I wonder if the schools are as anxious about getting decisions from you as we've been about getting decisions from them.

On some some other discussion board elsewhere on the web:

Stern: "Nothing in the mail from FROCCLI today. Damn!"

Mori: "Bummer. I'm still waiting to hear from namby. If she hasn't sent her confirmation yet, is it safe to assume she's going elsewhere for grad school?"

Okay, off to Chipotle to get a burrito.

Congrats Namby! Looks like everything is coming together.

heh, I would like to think your imagination is right on target LIG :)

mmmm... chipotle...........

chipotle = mcdonalds owned...not a fan. Then again, being in new mexico and from central texas, makes me a mexican food snob

not true anymore.

actually, didn't McDonald's get rid of Chipotle? Not that it matters to me because it's so fecking addictive anyway, and now that you mentioned it, I want some.

So, the clown sold it huh? At any rate, this place is right around the corner from me.

http://www.frontierrestaurant.com/

I'm a UofO reject. Not quite as prestigious as being a Princeton reject but I'm still proud of myself.

Chipotle is just a cheap knock off. This is the real reason the Berkeley rejection hurt so much -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Burrito

So do you guys think Columbia is taking anymore? I know most ppl have all but given upon GSD by now...but I am still holding out for a GSAPP letter...My friend there says they take around 83 for MARCH1....and to not expect AP to be granted.

I don;t remember a whole lot of GSAPP rejections on here...( except for Clarito...sorry, Clarito :-(

in other news..they fixed my mail,...so I don;t have to go postal afterall....yet all I got today was a single Netflix......apparently they are still holding all my rejections somewhere...waiting to give it me all at once....

unlesss?!??(homer simpson fantasy voice)

Thanks ff33. I've decided that the letters follow no real logic so, until you've got a letter in hand, there's still hope. Good luck!

Dangnabit! Even though I honeslty honestly did not think the GSD was a good fit for me, it still STINGZ to get that pesky thin envelope. What is taking MIT and Columbia so long, anyway? If all else fails I think I'll end up at UCLA. Just sayin'.

I'm gonna tear it up at every soul night L.A. has to offer. I'm sure that's quite a few!

Clairito, you are so right. San Fran burritos are to die for. Unfortunately they don't have a lot of taquerias in the Ohio river valley, so Chipotle it is :o(

UCLA is the only school you can go to where you can surf befor you go to class....not a bad selling poing for me.

Where to most people live that are in the program?

traffic permitting of course right?

:)


besides, who wants to go to class after a few hours on the ocean.



Sadly, I will not be attending Grad. school this year.

I will however be at the Hospitality design conference in Vegas next month though, and a meeting possibly with a firm there.

Congratulations to everyone who I might see next year??

+

mctwist657,

I'm in santa monica. It has the advantages of the ocean climate, which helps heaps during the summer, and being close to Westwood. You could live in westwood, which is nice, but I imagine being a grad student you will want to get away from the collegiate scene. You might also want to check out Venice.

Froc you rock!

thanks for your detailed reply.

The anxiety of leaving my girlfriend, friends and family to go to Cincinnati is kind of making me crazy, especially since they want me there by June 15th. ouch.

Oh and mctwist,

definitely subscribe to Westside Rentals. Very worth it!

Oh and anyone who has a chipotle near them is lucky indeed!

I say that as a San Franciscan who knows a thing or two about a good Mission burrito. While they are certainly not of the same caliber, I would kill for a Chipotle Burrito because LA has shit Mexican food.

But if you are up in Santa Barbara, then you've hit the motherlode! La Super Rica. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Brer,

You won't be going to grad school this year? Say it aint so.....

Weren't you the one who posted that great looking portfolio with the models photographed with beautiful lighting?

LA has shit mexican huh.

That pretty weird, considering they make up 65% of the population there.

yep.


no joy this year.


I have an other issue on my resume though. That is, I started my MArch here in san diego at a local school thinking it would be conveinant and I could continue with my current employer. Bailed after the first year because I found it to lack any real substance (read degree factory) when compared with my B.A. program.

I'm hoping that is why I wasn't accepted.

see some pics of mine at

www.pbase.com/brer

sorry my portfolio has overlays, I was being paranoid at the time.

they be fools Brer...

I know you'll rock it next year and have many, many options to choose from.

For people considering the GSD this makes for an interesting read.

brer

your photos are awesome. I'm sure you will knock them dead next year.

Congratulations Namby and others who got acceptances today!

I still haven't heard from GSD, MIT, or Rice. Expecting a rejection from GSD. No idea about the other two.

I'm going to check my work e-mail now. Maybe there's an MIT accept in the box.

and yes it is weird that LA has bad Mexican food considering. Mexican food places here take some stale rice, curdled beans, and grade D meat that has been cooked to the bone then left in the fridge for about a week and pack it into an old tortilla with some crappy cheese and call it a burrito. Even Jackson Hole all the way up in Wyoming has better Mexican food than LA.

you are welcome to come have mexican here at my local in Normal Heights.

Birria is on the menu.

Where is Normal Heights?