No crap! Mine clocks in at about 780 words currently but the 500 word requirement is going to be tough. I'm going to have to cut a few life goals I guess :o)

Just cut all the "the"s and prepositions. Try it. You'll see.

I notice Yale allows a maximum of one page, but doesn't mention a maximum word count. I suppose I could either use a 4-point font or plot to a single 24"x36" sheet.

I dare you.

Also try typesetting it in Bell Centennial - the phonebook font that was designed to be readable at a tiny size! :)

a picture is worth a thousand words

Apparently some schools only want half a picture.

robust,

to answer you previous question about berkeley's submittal:

1) submit your apps online and pay the fee

2) mail in your portfolio, GPA sheet (of grades after the first 2 yrs), 2 official transcripts

3) i included a copy of my GRE score (not sure if they require this, but the list posted on the website didn't clarify)

thanks axial. i'm gettin rolling on it right now.

robust84,

any of your recommenders from berkeley?

my recommenders are not from berkeley, they're from my undergrad school. i guess i should just assume late is no big deal.

yeh, don't worry about the letters.

Did anyone see a word limit for UCLA's statement of purpose? I ran just over 1000 words, but I don't suppose it matters.

Also, are there any international non-rich people planning to apply to harvard? I've been thinking about it, but the GSD can't give international students much if any aid. So, it seems a very expensive and painful headache no matter what. Opinions please - worth applying or not?

Good luck everyone.

UCLA had no word limit. Dont got much over 1000 or they'll get bored.

Debt sucks. If you can go somewhere cheaper than harvard where you'll be just as happy (or almost as happy), do it. It's not worth $120,000 to pay back on a shitty ass architecture salary.

is there ever actually stated a 500 word limit to each berkeley essay? or just the 'one page" thing?

i went by the "one-page" guideline. my personal statement was barely under 1000 (997 words), and the bio essay was around 760. but when you submit online, you have like a ton of character leeway so as long as you're still being "focused" in the statemet, i wouldn't worry too much about length.

though now i wish i had mailed off hard copies with the portfolio and everything else, but oh well, too late for that now.

also, it's okay to submit online ON dec. 15, right? i mean, i'm assuming so since people are still working on the application hehe... i was getting worried that i needed to do it by 11:59pm dec. 14 in order to make the deadline.

anyway, earlier today mailing my graphic-cluttered portfolio, i felt like i had a crap chance at getting accepted, but 2 hours later, the bio essay actually turned out. so.... will see what happens.

good luck to everyone else!! don't get discouraged, you're almost there!

well i've been assuming anytime on the 15th is fine...if that's not the case, i'm screwed.

Okay, I was trying to submit my credentials for GSD this morning, via their online application. When I finally got to the payment part, I reached for my wallet to grab my debit card, only to discover an empty spot where the card should be.

After recovering from my subsequent cardiac arrest, I remembered that I still have the card number stored on my computer. Disaster averted for now, and I was able to submit the application.

Now I get to visit my bank and see if they can recover the card from their ATM machine, which is where I apparently left it yesterday.

After that, it's back to pimping up my portfolio...

Oh, and isn't there some sort of holiday coming up soon?

martin luther king day

LIG, I've done that before. Only time I've ever misplaced my ATM card, and I "lost" it in the ATM machine!

Yes, I heartily look forward to celebrating MLK day in the sun of SoCal....and after all my apps are done. :-D

I just realized that I've used the word "heartily" like, 8 times today. It's been a long week.

the light of at the end of the tunnel has almost been reached. i think my essays aren't very good, but they're due today so i gotta consider them done. so even though it's imperfect and my fate is sure as hell up in the air... it's really nice to have it out of the way

OMG all three of my recommenders actually managed to upload their recs in time!!! About 2 minutes ago.....Wow.....

At least that takes one thing off my mind...Yay!

True... Like any other design project, you could continue revising it and perfecting it forever. But you eventually reach a point where you have to put a fork in it and say, "Okay, that's it. Take it or leave it."

mine haven't unloaded and they all seem to think that submitting in january will be fine. i hope they're right, despite how the gsd website says otherwise.

Same here... I still have a couple of recommenders and transcripts that are lagging.

Well, I guess they should know, seeing as how they're supposed to know how the whole process works. I also agree that schools are more lenient on aspects you can't control, so I wouldn't worry about it.

All this does is: I have nobody else to blame but myself if I get rejected. Har har har. No more lame "blaming that late recommendation that cost me admission" self-consolation type of thing.

I was just kinda pleasantly surprised that they actually all did it in time (wow), as I was pretty much resigned that at least two would be late, seeing as I was corresponding with one solely through her assistant (who's off on vacation for 10 days), and another was MIA for the last two weeks.

man, that kind of stress is why i asked them to give me the sealed/signed envelopes and i sent everything in at once. guess there's not much you can do when they're telling you "don't worry about it" though. that would bug the shit out of me...they're not the ones who have something to lose if they're wrong.

my overnight UPS package to one of my schools is now delayed for 5 days...sweet, UPS can eat a d&*k

how did that happen?

Probably cause of Christmas. Everyone in the nation is shipping crap right now. Hopefully the schools consider that. I would think that they would, unless they have black hearts. I would suggest shipping stuff through the post office. I sent out 2 portfolios so far with priority mail and they were both received within 2 days. Obviously that doesn't really help if its due the next day but if you have a few days, you'll save some money.

I'm picking stuff up from the last recommender at lunchtime today. I should order the felt for my packaging.... I'll post pics when I'm done with it. It's going to be an inner booklet of either wood or a thick plastic (still deciding), one side having a cd-button-holder thingy (foam or felt, felt if it works), and the other the 'index' booklet, vertical format. On the outside will be this great, 1/2" thick synthetic-wool felt. Felt always sounds like a kids craft project, but this stuff looks sexy. The binding will either be wire-o or tiny hinges if I can find some. Any thoughts on a closing mechanism?

ooooh, sexiness. I just found 3' length piano hinges from McMaster-Carr. I'm ordering some!

UPS is officially employed by retards.

has nothing to do with christmas. has to do with idiots at sorting facilities.

end of business day in east coast, my rec letters are not in to gsd. well i hope this doesn't sabotage my chances.

robust84,

after u submit ur app for gsd, you'll get two emails: one to notify you that it has been submitted, the other saying it has been received. once you get the second one (even without your recs completed), you're done.

gsd app is in but....
What if they don't get my GRE scores till next week? I put in my scores and my reference # but the nice people at the GRE helpline said my scores had been processed only 2 days ago. Not sure how it works? Do the admissions depts get an email with my scores or is this process all done by snail mail? I'm I screwed? hope not.

Looks like my recommenders procrastinate almost as badly as I do. Two of them just submitted their letters to GSD this evening. *whew*

i cant connect to the apply online embark for the GSD!!! I am leaving in about 20 minutesss, i need to get it uploaded now but its not connecting!!! PANICC

I just had to login to GSD's online app to re-send a recommender their login information, and it was slow as hell... Methinks their server is a bit swamped at the moment. Be patient, and it should eventually load up.

Yeah.. I tried to log in to check it out for you and it wouldn't load at all:

HTTP 500.100 - Internal Server Error - ASP error
Internet Information Services

Probably so many people are applying RIGHT now that it crashed. Ooops! I bet it either comes back shortly or they send a "don't panic" email to everyone who registered. Ha, if nothing else, just send them your portfolio WITH a paper transcript, a copy of your resume/cv/statement and act like nothing happened..

If the server crashed, they would be complete assholes not to extend the deadline by a day or two.

Still, I'm suddenly glad I got mine submitted this morning...

mmm, I was just able to log in again so it's doing okay at the moment.

Thank God that's over.

Got my apps submitted to MIT and GSD.

One recommender still hasn't submitted, though, and he only has like an hour left. Do you guys know if that's going to kill my app? I don't want to wait another year.

Thanks.

Me too, I just got mine submitted to the same schools.

I doubt that they'd penalize you for that, baboomba.

And yes, thank god. Sigh. I can finally relax now, before getting back to revising the GSD portfolio.

yay.. I did MIT, GSD, UCLA.

Boy do I have a headache now!

And yeah, I was on the verge of freaking out when my credit card transaction wouldn't succeed.....for some unknown reason...I ended up calling my father and used his instead.

it was weird how I had "Technology" problems applying to a school with teh word Technology in the Title (MIT)...good luck to all you MIT appa out there...see you there this time next year hopefully.