Every brick is sacred.

But mindless demolition is OK too.

There. Saved ya 5 years of pain and a lifetime of guilt.

they managed to lose my phd app, recs and all.

really professional people.

not.

nothing positive about their master's program?

why is it that some programs are completely ignored?

It's a practice-oriented program, and most graduates seem to stay in greater DC.

I just graduated from CUA this spring (MArch), and while, yes, I could say some negative things (which I'm sure everyone could say about whatever program they attended), generally I had a very positive experience there. Some great teachers, and the opportunities to study/travel abroad were amazing - which was a major factor in my decision to go there. I spent a summer in Helsinki at Aalto University in a joint program with UTK, my urban design studio went to Barcelona, and last summer I participated in a design/build in Nepal. I also know that the fabrication lab's resources are incredible compared to a lot of the bigger/well known schools. And my class size was really small - I think we had twelve in total - which I really appreciated.

I'm from California and just moved back here a few weeks ago. No job yet, and I'd agree with one of the previous comments that most people stay in the DC area. I definitely don't have a lot of career connections out here.

@calihoya - I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed your experience at CUA. Do you feel that their M.Arch program would be a good foundation for a residential architect? That is ideally the direction I would like to go in. How are they with financial aid, I think tuition is almost $45K, is that correct? And were you able to secure internships through their resources?

@modelcitizen - are you planning to apply/attend for your master's or undergrad degree? The great thing about the grad program is that they have different concentrations depending on your interests. While there isn't anything specifically geared to residential design, you can shape your curriculum to make it work for you (I ended up tailoring my elective courses to  my interests independent of what concentration they fell in). And, I will say, if you want to go into residential design, a couple of the most well-known DC residential architects teach at CUA. 

Financial aid I believe is pretty good - I was fortunate to not have to take out a lot of loans. I will say they offer ample scholarship opportunities (which helped me a lot), as well as grad. TA/RA positions (I TA'ed every semester after my first one there).

I would say almost none of my classmates had internships during the academic year. The MArch III curriculum there keeps you REALLY busy. The faculty sends out internship emails pretty consistently, though, and usually there are several opportunities for summer positions (spring career fair as well). I did not do summer internships - my first summer I studied in Finland for the entire summer at Aalto University through UTK, and my second summer I did a design/build project in Nepal then spent the rest of the summer working on thesis (I graduated a semester early, so finished thesis in the fall of my third year). 

I’m interested in their Master’s program….Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it!