as a post-professional degree i would concentrate more on where your interests lie.

Emtech and Upenn may use similar terminologies, but I would see Upenn as a broader program compared to emtech.

But I did meet an australian once, who mentioned that London was kind of a right of passage for many australian architects. There might be a handful more of australians at the AA in that regard.

I have to say that I come from Eastern Europe and I am willing to establish in Australia after the master program. As I think I understand the differences between the two schools , in terms of educational content and strategy, I am only asking for opinions about the job opportunities and the reputation these schools have in Australia.

Thanks fade to black for the previous post!

If you are set on living in Australia, why not go to an Australian school instead? Overseas degree will have to be certified in Australia on a case-by-case basis. That will cost a lot of money, and may take up to a year.

That said, degree from AA will be a lot more familiar to Aussie authorities. 

Are any of the Australian master programs close to UPenn or AA in terms of academic performance or reputation?

An Australian employer may not give a fuck that you went to UPenn or AA. All the connections you make at either of those schools will be largely irrelevant by the time you reach down under. Going to a local school at least will help you build a relevant professional network. So yes, Australian schools will have stronger reputations in Australia than schools 5000 light years away. Five buck says an everage Aussie architect has no idea what UPenn even stands for. They will have heard of AA though.

RMIT in Melbourne

So, I could skip AA and Penn and do a master at RMIT. I could save time and money. But do I loose? This is the question and dillema.....

But what do I loose? ... Forgot the 'what', sorry

You lose the additional o.

You saved the day Rusty! Thanks

if you interest is just in getting a degree and then moving to Australia and working in an office, then it does make sense just to get a degree at an Australian school.  RMIT and its department SIAL, or perhaps UTS, would be closest to AA EmTech.

But neither of these are the AA.  The AA and EmTech in particular are very different to any other program.  The value of the AA is in the culture of the school and the enormous set of contacts, lectures, presentations and other studnets that spending time there allows for.  You won't find this in any Australian school. 

Em Tech itself is a very particular part of the AA and is a program not really existing in any other school.  It is also very different than the AA DRL.

If you have a degree from the AA Em Tech, while it will not be an immediate translation for registration in Australia, it will be well acknowledged by any decent office and will produce a portfolio of work that is fr beyond any current work taking place in Australian schools.

The choice is yours.

Most Aussie architects I've met down here actually know of UPenn, but more for what it used to be, years ago, before it became much more tech. oriented. The AA is certainly better regarded down here (and just about everywhere else in the world).

That being said, most Australian Architects will be way more concerned with actual work experience than what school you went to or even if you have a masters. When I was interviewing, all of the firms I interviewed at just flipped to what I had worked on in the real world, and were really concerned with seeing documentation samples. You won't get the type of experience they want by earning a masters at EmTech. It's important to understand that the architecture culture here is still really about building. Even the most out-there, forward-looking firms (ARM, Wood-Marsh, etc.) test their work through large built projects. The more built work you have, the better.

My advice would be to get a few years of work experience under your belt and just move down here. Things are booming and you shouldn't have trouble getting hired straight-away. Work here a few years and get your visa stuff sorted, and then if you feel the need, go back to grad school wherever you want to go (RMIT, AA, UPENN, etc). You can get registered here through work experience as well. You can always go to grad school, but your visa options to get in become limited as you get older, and they seem to keep making it harder and harder to immigrate.

If you already have work experience and really want to move here, then just skip the bullshit and do it. Fyi, all I have is an undergrad degree from a decent US school and a few years of work experience, and I'm working on some great projects and making good money. If I can do it I'm sure you can as well.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Please let me know what ''making good money'' means, if I may ask, intotheloop..... I am truly curious how much it is, in a very quantified manner.

I come after 8 years of work  as lead architect, on various large and medium size projects,  so I see the master time  more as an opportunity to learn, research  and upgrade my skills, and less as a passport to a certain market. EmTech is post professional anyway so this experience will be relevant afterwards for a small number of high-end professional practices around the world. Hopefully some from Australia too.

You can find "very quantified" information on salaries in Australia here: http://www.seek.com.au/. Search for "Architecture."

Depending on the quality of your work, portfolio, and what you want to do, you could be looking at anywhere between $70,000 - $120,000 (AUS). There's a huge range. Again, you should be the most worried about getting your visa; as you get older, you will have more trouble getting in. 

I'm not sure why you want to come to Australia? I think what you do really depends on your goals. A degree from the AA would definitely help you land a job teaching down here, which would be pretty cool (more so than UPENN). However, most firms will base your salary and position more on work experience (and built work) rather than what you do at EmTech. Completely agree with dlb on RMIT being the closest thing you can get. The guys from Kokkugia went there. 

I don't know if you lose anything by going to uni down here. If you want to setup your own shop or like, you know, design buildings and stuff, and you want to do it as soon as possible, you'll be better off moving here for work and school as soon as you can so you can eventually have clients, learn the market, make connections, etc. That being said, EmTech would be rad to go through if you've got the time and money and are really interested in doing "research" at a really high level. Guess it's all about priorities. 

"EmTech is post professional anyway so this experience will be relevant afterwards for a small number of high-end professional practices around the world. Hopefully some from Australia too."

Wouldn't rely on "hope." Do some research (if you haven't already?) on all the different firms and movements down here and figure out if this is really where you want to be. Shoot me an email if you want more specific advice, I'm happy to help. Good luck!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/EmTech-studio-AA-School-of-Architecture/209574842409261