NYC IS FULL. Go to PROVIDENCE.

P.S.: DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK.

hey, asshole, i *am* doing my own homework, have *already* submitted a few applications, but was hoping that *someone* not as deathly competitive as you are might be forthcoming about past experiences that would inform my decision beyond the abilities of a firm's PR department to publicize itself, my professors' friends or my OWN EXPERIENCE WORKING IN NEW YORK.

you know, branch out into perhaps a world unknown to me. what a crazy idea, learning from others in an attempt to move out of ones own paradigm...

dont call people asshole, asshole

i'm with mdler, if you can't take the new york mentality on archinect, you're in for quite a wake-up if you move there.

if you do a search, this has been covered at least 50 times here.

I'm from New York and no way people are that big of dicks here.

i graduated from RISD last year and regularly scanned job listings on archinect but refrained from posting obvious questions via the forum. if you've already asked your favorite critics, used alumni connections via career services and looked at past AIANYC design award winners i'm sure you'll come up with your own list. and if your portfolio's that good then it still won't keep you from being the coffee gopher. it's not rocket science. roll up those sleeves and get to work. nothing's handed to you in this city.

gawlee, y'all new yorkers are harsh. i don't think i could take the new york mentality either. i like how the person who's been in ny one year talks about how "nothing is handed to you in this city" -- i'm sure it's true, but it sounds like it's coming from either the editor of vogue or the cop standing on the platform at some el station in the bronx. my momma always said, new york will make you hard.

anyhoo...i only read the thread because i'd like to offer a tantalizing new take on the issue of the pre-graduation summer internship.

being a coffee-gopher and file clerk ain't that bad, at least while you're still in school. i mean, you don't get to flex your ever-strengthening creative muscles that way...but you don't get to do that after you graduate either. at least if you're a good gopher and filer, you get a good reference, and maybe - yes - a good name on your resume. there's no accountability, really, not when compared with having to work out a plan in an hour (and then failing miserably because nobody at RISD told you about ADA).

and while the pay probably is non-existent, at least you'll get to commiserate with all the other coffee-gophers and file-clerks...and probably join a very elaborate social network in the process.

liz - you're right. these people are assholes. call me crazy, but if you have experience and can step right into an office and produce, you won't have any probelms. I'm on the west coast, so I can't make any recommendations, but some of these posters pissed me off, so i felt the need to write.

what's the point of this site if you can't find out inside information about firms in different cities?

Jdb, exactly. What is the point of this forum? From this thread you'd think it was a freakin' american gladiators competition. I left my spandex and q-tip things at home though.

Well...I can see both sides of this.

I think most people that talk about how "hard" NYC is really are just using that to justify being jerks-they would be jerks no matter where they lived. And I live in NYC. The "NYC mentality" is overrated-it's not that real-it's just a fast paced city-that doesnt necessarily mean it's rude,just curt. i have noticed that when I go back home to TX, I get silently annoyed with clerks who chat with me at checkout-like I think they are talking to much and I just want them to ring up my stuff. And then I get annoyed with myself anf think I have been in NYC too long because I have that reaction to TX retail clerks, who are just being nice.

But...it really isnt rocket science to land a job. You go to a well known school, there are a ton of firms here, just make a list of some, mail (actual mail) *hard copies* of your resume and work samples, call to follow it up, come down for a few days and meet them in person or come in person and hand your resume to them. That's all I did-my first job sucked because I got desparate and took a CAD monkey soul sucking position that I got fired from, so I regrouped and looked harder and smarter and am now at a firm that has actually won awards and has a good vibe. There really is no secret to this.

And...consider a firm on the West Coast or in the Midwest. You are already on the East Coast, and I am sure that tons of RISD students will be streaming in to NYC for the summer, so I think a summer in LA or Chicago would be a more unique experience. Even Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Austin... It's not like NYC has the stranglehold on good firms-I think the dirty secret is that architecture in New York isnt that good and you have more opportunities to do interesting stuff in the middle of the country or on the West Coast just because there is more room to build. Or why not London for a summer?

But if you are so fixated on NYC, then this website will be a bit of a start...

http://www.altproject.com/vector/maps/nyao.html

Move there. Meet people. Get a job. Don't take things so seriously. Work HARD. Party HARDER. Leave when you can. Enjoy it while you can.

I actually found it much easier to get a summer internship in NYC than any other place I have lived. There are a lot more choices. Big firms have summer intership applications due fairly soon. Check their websites. Small firms won't know until closer to the summer. Check the archinect job postings, AIA NY job postings, http://www.newyork-architects.com/, and maybe craigslist. Also, check around your school's architecture department. Usually there are a few job postings.