Yes I should have clarified, neither the AA nor the Bartlett have a first professional M.Arch, but I have my BS in architecture already so I'm applying to both of their Diploma programs.

A question for citrus.

Do you think that after do the M.Arch I ... anyone might apply for the Diploma programs of the UK?

The matter is that I am strongly interested in the AA.

Well in the UK it goes roughly like this: first three years of undergraduate in architecture, usually followed by a year working as an intern. After that you go into the diploma program which is the fourth and fifth years of undergraduate (which in the UK is all you really need for licensure). If you choose to go on you can pursue a Masters of Architecture, which in their system is a yearlong course.

So if you completed a M.Arch in the United States you would really be over-qualified for the diploma program, as it would have been equivalent to your first two years at your M.Arch. You could always pursue a Ph.D., but this certainly is a different type of education than the diploma provides, much more research based, far less design from my understanding.

The thing ... I would like to study the M.Arch here, in the United States, but I would like to work in Europe.

So that I want is to be registered as an European architect.

Also I am strongly interested in the PhD, but I can't decide yet before start my studies of Architecture!

Well since everyone else has posted already, here's my portfolio; the schools I’ve sent it too are listed a couple of posts ago.

http://herron.ron.herron.googlepages.com/home

It might take awhile to load, and display it in 2 page up mode etc etc.

Citrus.

You show a concrete and personal style in your portfolio. You keep it ever and, under my opinion it is a good point. The Architecture representation are nicely showed, avoiding the common 3D spaces from the real estate which people use, as a general rule, in their portfolios.

I love the dark, but I received a lot of critics by using that in my works. May be you will receive the same.

I am not sure. Are you applying for some first professional masters or just for post professionals and the uk's diploma?

Anyway... definitely you are a strong applicant with high probabilities of getting admitted.

Congratulations.

Who here applied to post-graduate programs? I haven't read anything on the boards about the AAD at Columbia or Harvard's MArch II. I would like to hear other's perspectives on the AAD. I don't know much about Harvard's MArch II, in terms of size or demographic. Any other post-prof applicants here? Cheers and good luck everyone.

citrus, your portfolio is dope!

mine is a few pages back.

i've got a question for you guys: if a friend of yours currently attending one of the grad programs you applied to offered to find out right now whether or not you got in from a professor/admissions guru they work for, would you take them up on it?

on the one hand, no more waiting! you'd know right now!

but on the other, what if it's bad news? would you want to find out from your friend that you didn't make the cut? if it were good news, would you really trust it not coming from an official source?

what would you guys do?

I would just do it. especially if were, hypotheticallly, a prestigous institution. I would also consider taking money form your fellow Nectuers for information on their admissions status as well.

I...would do it. maybe its just my viewpoint on applying this year, as in if I dont get in (good chance with the top 4 programs I applied to) it wont be the end of the world for me. This is my first go around, so Im sort of apathetic about the whole thing (as apathetic as one could be that is). What could it hurt to know? Its not like when you find out matters, its just the final result....even if you dont get in waiting another month just prolongs your hopes and not having to deal with the reality of an inevitable situation.

what program is it? let us know if you got in...good luck!

"I would also consider taking money form your fellow Nectuers for information on their admissions status as well."

I second that, sans the exchange of money part.

I suspect you are only half serious...and if it is a backup school, then who really cares...but I am curious now. Moreover, if you spill the beans on an open forum, it could chave c unforseen onsequences..so it better just remain a speculation. ...even if we are all freinds here...how about emailing us all each and telling us ..HAHAHAHA jk

anyway, Good Luck!



Asbuckeye...I feel you on the apathy...this is my second year of rejections, ....er I mean application decisions, and so ..I am so over this whole thing. ..But i enjoy seeing the optmism and excitement I see in so many folks here.


...and to comment on the cost of school, as mention yesterday etc...I have a story...


My friend got into Columbia two years ago..took out mad loans first year...sounded evil at first...but then his second year , he took some goofy campus job..and got so much tuition covered...He predicts by his third year with a teaching assistant ship,...he will pay next to no tuition, due to working the system. He told me that you get sticker shock when you look down the barrel, but..ultimately you find solutions once you get going....so to all applicants,.."know there are ways around the prospects of crushing debt", if you are paying attention.

this is actually a real offer i got from a friend of mine a couple of days ago, after said professor brought some applicants' portfolios to show him unsolicited. he found it grossly inappropriate, but said he could probably find out if i was in if i wanted to know now.

i said no thanks, since either way i'd much rather find out through the official channels. if i went for it and found out i was in, i'd still doubt it for the next month ("what if they aren't completely done deciding? what if they change their minds?", etc.) and be afraid to get my hopes up. if i'm not in, it'd be really uncomfortable for both me and my friend, and i'd much rather be disappointed by an impersonal rejection letter.

anyway, just wanted to know how you guys would feel about being given that choice. much as i hate the waiting, when i find out i want it to be 100% certain.

ok..so..tell us...was this at a good school?

well, the list of schools i applied to is back a few posts, but.... yeah.

I didn't apply to teh GSD, this time around

Hey guys,

I live in South Africa. I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree (no art education). Self-taught digital designer & photographer.
Applying for the M.Arch 1 (3+ years).

Applied to:
------------
Pratt
Parsons
CCNY @ CUNY
IIT
U Washington @ Seattle
U Toronto
U Cincinnati

My portfolio: http://www.grantshapiro.com/portfolio/portfolio_small.pdf

Let me know what you think my (honest) chances are. I have literally no idea what I'm up against. A real shot in the dark for me.

Ciao!

snar, dont know what to tell you. too be honest your story sounds like bullshit. but what do I know? good luck not finding out early if you got into the school that you cant seem to tell us about.

chopsky.

Which camera did you use for the photographies? They are very proffesional. The balance, color, grain and everything is really good balanced. You could sell it at www.istockphoto.com and make some fresh money :)

Do you have anymore after photography section?

We are sharing Pratt & Parsons ... I wanted to apply for CCNY, but ... in my personal ranking it came down at the time I was discovering new schools.

Good luck man.

hahaha,... asbuckeye is just kidding you,...
we all know you have friend at the GSD on the admissions board.

Thanks for the complimentary photography comment.
I have a Canon Rebel XTi (400D).
Nothing follows the photography section. I presume you feel something should?
CCNY are apparently hoping for accreditation this Spring. So if I receive acceptance from them, we shall see if they remain an option.

Cheers

complimentary? :-/
(sigh) wrong word there...

YbTH, your portfolio is phenomenal.
I wish I hadn't seen that.

you're an architect now, you wont be needing things like a basic grasp of the english language.

haha, touche.

asbuck, thanks for the vote of confidence and the respectful tone of your post. i wasn't asking anyone for advice, just thought it was a weird situation to find myself in and wanted to hear how other's might feel if presented with that choice. i'm sorry my simple and largely hypothetical query was sooooo offensive to you. i didn't name the school because i don't want people asking me if i can find anything out for them, because as uncomfortable as i would be trying to sneak around and find out something about my application, i'd feel ten times more uncomfortable snooping around for someone else.

ff33, if only my connections at gsd were so powerful! as it is, i don't know anyone but students at any of the schools i applied to.

hm, actually you were asking for advice, and in my post before last I gave it: just ask your friend if you got in or not...these things arent life and death situations...the band plays on. And I wasnt trying to attack you, sorry if it came off as such...just saying your story sounds like BS, doesnt make any less of a reality if its true now does it?

so let me get this straight: you "werent asking for advice" about a hypothetical situation about a school that you cant tell us about? ...again not an attack just slightly confused, please forgive

apologies if i was ambiguous: when i asked "what would you guys do?" in my initial post, i meant just that. what would you do if this option were presented to you, from a friend of yours at a school you want to go to? not "what do you guys think i should do."

no need to get testy if you're not interested in the discussion, just thought it was a weird situation and one that might illicit some interesting responses from other 'nectuers.

whatev,..snark...I am glad you told us..it was amusing...and ..did I mention I applied to Columbia,SCIArc, and UT....so like if you ever wanted to email me with any helpful "hints" about where i should be moving..then..I got a hundo here with your name on it...:-)

Before my post gets lost amongst the others, any opinions on my portfolio?

The layout, quality and format are all refreshingly simple. Your choice of content t is nice as well. I am not a photography saavy person, but your work made me think I was for a moment.

I question the order you have chosen somewhat. It i shard to tell you how to showcase your work..and in your case less is more. But I think you might benefit from putting a bigger finale on it. Also, is the puppy photo necessary? <sorry> You choose which image is the right one. I mean the beach house is a pretty sweet one as well.


The good news, you need no Architecture background to have a decent chance at acceptance, and your porfolio demonstrates raw talent.

chopsky... great portfolio. some of your photography is very moving. i also have a rebel xti, xcept my pictures don't come out as great as yours do.. any suggestions on how i could perfect my picture taking skills? haha

good luck!


i have to say, with everyone's portfolios out there.. i'm getting a little intimidated over here =/

hey chopsky, here is my honest opinion (since you asked for it): although the photos are nice, there is basically no design work in your portfolio. there is no story, and not much that shows your potential as a designer. it needs to be fuller. however, i think you do have a good chance of getting into some of the schools such as Parsons, IIT, CCNY.

Perhpas chop's essay may have more of a "story"...not sure you have had to design stuff to be an artists, and most schools take a lots of students with assorted creative backgrounds. You could say the same about a musician. I dunno that portfolio needs to be a book pe se, merely a collection.

well.. i dont know. i don't exactly come from a design background - i mean my portfolio is no "story" but perhaps focuses in on the talent (however you would like to rank it) that i have as an artist. and i DEF feel like chopsky shows that.. i feel like the personal statement is the type of tool for some sort of story.

in all honesty - i don't think there is any right or wrong way to go about the m.arch i portfolio. isn't the whole point of the program to develop your design skills? don't they just want to see your ability as an artist inside of your portfolio? and by ability - i mean spatial ability - if you can draw, etc..

maybe i am wrong?

well, like a story, a portfolio should have a beginning, middle, and end. i don't feel that chopsky has put his images in any kind of thoughtful order. maybe there is no wrong way to put together a portfolio together, but there is definitely a good way to clearly and succinctly show what you're capable of. here's something that an archinecteur and Harvard admissions reviewer said:

laru-
my own experience (getting in, as well as sitting on the application review committee at the gsd in the past) is that what's really the most important factor in pushing you over the top at any school is to simply have a critical position that you're starting from. or as shelia kennedy used to say 'define what your 'project' is'. waaaaay too many portfolios show up in the admissions pile that are merely a collection of individual projects, some better than others, some with a certain aesthetic bent, some with pretty good ideas. but what a school like the gsd is looking for is a deep intellectual consistency and a focused sense of what your professional trajectory (as much as can be at this stage) is becoming. what is it that you're interested in - a deep fusion of how architectural works can recode and reorganize landscapes to produce a new kind of hybrid condition? biomimicry? how to create the architectural equivalent to jeff koons' production methods?

don't assume your work is self-evident, nor that you have to have as original an intellectual position as rem. no one expects the work at this stage to be that sophisticated. in fact, several people who were admitted during my time had fairly clunky projects/work, but you could see they were aiming very high and had a good chance to become very original voices with some refinement.

how unique your story/interests/intellect/work is will determine whether you show up in the fall or not. the interest of the school is to get a variety of people, from different schools, cultures, etc. to create the best possible stew for people to marinate in during their time there. one last word of caution - you can't fake originality. it'll either be there, with the work and the words matching up, or there will be some form of disconnect between the two. the bigger the disconnect, the less likely you are to get in.

oh, and the portfolio is almost everything, especially if it's for a post-professional program (i didn't see where you said what your first degree was). the essay is next, followed by the recommendation letters. grades, gre, etc. are all items you have to meet the minimums on, but they don't get serious attention except as a potential tiebreaker between the last few to be admitted.

good luck - i have a classmate who didn't make the gsd the first round, but applied the next year, with the same exact material (just a much, much better presentation) and made the cut fairly easily. so, it is possible.

DJ Tanner. This is because I am afraid. I know that, but I just did as much as possible during x-mas time. Around ten days. Even knowing that I was having this mistake. The order, message, composition and whole project.

noritabonita: don't know what to tell you eh. Get a decent lens and learn post-production.

DJ Tanner: it found it difficult to put them in a more thoughtful order.
I'm sitting with web/logo designs and photography.
How would you propose to order that?
Ending with my logos/web designs wouldn't have provided for much of a climax. My photography - and the TB/HIV March specifically - is my strongest point in that portfolio.
It was the only way I could logically see ordering it all.
You said there's no design work in my portfolio, but my logos and web designs are all purely design. All are a combination of typography, color and aesthetics. Even if there's no physical drawing involved. The room for instance was drawn purely in Photoshop. Pity the downsized PDF doesn't really let you see much detail.

ff33º: "I am not a photography saavy person, but your work made me think I was for a moment. " - I'm not sure whether that was a compliment or an insult?

Thanks for all the comments guys! Appreciate it.

my apologies, I meant that you could "see the photography talent " that you possess. I meant that when i looked it over i felt I understood photography.

Just because I'm in a generous mood, and I need something to do while waiting to hear back from schools, I thought i'd put up my portfolio.
here it is
This was sent to Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell
Shooting for the top. Figured I still have my job if it doesn't work out.

ah shoot, wrong one, that one was for job hunting. Basically an adapted version of my grad one, gets the idea across though.

Nice work! Are you March1 or 2...also where did you do your undergrad? Just curious.

Looks good though. I like Viral city the best...

oh ,sorry I see teh cv now...UCinci

yup, good ol' UC. Going for MArch 1. Maybe later this evening i'll get the real version up there, it's got a copy of my statement in the portfolio.

Viral city was done after i graduated, had some ideas clunking around that i wanted to get out

You're applying for M.Arch 1, but it looks like you already have a good grounding in Architecture?

DJ Tanner, unless you're on an admissions committee, i think its a little pretentious telling people where they will or will not get into. criticism is one thing, arrogance is another.

thanks chopsky, but unfortunatetly the good people at UC don't give out professional degrees for undergrad anymore.

Also, i really enjoyed your photography. I saw that you're applying to Cincy, feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the program

is anyone here applying to UCLA AND SCIArc? I did, and now I am pensive about both programs and wondering which program you guys would prefer?

So basically, I'm up against people who already have undergrads in Architecture?
Beautiful... :/