soo laaaatee...

You had to call them for that didn't you? Because it's definately not on their website.

is anyone just considering going to visit the schools when he/she can? i'm planning on trying to do that. the only problem i've run into is it's slightly more difficult to get in touch with the correct person - but being persistent has paid off.

i think i'd rather attend an open house after i get accepted (fingers crossed). then again, i'm not applying to anywhere close to where i live, making it pretty difficult to travel to a lot of places.

i am doing both.
at Berkeley I have an appointment with the chair if Urban Design, and might try and see another professor that is in the depart.

USC i think i am goingot make an appointment with an advisor.
The distance thing is defintily key.
I live in SF so obviosuly Berkeley is not a big deal.

LA... is do- able... but it has to be planned ....cuz most of have the Job-o to deal with too.

Anywhoo... i think it depends on the school and what their open houses are like.
BUt the persistant thing is a must i have realized!
good luck!

It seems like a lot of schools will encourage you to come meet professors at the open houses- I guess it is important to meet with someone... I feel like it's such an imposition!

AlexandraNY - did anyone @ berkeley mention an open house when you called?

The lady who has coordinated it for the past XX number of years passed away this past year... so .. thats kind of the answer they gave me, and suggested that i make an appointment with dpeartmnment heads.

However, it is "Berkeley" and i don't see them NOT having an open house at all this year.
I went to it last year, and it was in October...if that helps you planning wise.

I just called Berkeley and the lady in the grad department I spoke with said that they don't have an official "open house." She added that you can just stop by and tour the place yourself. Am I missing something?

they don't have one this year. .but they have in past years....
hopefully they will decide to have an official one this year... i don't know
But you can amke an appointment with someone. i think you have to write to the chair/dept. heads of whatever dept. you are applying to. they are all listed on the website.
One professor told me to just stop by when he is teaching studio,k and gave me the times.
the other offered to set up an actual appointment.
So...i think its case by case.
sorry if this doesn't help you.

just took the gres this morning...went better than i thought it would, but that is one thing im glad ill never have to do again

xacto congrats .. my test is on tuesday .. got any tips?

how much does visiting schools before applying matter?

whoah. why didn't i find this thread sooner? haha

how far along is everyone with their portfolio "project" - haha, have to admit. im pretty excited about the fact that upenn has decided to accept digital portfolios now. it's about time!! i guess it doesn't really matter though if other schools are still requiring a binded version.

yo , any "second time-a-rounders" on here.

I didn;t get in last time..so I got a nice year vacation to reflect ..

I was an addict on the 2007 thread...got a little bitter around March

well
same schools...lets try it again.

my advice for the gre is to make sure youre well rested...i had been taking timed practice tests to get ready but took breaks in between the sections...during the test i was pretty drained by the time i finished.

what really sucked is that they gave me a second verbal section after the math. the proctor said this might happen for "research" and i wouldnt know which verbal they would take. by the time i finished that my brain was a complete mush.

I'm a second-round applicant... these commiserate threads are bittersweet

My question is for professional work and work done in a group setting. Do you explain that this person did that, and that person did this. Or do you just offer up your work as an all-encompassing type of thing and just list the names of those involved.

I just started to make a list of my projects and how I was going to work them together, and as of now, I have four which seems somewhat few.

i haven't started my portfolio.. ehhh! but i am planning on it this month.
taking a class for the GRE....and then taking the test in early october.
i have heard the class is a waiste of time, but whatever...if its helps i will be happy.

i read last year's thread... and it was pretty helpful in terms of info. and seeing other people's portfolio's etc. for advice. and now that i am actually applying myself, i think it will be a way to keep my sanity (moral support!)'
good luck!

just want to put my two cents in this thread also

barely starting my portfolio, going to learn photoshop as much as i can too, trying to study for the gre but have no motivation for it

anyway i'll be applying to UCLA & SCIARC for sure, maybe Cal Poly Pomona and Oregon

s+c - I'm getting into the same issues in my portfolio. I would identify the number of people in the group and generally what aspects of the project you were involved in. If you have images that you didn't create personally you need to spell that out. But if you're using your own images I don't think you need to get into detail about each team member's contributions.

me:

- M.Arch 1, B.A. in English
- have 3/4 projects needed for portfolio, but haven't started book design yet.
- taking GRE in October
- asking for recommendations next week
- haven't started letter of intent
- looking into ivies, rice, pratt, risd, ucla, and uc berkeley.

@jank- yeah. I'm keeping things to a minimum with text and am trying to make sure my images do most of the talking. I really don't want to have to explain myself throughout. I think it plants seeds of self-doubt.

let's see:
BA, m. arch 1 applicant
took the gre. super bombed it with a 1000 (retaking early November)
3.1 gpa
working for the last 2.5 years
Have an old portfolio that is dated (2 years old)
Received a yes from 1 out of the 3 recommenders ( some schools don't have their apps online yet or it's to come out sometime between now and October)
Haven't started on Letter of Intent
Schools: right now it looks like: mit, berkeley, sci-arc, ucla, cal poly pomona.

it seems like a lot of people are applying to Oregon this year. So, what's the deal with U of O?

here's my own two cents about professional work:

i wouldn't put any image in that's not yours. they are looking for your work, so if you don't have an image that you've done - i'd take the time to create one.

also, i spoke with my professor about professional work last year (for my first round of applying). he mentioned to only include a project or two (granted, i already have my bs in arch, so i have a lot of studio work) of professional. and to make sure it's something that you will be willing to accept resonsibility of the design. even though they necessarily shouldn't judge you on that (since obviously you work for someone else who has final say), but they will. so, unless it's beautiful or incredibly thought provoking - be careful what you put in.

i'll include my info too!

bs arch - march 1 app
done with gres (woohoo)
have the portfolio from last year (revamping needed)
possibly applying to usf, u colorado, syracuse, u texas, u cinn, osu. maybe some others. i'm hoping to narrow it down to 4 or 5.

and i am a second round applicant as well!

good luck to all - i'm sure we'll be getting to know everyone much better in the next couple of months.

Laurel: do you plan on applying for advance standing? where did you apply last year? what are you doing this year to improve your application?

My situation:

25
UNC – CH ‘05
Journalism/Piano
3.5 GPA (last two years)
GREs Sept. 22
“Yes” from 3 Recs
Portfolio – still working on a couple of projects. Did Columbia’s Summer Program, which really helped me in this area.
Letter of intent in the working
Schools (in order of importance) : Columbia, UVA, Cornell, UPenn, UFlorida, UT-Austin, V-Tech, UC Berkeley, GATech

hey everyone,

i have decided that i will be applying to some programs for the fall of 2008.

i will only be applying to schools in Europe for several reasons and have so far decided Delft, Eindhoven and KTH will certainly receive my applications. Im very interested in studying for a masters in a program that provides the opportunity to work either in conjunction with, or with a focus in larger scale planning issues. KTH in particular has really intrigued me, as has Delft. Are there any KTH students or people familiar with it here?

As for my progress. I have officially started working on my updated portfolio last night and have a concept layed out.

This will be my first round of applications. I began working at a reputable firm in Chicago and did well for myself so decided to stick around for a year to gain some more experience... its been worth it but im ready to go back and get my masters.

my info...

-24
-B.Arch from IIT, graduated may 06.
-3.1 gpa (unfortunately not stellar)
-2 letters of rec in line though not written, working on others.
-Portfolio is out of date and geared towards job application but is being updated
-Intent letter has not even been started but i have time...

smithwillb -

i am applying for 2 yr march programs. i don't feel it's really necessary for me to attend school for another 3 yrs (which kind of rules out all of the ivy leagues - couldn't afford them anyway).

last year i applied to:

pratt - accepted
u cinn - waitlisted
uf - flat out rejected

in order to improve my application - my plans were to revamp my portfolio (and talk with professors, my mentor and anyone else willing to look at it) and participate in a competition or two. i'm also getting a graduate certificate (ugh - that sounds cheesy) in urban and regional planning. i'm hoping to use one of the professors i have this semester for one of my reqs. in addition, this should boost my gpa (low 3's).

i'm going to rewrite my statement of intent. and i'm trying to visit all of the schools i'm applying to and actually speak to someone in the program to show my interest (and, well, find out more about the school). although it might not help out at all during the application process, i figure knowing who i am is better than nothing.

hopefully this will all help... we'll see. i'm hoping because i was ready to go back to school this fall...

oh and i forgot nc state in my list.

oh - anyone else who's reapplying, what are you planning on/have already done to make you a more "appealing" candidate?

I have a question for you second timers- what are you planning on doing differently? what have you learned?

lol, i didn't read laurilan's post. sorry, ignore mine.

so i think i have put my info b4, but for sake of conversation here it is:

-26

-B.Arch from NYIT in 04'

-applying for: M.Arch II, M. Urban Design, M. Bldg Science,
M. Special studies in sustainability.. ..etc.

-3.3 -3.4 GPA

-taking GRE 10/08/07(but my practice scores are really bad, like
1000 or under... i stink at tests.)

-have asked 2 recommenders and they have said yes...

-haven't started statements of purpose yet, but have time

-applying to (in order of importance): UC Berkeley, TU delft,
SCI-ARC, UCLA, USC....and maybe a few others

-Portfolio: haven't started yet (obviously i do have projects to put in
it, however some need some work done on them IE: rendering, 3d
models, diagrams, etc.)

SO here's my questions:
i obviously did not go to a fantastic undergrad school, my GPA is only so so, and my GRE scores will probably be only satisfactory. So i NEED to make the other aspects of my application GREAT!.
I have worked at SOM for almost 3 years..which i am hoping will look good. So...in my portfolio... i should put some of my professional work...right?
but ... i have worked on some pretty big projects and ... obviously did not do all the work... or even all of one drawing. (Penn station in NYC was my main project for a year). It was a pretty high security project..... do i dare to include it???
I feel that maybe i shoudl just try and include some smaller, not so well known projects for my professional work.
any advice please.

so, for anyone interested in texas schools, i just visited univ. of houston and univ. of texas this past weekend.

and as i posted on the design of arch school thread, the arch building at the univ. of houston leaves a lot to be desired. it's a pretty small program - i think a total of 50ish students for all levels? they didn't seem to have too much opportunity as far as studying abroad goes. there were about 3-4 options, but only one (i think) had any participants in the past few years.

if you already have a pre-prof degree in arch, however, there is a lot of opportunities to waive quite a few classes - you can bring the program from 60 hrs down to 48. which to me, sounds pretty nice.

i also visited the univ. of texas. first of all, i love love love austin. the city alone has almost convinced me to apply there. my friend is a current student and he really likes it there. they seem to have a lot of study abroad opportunities as well as lots of random opportunities. i think the program is larger. i didn't talk to any staff or faculty from there, though, so i don't know too much more about the program from that point of view.

if you have any questions, let me know! i might be able to answer, might not. but i thought it'd be nice for people to report back on how they feel about the schools they go to visit.

alexandraNY - i don't think i'd necessarily rule out including larger projects. did you work on a specific piece? for example - could you take a rendering and sketch over it (or do your own sketch) to show an overall view of the building - then if you did a detail include something like that? there's a lot of ways you could make a detail really look beautiful. and then it would also show admissions that you could think on both large and small scale.

i think if you pick and choose pieces of the project, you could come up with a really nice presentation of your participation.

i have a general question for everyone:

how are you handling your letters of rec?

are you having them write personalized letters to each school? or just a general letter, which they mail to everyone?

My roommate is applying to med school and said there's no way that schools expect a personal letter - nor do the people who write them have the time to do so.

and if recs do write them for each specific school, how far do they need to go to demonstrate your worthiness for that school specifically?

i'm planning on having 3 recs write one letter each. does this diminish my application strength?

please advise....

thanks,

laurilan :
Thanks for the advice.. It will probably take a little bit to polish up some stuff i DID actually work on and pick and choose
But i think what ur saying is a good way to look at it....and maybe it will benefit me to show that i was apart of important projects.


smithwillb :

I am not completely sure on exactly what needs to be doen for the letters of Rec.
But i was lookign at some schools wedsites and the applications online, and it looked like the recommenders might have to fill (or attach) their letter online or fill out specific info pertaining to the school.
I , personally, woudl find out from each school you are applying to what their way of doing it is. Some might not have a specific form for the letters of rec... therefor eyou can just send a letter.

I think asking your recommenders to write seperate letters for each school would be a waste of their time, unless they have first-hand experience with a certain school. Of course alexandra is right, when schools have their own forms you should make that clear to your recommenders.

What will your statement of intent look like? It seems like a letter would be classy but maybe kind of old-fashioned. I guess I'll just go with essay form.

yes, i agree...if a school has a certain form, a rec must fill it out and include it with the letter.

Jank - good point. there's no way for a rec to have first-hand experience of the school....unless they went/tought/teach there


my letter of intent will be some type of narrative...hopefully humorous, easy to read, short, concise and to the point.

smith,

im sure the letters don't need to cater to each school....the general point of the letters is basically a second(third and fourth) opinion about the prospective student, from the viewpoint of current/former employers and professors.

on whether the rec has to be filled out on the exact form for each school: the answer, i think, is no, as long as the letter is sealed, on letterhead....my undergrad school holds our letters for us and sends a letter along with the recs telling the schools that, as a policy, they do not release letters to students, and use their own form.

all schools ask for the same things anyway :)

i thought that the letter of intent wasn't literally a letter!

letter of intent is definitely not a letter! well, maybe, if you wanted it to be.

i always thought that the form the school gives on the website MUST accompany any rec letter...?...hm, interesting point. i'll call and find out.

does anyone else know if this is true?

ok, '07 commiserator dropping by because I noticed the LOR discussion....

on forms: don't just tell them there's a form!!! Print the form out. Fill in the top portion with your name, application ID, birthday, address, whatever basic identifying info they require. Give the form with a stamped and addressed envelope to your recommender. Some schools may not care about the forms, but if they provide one, do everything you can to make sure it is used. It's hard enough to get into grad school without deciding not to follow the application instructions.

on customization of letters per school: I know it feels bad to ask for customized letter. Just ask for letters of recommendation, but be sure to provide your recommenders with info about the schools, in case they actually want to customize. I assumed that I would get one letter, copied 6 times and attached to the appropriate form, but my recommenders suprised me! They asked about each school- why I was applying, what was really cool about it, whether there was anything that I wanted them to emphasize or be sure to mention to that school... they obviously felt like it was part of their job to customize them. So even though you feel like that's too much work for them, make sure they have the info, just in case they don't feel like it's too much work.

i officially had my first freak out today. better right now, but i'm realizing that it's go time.

tell me about it, mr.b. I was freaking out as well. I've given myself an early deadline to finish my applications so that all the things that can and could go wrong happen now and not in December. With any luck I'll be done right before Thanksgiving.

im right there with all of you on freaking out.. I can't stop thinking about it. The thing that haunts me the most is that last semester i was like - OKAY this summer - I am going to get my portfolio finished and take the gres before the fall. but nope, i spent my whole summer working.




and as for my delayed response in putting up my info...

-Will be graduating this may with a BS in Finance, minor in art - wagner college

- 3.68 GPA

- GREs - NOV 10th

- Applying to March I programs at: Columbia, UPenn, Pratt (applying to their interior design program too just for the hell of it), Parsons, RISD, UVA, SCAD, - list as of today.. still reconsidering it because i feel like i wont get into most of them.

- I have a portfolio -(most of it is old though, need to add to it & need to set it up digitally- sort the layout, etc)

-Haven't started my statement

- 3 Letters of Rec - not done yet.. but i have time.





my question is can i include works that are from 3 yrs ago into my portfolio? or is that too far back?



good luck to everyone!

norita--good luck to you too. your question has been asked many times here and the general consensus is that you should put in your best work regardless of when it was made. three years isn't even that far back.

goooood, that makes my life a whole lot easier. thanks :)


is anyone else having a hard time narrowing down what schools they want to apply to? Because honestly, if I could - i would probably be applying to about 15 + schools.

norita - i'm applying to 10 schools. so, yeah. i'm busy.

i'm applying to between 4-5. i only applied to 3 last year. i can't imagine applying to 10 programs! that's definitely impressive!

noritabonita - i'm not sure if you've been to visit any of the schools in nyc yet, but pratt, parsons and columbia have totally different feelings when you're on campus. i really liked pratt and really didn't like columbia. my friend liked both pratt and columbia, but had no interest in parsons. the more you can see about the program, the more you can tell if it's for you or not.

i just visited a school this weekend and really liked it. it confirmed that i really didn't enjoy the other schools i previously looked at. but i never would have known by just looking at the website.

and for anyone interested - i went to visit lawrence tech university in detroit. i actually really liked the program - much more than when i visited univ. of texas (even though i still love austin) and univ. of houston. for anyone that has a bs (or ba) in arch - their program lasts slightly longer than a year (summer, fall, spring summer) and they offer quite a few night classes so you can work during the day. but it is in detroit - i'm originally from there, so i might have more tolerance for it than others.

if anyone goes through that area or is thinking of applying there, go and visit. if you take a tour of the campus, they waive your application fee!

well, i have to agree that 10+ applications is nuts, but i admire anyone you attempts it!!!

I have been adding onto my list of schools as well.
UCLA
Berkeley
SCI-ARC
USC
TU Delft
and now..... Pratt and U Oregon.

i have already started some of the online app.s ...so i guess i have to finish!

But i was seriously freaking out this weekend too! i attempted to start my portfolio....
realized i have never used Indesign.... and could use a few tips!

I knwo its an adobe program....so i am fmailiar with them, but i am still a little unsure what i can and can NOT do with it.

My story:

I'm 27 with a BS in Info Systems. Last year I applied to six schools including Berk, UCLA, Syracuse and RISD 3-year M.Arch for Fall 2007. I got accepted to Syracuse and RISD. Since I'm pretty confident in the reason behind not getting into UCLA or Berk, and I would rather stay in California for many reasons I've decided to reapply. I managed to defer my spot in Syracuse, but not RISD. So Syracuse will be my fate if I don't get in this time around.

I took my GRE last Nov and my combined score is above 1000. I was thinking of retaking it, but I decided against it so I can concentrate on my porfolio and essays. I work full-time and I'm taking two art classes at UCSD extension so time is scarce.

alexandraNY: InDesign is relatively easy to learn. I had to learn it from scratch myself not too long ago. There is an official Adobe tutorial which I think you can access via InDesign under the Help Menu. These will get you started.

Ciao


T

laurilan: i have only visited pratt so far - but pratt columbia and parsons are my top choices because i am currently living in nyc, and i really could not imagine moving away -haha.. but i agree, i loved pratt. everyone was so welcoming and i totally got a good vibe there. ive taken a class at parsons - their intro to arch intensive studies program when i was about like 16 - yeah long time ago.. and I remember not liking the professors.

alexandrany: blah, indesign is so expensive! did you get a good deal or know of any good places to get a student discount?

umm... crack version....
but it works pretty damn well.
i'm broke.. could never afford ..it.

umm... crack version....
but it works pretty damn well.
i'm broke.. could never afford ..it.

ahaha, thats awesome.

Hey laurilan, what didn't you like about U Texas? I'm considering applying but I'm not going to be able to visit this fall.