Just got my rejection letter from the GSD. Had a feeling that one was coming. Three rejections in a row. Not really that disappointed anymore. Just feel that I wasted all that time applying and also spent about $300 on fees and about the same amount on getting my portfolio copied. I guess it's a learning experience - a pricey and time consuming one.

Yeah, I too was just thinking about all the money that it takes to apply to all these schools.
So, say that on average the application fee is $60 and they get 300 applicants...yeah that is $18,000 ladies and gentleman. And to think that they couldn't hire someone to type out personal rejection letters....

Sorry, just venting....

some schools get twice the # of applicants

After sleeping near the post box for days , waiting
for the mail from Berkeley to come...
I got the rejection announcement through the e-mail #@$%


The good side of the story is that it means that I am no longer have the dilemma between Berkeley and UCLA...

i've given up on grad school, right now, all i want in life is a freaking cadbury egg!

wow, your schools applications were expensive. my schools avg. application fee was around $35.

I took a whole year off to apply to grad school. I also did GSD's summer program to get me working on portfolio material. It's a lengthy process and you should give yourself time. I started going to Open Houses and working on references almost 3 years ago just to give you an idea.

skycaptain....
and did you get into where you wanted to go?

Berkeley EEEEEE-jection!!!! Oh well... GSAPP here I come!

hey cou2, I can totally understand how you feel. I also got 2 rejections and 1 waitlist from Penn (I have been considered this a rejection). It's really a pricey learning experience.

The thing make me feel bad is to receive a "pattern-like" rejection.
I feel they simply do the copy-paste, change the name of applicants, print, then send out.

Maybe the reason they do this later is they thought we should be prepared to know that situation. Well, at this point, I would say they are quite tricky.

Anyway, thanks you guys listening to what I complained about during this horrible process. I will let you guys know where I choose to go.


Cheers for our camaraderie! :)

Skycaptain, I'm impressed with your year off... that's dedication! What was your undergraduate in?

I have a B-Arch, and want to head off to an urban design program. But don't really have the resources to take any time off to apply. Just got my Architecture license inbetween trying to do portfolio and apps. Hope your time off really paid off!

whizkid: pretty much i guess. I have offers from MIT and UPenn and am waitlisted at Yale. Have not heard from anyone else yet but with what I have now, I'm pretty sure I won't reapply next year. MIT and UPenn were my third and forth choices. Yale is my top. But I am starting to fall for MIT with the money they offer and the possibility of teaching undergrad and working oppose to Yale where it is much harder. Cambridge is also my top choice for location.

i don't know much about UPenn. so if anyone wants to shed some light on their program, I'd love to listen.

there are a few students at AL&D that transfered from UPenn. that's all i know.

Does anyone know an e-mail of any admission asistant in GSD ????

I'm starting to have 2nd thoughts about re-applying and just going to UMich....


ARGH!

afrdzak...um..that might not be so bad. I hear UMich is like the most under rated place...

has anyone heard from Rice yet?

underrated to who? employers? rankings? prospective students?

rejected from GSD

Cornell here I come!

veryyy psyched.

afrdzak, UMich seems like a great place to be right now, it is very expensive for a state school but if you go there now you get another year of a higher salary (assuming you make less than an architect now) once you graduate. This may help in covering the gap between in-state tuition and UMich.

citrus: I'm not sure I follow. Another year of a higher salary? I don't make less than a fresh architect out of school.

afrdzak - i think any of those state schools - ut, umich, uva, etc. are all regarded pretty similar as far as what an employer is going to think.

it is a good school - did you get money from them? that could be the drawback... it is expensive out of state.

i meant a drawback if you didn't

I got a little, $5k/year.

afrdzak - i have a friend at UMich right now. From what she's told me, she likes the school, just not a fan of ann arbor.

ahh I see, well then my logic doesn't apply. Still, I think it's a great opportunity, and of course I don't know all of your reasons for waiting another year but I think in terms of the education you won’t find a state school that would be much better than Umich.

coming from San Diego, I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy Ann Arbor either, but I don't care about that. I acclimate quickly and it's only temporary.

I don't want to go to a program that's only employable as I'm sure UMich is. I want a program that will help me in pushing beyond my limits, break me down and help me rethink. I know a lot of this is dependent on myself and my own motivation... but still... sometimes we all need a little direction.

from talking to all of these undergrad people (over the years) who went through the same education as me (b.s. arch or b.a. arch) from a good state school, they all really teach you how to think - so you can take any situation and take the process through the end. there might be some slight differences in the exact way, but the general process is the same.

it's really about your decision to learn and push yourself. from seeing the couple of m.arch programs, it's a similar experience.

i think that's why people abhor those rankings so much. because, in reality, if you want to learn - almost any arch school is going to give you that opportunity.

are you going to go visit? i'd go on your gut feeling from that. i could just tell from some of the schools i visited if i'd fit there or not.

this process if making me rethink the career as an architect..
getting the rejections..the thought of possibly getting more..
makes me wonder why i didn't just do business or something instead of getting stuck in this

maybe i just suck.

you dont suck...its just a very hard and VERY arbitrary process/career... I mean I often wish we could get into schools the way lawyers/doctors do.. I mean c'mon, lets all take some tests and compare HARD evidence of who's smarter than who. but unfortunately, architecture is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to that. very arbitrary. very opinionated. very subjective. you just have to ask yourself if thats something you want to get into cause it wont get any better after grad school.

asbuckeye07 thanks.

i know.. ;)
Just I've always wanted to be in the field of architecture..
It's just that i wish there's someone like Simon Cowell to bluntly tell me that I'm either "in" or "out"..
Cause what's worse then finding out you are just a mediocre after putting in all this time, effort, and money?

gaaarrrh

1) What's the typical M.Arch I class size at MIT?

2) Any M.Arch I's (non-AP) waiting for MIT that have been admitted to another highly selective program like Harvard, Yale, GSAPP, Berkeley, etc...?

3) Anyone heard from admissions that acceptances have ended?

4) Anyone have Tenessee winning NCAA?

does the above look familiar to anyone? is this where some of you saw the magic words "accepted" ??

that looks exactly like nc states. when a decision was made, it appeared below all of it - with something that said decision - then you could click on it and a pdf of my acceptance came up.

One of my friends is a mechanical engineer at a large international company, - communications, manufacturing , aerospace, ect. He told me he could get me a job there in quality control or as an engineering tech. Around 40-45K a year to start, great benefits and they have some sort of tuition reimbursement there. Granted that job is probably pretty boring... But it's sad to think that after 3+ years of grad school for architecture I might not even be making that much. Yet I still want to get a M.Arch degree - and go through the hassle of applying to schools again. Am I crazy?

I'm either super motivated to be an architect or just delusional.

juut... I have KU

Nairman: the admission decision appears below the recommenders. It is a clickable link. If it's not there then a decision is pending.

_juut, depending on the year I’ve heard that M.Arch 1 class sizes at MIT range from about 14-25 students, lately I think they've been aiming more for the 25 than the 14.

nariman, if a decision has been, right made below the list of your recommenders it will have another option which says, "decision status: your application decision is now available online" clicking on that will open the pdf.

Rejected by University of Washington (Seattle)

afrdzak: I went to Michigan for undergrad and loved it. I too feel that it is underrated in the rankings in terms of overall education. Although the Ivies have some big names, they are not as readily available to you as the professors at Michigan are, who, I can assure you are highly qualified. I am not sure which schools you were looking at, but Michigan is headed in a very interesting direction especially because they are getting a new dean this year.

Also, after being at thesis reviews last year, the work possesses a diversity of the thought that is richer than in some of the work that I have seen from the "greats." It also does not follow one narrow direction ( i.e. Sci_Arc and Form Z).
Plus, sorry, I know this is getting long, but there are some of the best study abroad experiences and studios are sometimes based in far off places like Africa and Alaska (which means you get to go there).
So, take this all with a grain of salt because the school is all that I have known so far and towards the end, I was ready to get out of Ann Arbor...
I would suggest that you email some students from there to see what they think. And look up some professors (Perry Kulper) and keep your ears open about the dean search....
Oh and you should definitely go visit because the studio space tops all the places that I have been so far....

Chopsky: Do you know much about U of W!?!?

asbuckeye,
Those are some pretty wise words in your post. The only part I am reacting to is the, "I often wish we could get into schools the way lawyers/doctors do. I mean c'mon, let’s all take some tests and compare HARD evidence of who's smarter than who."
This seems like personal aggravation and empathy for moca, both of which are perfectly valid. I wouldn't want to discredit your thoughts or feelings. I just thought I would use it to open a topic for discussion.

I would never wish we could get into schools the way lawyers/doctors do. I think that would take away from the credibility of our profession. Basically it is our job to make decisions based on subjective criteria every day. If our educators couldn't do that, then where would we stand?

moca,
I would compare selecting architecture grad students to buying a car:
Sometimes you see a Porsche or a Yugo in a portfolio. I bet that you could compare and decide which one was better in terms of design. Then you take a look at the interior, is it as nice as what you saw from the outside? The interior could be thought of as your letter of intent or recommendations. Then you would look to see if the Porsche actually had an engine (in grad school's case, the test scores and gpa). Unfortunately you don't get to drive it until it is in the classroom.
Sometimes you are comparing a Toyota vs. a Honda. They both have good designs, seem to be reliable, and that is when you have to compare the 0 to 60mph, horse power, cup holders, nav system, speakers, and personal preference.
I would say that almost all of the Ferraris are getting accepted to top schools, the Hyundai’s and fords are fighting it out in the second round and the Edsel is being rejected.
Don't be discouraged, even a Ferrari was beaten in a drag race by an electric car. Sometimes results can surprise you and sometimes others can’t see the genius behind your design. I hope that isn’t too convoluted and that it gives you some resolve.

I second what whizkid said about Kulper, I almost applied to UMich just because he taught there, the dude rocks (apparently so does his wife who also teaches at UMich but I haven't had the opportunity to cross paths.) Did you get to study under him whiz? Lucky bastard.

Berkeley is putting out some heavy negative energy today, dude. Big wave of denials via email, mine included.

So far, that's four "no"s, still holding out for MIT (not holding my breath) and UMASS Amherst.

asbuckeye,
Those are some pretty wise words in your post. The only part I am reacting to is the, "I often wish we could get into schools the way lawyers/doctors do. I mean c'mon, let’s all take some tests and compare HARD evidence of who's smarter than who."
This seems like personal aggravation and empathy for moca, both of which are perfectly valid. I wouldn't want to discredit your thoughts or feelings. I just thought I would use it to open a topic for discussion.

I would never wish we could get into schools the way lawyers/doctors do. I think that would take away from the credibility of our profession. Basically it is our job to make decisions based on subjective criteria every day. If our educators couldn't do that, then where would we stand?

whizkid: other than it being a pretty good university and that it's located in seattle...no.

asbuckeye,
Those are some pretty wise words in your post. The only part I am reacting to is the, "I often wish we could get into schools the way lawyers/doctors do. I mean c'mon, let’s all take some tests and compare HARD evidence of who's smarter than who."
This seems like personal aggravation and empathy for moca, both of which are perfectly valid. I wouldn't want to discredit your thoughts or feelings. I just thought I would use it to open a topic for discussion.

I would never wish we could get into schools the way lawyers/doctors do. I think that would take away from the credibility of our profession. Basically it is our job to make decisions based on subjective criteria every day. If our educators couldn't do that, then where would we stand?