I couldn't make the open house and this is one of the schools I am strongly considering so any information would be greatly appreciated!! students? facilities? faculty? overall impression?? other prospective students at open house?

I thought the open house was at least three hours longer than it needed to be. The program seems great though. If I can figure out how to satisfy my prereqs, I think I'll accept their offer.

hey buckity, I think I might accept Penn's offer, too. but I have to attend their summer studio, as well as satisfy physics, calc and history of architecture prereq! I dont know why but I did two physics classes in college and they were both listed on my transcripts.

buckity and miss_j, what other schools are you guys looking at?

study abroad opportunities at penn?did they discuss at open house? were you impressed? also, for the first year of the 3yr program, do you begin doing everything in comp or do they stress doing everything by hand?

miss_j, if you accept at penn, you can contest the physics prereq. i had taken a semester they said they needed me to take another, i contested and won. it was really pretty silly bc my college physics class was way more rigorous than the "physics for architects" thing people do. they're pretty not into letting people out of summer studio, though, even though if you think you have any sliver of a chance to get out of it, you should!

acari (and whoever else is interested),

here are my impressions of penn...

students: the student rep who gave my group a tour was great. according to him, the studio culture is really supportive and, if you are a night owl, lots of students work in studio through the night so you won't be the only one there. what's more important though will be the class of students that will be your cohort. i met one really great person that i think will be a great classmate and one person who i think will be really annoying so that's a toss up. i guess it depends on how much these people affect you.

facilities: adequate. i wouldn't go so far as to say it's great because it's always nicer to have more space and there's always newer and greater technology out there but what penn offers is more than sufficient, i think. everyone gets a large work area with a storage shelf overhead and there's an abundance of plotters (5). there are also three laser cutters and the fabrication lab is always fully staffed (if you have questions or need help, i guess) and open 7 days/week although it's not 24 hours. there is no 3d printer as of yet though but i will definitely lobby for one if i go there.

faculty: very informative of what is offered and what is possible at penn. i didn't speak to anyone directly though.

study abroad: from what i heard, past and current students haven't taken advantage of the opportunities so programs have been canceled when enrollment was slim. otherwise, there are plenty of opportunities: aa in london for a semester, paris, france, or mexico city in the summer, among other places.

overall impression: can't really put it into words but it just feels right for me. it really helps to visit the school if you've never been there.



i'd really like to hear what anyone else thought of penn.

arcai - mainly sci-arc and pratt. it's been sooooo tough... i could choose pratt and not worry about all these pre-reqs!

flickbee- i will have to take the summer studio unfortunately! as well as the arch history class. i already did calculus as well. it was college level but i did it in high school. it would be very silly if i accept the offer, turn up at penn and they say i haven't done calculus and so their acceptance does not stand! it's good to know i can contest. [thank you for all your help btw! ;)

9- thanks for letting us know! i've been having the hardest time trying to decide without having visited any of the schools (i'm overseas). i think i'm going to accept penn's offer but there's that tiny bit of uncertainty...

i posted my impressions(maybe not very useful) and any info(maybe more useful) on the thread "ucla vs upenn." I stopped by penn last friday, had a guided tour, talked with prof farily(the structures prof who studied under Kahn) and had beers with current 1st year students.

just a few more days!
good luck all.

penn DIDNT feel right to me...students were cloistered away in their little cubicle studios, facilites were old and professors not very engaging (i agree, could have ended 3 hours earlier). also, i have to take calc, physics AND the summer prep program.

the summer prep thing doesnt make much sense to me (no other school told me i had to take it); they say i have to take it so that im up to speed with all the other entering students who have been cad monkeys for the past 3 years or who have barch degrees. isnt an march 1 degree (what i am going for) for people like me--isnt 3 years enough? why accept so many ppl with barchs?!

re prereqs:
the high school ap calc should be fine (is that what you're talking about miss_j?) but you should be in touch with admissions office about it, though i don't think they would turn you away if you arrived on campus without.

the summer studio was awful. for real-it was almost hte deal breaker for me re decisions (like ainslie said, no other school required it) but i suppose it's kind of like a right of passage so to speak-like spending hours overnight tracing something over light tables-just bc we missed it during undergrad. who knows. i still don't feel like it has helped me with anything so far, except get familiar with campus early/make friends before school started and got try play with rhino a bit. a few people told me i'll appreciate summerstudio later on-but am doubtful for that. if you can make a case to get out of it-it's worth the try (i think i said that above) but they're pretty adament about it (i tried a lot of things and it didn't work).
that said, summer studio is nothing like the rest of the program. hurray for that! but the summer arch history class is taught by an amazing phd student-i had her last year, and i suspect the class will only be better. recommended!

yea but the fact remains it costs 8000 for the summer program!! i think i can wait til september to meet friends, spend long nights in the studio, etc ... im sure ill be doing that for the next 3 years, if not the rest of my life!
flickbee-so are you still at penn? in terms of pedagogy at penn, how would you sum up the general tone? i am not so into computers and techy/bio stuff (using cells/algorithms to generate buildings). am i gonna have a hard time finding my own way there?
thanks for the info flickbee!!

i know, ainslie, i entertained the idea of demanding my money back after the summer. people complain every year, supposedly it;s gotten better (ie the instructor actually knowing our names was new, though that might be hearsay).
i am still at penn, i'm currently a 500 so i've only had two proper studios. i personally have not used any biological models to generate forms, though lots of people do and it's encouraged. i know there are some people who definitely question the use of such modelling, i am one (!) and i think, regardless of who is into/not into this way of operating, it generates really interesting and worthwhile discussion. however, i am really into the more tech-y aspects, ie mathematical geometries/patterns, fabrics, knots etc. but i didn't realize that until after i got here.
personally i think that as long as you operate with rigor and precision, it doesn't matter what you use to _generate_ because you will have the tools and understanding to make an argument for your process. if you want to talk more specifically, email me--it's easier than checking this thread all the time.

I'm also mainly considering Sci-Arc and Penn...maybe Pratt. But I decided on Penn today, (almost definetly), since I figured out how to schedule calc.

They said I needed all of those courses too. It will be a busy summer.

So, did anyone make it to the open house at UPenn today?

I'm be starting the PhD program this fall but wasn't able to make it up to Philly.

Any overall impressions or specific details?

Did they say anything about Detlef Mertins stepping down and Bill Braham taking over as director of the Architecture program?

Thanks.

They actually didn't mention that (architphil) and I have actually heard mixed things from current friends and students, but the fact is no matter who steps in, it will take time to change the schools' pedagogy, if that is the direction they choose.

As for the open house, I have a BDesign degree so it is only 2 years for me... It was kind of alarming to see the amount of students that currently attend, and are applying, that were not accepted to Columbia and/or Harvard. I was accepted to those as well so in terms of that, it seems hard to chosoe a school that might not be a "first choice" school for many.

At the same time, I know that labels and insignificant things like that really do not matter. To me it did not feel like a "second choice", or second rate school and my overall impression was favorable. There is diversity and options among studio programs and direction of faculty, seemed to be dedicated faculty, friendly and welcoming students (definitely not the same at Harvard and I have friends at columbia so it is different for me there), facilities are pretty much the same (none are great), philly is okay but definitely not NYC.

I guess the main thing for me right now is to decide which school will be the best balance between building upon the fundamental arch education I have already received while also being able to add something new and fresh to it. This is difficult because these schools are very involved/ consumed by the digital typology and in some cases disregard "fundamentals" in favor for seductive designs/ styles and renderings. My main problem with this is not necessarily the end result (there is nothing wrong with a sick looking renderings or design), but with the principal. Just because you are able to do something, does not mean you should do it. I want substance along with desirable appearance.

I don't know if this helps or if it is a rant but i think the honest truth is all schools are what you make of them (and I don't mean to sound like some dinky college counselor). There are options at most schools (some have more), but for me the main difference was the type of students at each school... Harvard is very diverse geographically, Penn is the most diverse in terms of undergrad backgrounds and columbia just seems to get the best pure architecture students (maybe lacks in some other facets). again this is just my opinion and my perception could be way off. but I think this gets to the core of each schools strengths and weaknesses and might be a good way to determine were one fits/ what type of methodology one wants...