Haven't you seen Risky Business? The key is filling your house with hookers before your recruitment interview. And hey, if you don't get accepted, there's always the University of Illinois!

adderall. lots of adderall.

hookers and adderall....now I know what I've been missing this whole time :)

Have you tried asking them what you need to work on? Really, that would be the ideal thing to do. Just call up whomever signed your rejection letter, or the admissions person at the school and ask if you could be put in touch with someone on the admissions committee to discuss what you can improve on your application. If you keep the tone positive and like you want to work hard and improve, instead of whiny why-don't-you-like-me, I'd think you'd have a good chance of getting an informative response from them.

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to go to these schools so badly?

That is an interesting idea rationalist..although with so many applications, admissions committee members might be wary to start telling each individual applicant what they need to improve upon, but I am one is quite willing to go on a limb and give an idea like that a chance. I apologize though for I did not mean to sound whiny but intended to be a bit satirical; Ideally I was hoping to gain some more concrete data about admitted students and their level of skill and design focus. That is an interesting idea however, and one I might just put into motion...Thanks

go somewhere that wants you

no need to apologize. I didn't necessarily think that you sound whiny now, I just mentioned tone because I'm sure that when you're discussing with someone why they didn't accept you at their school it would be really easy to fall into a defensive, whiny sort of response to anything they say.

Admittedly cpnorris, I am probably a bit more complusive than is necessary, but that is in my nature. There are a host of reasons why I want to attend these institutions, first of all, and while this might be quite confrontational, is the fact of thier notoriety. Does that necessarily mean thier programs are better than non-Ivy league schools and the like? No, however, due to their notoriety and stature they attract the key figures in the profession and their name opens many doors. In actuality, it becomes more about connections with people and exposure to the leading figures or our profession both academically and professionally which is the key selling point in name recognition. On top of that argument, I have some more personal reasons for desiring to attend these schools. I have a great interest in theory and most of these programs have a heavy concentration on the theoritcal principles of architecture. Then there are the people whom I have already met that have graduated from these schools. Those individuals demonstrated to me a way of thinking and approaching design which thoroughly impressed me. Their attitude of critical analysis and complex reasoning became highly desireable to me. Granted that this could present an argument of the institution making the person or the type of student making the instituition, but as in most things it is probably a mixture of both. It has just always been my goal and more and more things continue to push me in that direction.

if you wanna go to a particular school and you weren't accepted, i would recommend moving to the city where the school is, establish residency, and take a class or two through their continuing ed department. for example, if you took an art class or two at your dream college, get good grades and then apply again.

I think rationalist has the right idea. As j2h points out, nobody on the admissions committee will likely remember your individual application. However, my suggestion would be to schedule a visit to the school maybe sometime in the middle of the fall semester (when things aren't so hectic -- not too close to the beginning or end of the semester, and not during spring when committee members are up to their eyeballs in applications) and meet with one or two people on the committee, show them your portfolio and explain your background, and ask them what they're looking for.

With any luck, they'll be pleased to see you're taking a genuine interest in their program, they'll hopefully give you some helpful advice, and when they come across your application in the spring, they just might even be able to associate with with a real person they've met instead of just a number.

When I applied to my grad program last year, I sent an email to an associate prof / admissions liaison. I can't even remember what I asked, but she offered to be a portfolio mentor. I was very surprised that somebody so busy would offer something like that.

In the end, I didn't take her up on the offer but I was accepted nonetheless. I'd be kicking myself right now if I hadn't gotten in!

So pick up the phone or send an email. Don't be a mooch, but you never know what may come of it.

Sounds like you want Ivy for all the elitist reasons everyone else wants to go. Here's my cynical response. Take no offence, by no means and I trying to influence your decision.

due to their notoriety and stature they attract the key figures in the profession and their name opens many doors = My skills own won't be able to open doors for me and I need help

"I have a great interest in theory and most of these programs have a heavy concentration on the theoritcal principles of architecture." = I'm not spending my own money on this.

"Then there are the people whom I have already met that have graduated from these schools. Those individuals demonstrated to me a way of thinking and approaching design which thoroughly impressed me. = I have already been brainwashed

...but "take no offense".

Ha ha....yeah, but no offense taken aquapura...besides I didn't know I was elitist, just elite :) j/k

But here is my counter-argument:

due to their notoriety and stature they attract the key figures in the profession and their name opens many doors = My skills own won't be able to open doors for me and I need help =>First of all, we can all improve upon our skills and that is what graduate school is for; besides most of the leading architects of today went to these top tier schools and they have some mad skills. I know the architect I want to be and if I happen to not get accepted to one of those schools, I will not let that fade my dreams of designing in the way I hope to design. I simply feel that attending one of those insitutions will lead me to become that designer.

"I have a great interest in theory and most of these programs have a heavy concentration on the theoritcal principles of architecture." = I'm not spending my own money on this. => Definitely not true...I am reminded by what a professor told me (and yes, he graduated from Harvard) "We will all go in debt to buy a house or a car, yet we are afraid to do that for our education?" Since graduate school can have a profound impact upon the person you develop into, it is a far more important investment than material things and is worth going into debt over.

"Then there are the people whom I have already met that have graduated from these schools. Those individuals demonstrated to me a way of thinking and approaching design which thoroughly impressed me. = I have already been brainwashed => Perhaps? If one is brainwashed, he or she would not know if he/she is brainwashed or not. It is a way of thinking and to someone else that may be termed brainwashed and to others dedication. Certainly there are limits and those ways of thought can be carried to the extreme, but as long as the kool-aid is not spiked, it doesn't hurt to take a drink :)

no offense j2h, but I would suggest that instead of asking these questions you spend your time working hard on your portfolio for reapplication. Most of the people i've met that were rejected simply did not have a good body work... although they said that had put all their effort into their portfolios... it was obvious that they were being dishonest with themselves.

set a much higher standard than your (perceived) current abilities, and meet it. you will be surprised how far you can go!

j2h -

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 becomming. 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.

one last thing - i'd be surprised if someone from the review committee would sit down to look at your portfolio. there are some 600+ applications for the various architecture degrees each year and there's just no way they would have enough time to do something like that. what would be better is to find a former professor or a current student (if someone else from your school is or recently attended) and ask to see their portfolio and to look at yours. it may not be exactly the feedback you're looking for, but if they're a good critic, they should be able to help some.

wow Laru...thank you for that. I wish I would have read it a year ago...

yeah that was nice, laru.

the ivy-bashing is, btw a big heap of rubbish. great profs is impt, and they are maybe at any school if lucky, but great students are also impt, and they tend to be more common at the ivies. The reason the fatcats go to fatcat school is to be with other fatcats who will challenge them. anyone who doesn't like that approach is welcome to poke fun at it, but i think that is a position taken from luxury, jealousy, or miyopia.

Just ruminating a bit here but am guessing the queasy worrying "why architecture suck so much" people are not as common in the ivies (maybe wrong of course). not cuz they is elite or brainwashed or evil or whatever...just because they got their shit together (or they have figured out where to go from here when they really decide it does suck and don't want no more of it).

which is what laru is saying in the end. if you got your shit together and know how to show it in right light you have half the problems solved. the rest is just life.