Looking at schools in terms of "brand names" strikes me as rather odd. For one, I'm not sure I would call Berkeley a "brand name," though it is however a very good school. Perhaps you would call Harvard or Yale a brand name, but I'm not sure what the point of calling them that would be. I think it's been echoed here countless times, you choose the school for what it can offer you and what you want to get out of your education. If all you are looking for from a graduate program is a "brand name" degree, I would rethink why you are going back to grad school.

I think you are getting "name brands" confused with other professions and educations.  It is certainly true that the "name brand" makes a massive difference when you are talking about law, medicine or business.  Really, the differences of pay are quite significant, which easily justifies the tuition differences.

However, you are talking about architecture.  That is not the same thing.  Not at all.  The "name brand" will not get you more pay and the doors it opens is quite questionable.

So, if you are going to Harvard for law, business or medicine then by all means, find a way to pay for it.  For architecture, it is just absurd (unless you have the money to pay for it easily).

Do you have any idea where you want to practice after school?  I think the idea that a school's name can open doors is definitely iffy like others have expressed, but some names do travel further, or have significant local recognition.  And I believe alums hire alums because they believe they have something of a known quantity.  I think a local school for your intended place of practice may get you just as far or further than an out of town "brand name."  There are more local alumni and firms have established long relationships with the schools.  Now, of course, if you don't plan on staying in the states or don't know, maybe its a safer bet to go with a larger school.

hmm... I'd say if you think "brand name schools" might be worth it for you, then brand name schools are not worth it for you.

Make sense?

significant number of the people i meet in architectural academia with key positions in this country are graduates of harvard gsd and there is a lot of camaraderie between them. it will get you a teaching career.

At $50,000 a year to attend school, you might be better off looking at any number of universities as many of the private universities don't differentiate between local, out-of-state or international students.

Berkeley's website says cost of attendance is $49,000 a year. Harvard, UPenn, Yale and Princeton are all around that price range but do give financial aid to international students. At Harvard, about 60% of students receive financial aid. If I remember correctly, the average financial aid package was about $30,000 to $35,000.

That means, with some luck and demonstrated need, going to Harvard will only cost you about $24,000 to $29,000 (using Harvard's full figure of $59,000 cost-of-attendance which includes everything). That' will save you over a $100,000 for a 4-year degree.

Yale and Princeton are supposedly even more generous. And you won't get that kind of help at Berkeley.

Alumni networks in any profession open doors for you, and people that don't know anything about anything will always recognize a name that they're familiar with over something they aren't.

There has been a trend in the US however over the last 11 years to not hire Ivy League graduates because they demand too much money out of the gates.  

I don't know if that trend would apply in Architecture but I imagine it would since you have to essentially extern after graduation before you get licensure.

My advice, and the way I approached the process of applying for school, was to find people who are doing the stuff you want to do, and apply to the schools where they teach.  If you are a good student, you should be able to find a job.  

Most international students come to the US with $$$, and can front the bill before coming here. They typically don't carry loans and those who do, have a much shorter time span to pay for it than US students.

Most larger US schools are pretty good about financial aid, as J. James said, they typically run around $25k-40k  in "aid" - not to be mistaken for scholarship. Typically, more than half of this will be loans.

Getting set back 200k for an architecture degree from any school, especially in this market, doesn't sound like a wise move.

Thank you for all the tips and advices everyone. 

So to sum this up, we can safely say .. regardless of what school you graduate from as long as you have a strong portfolio the employer would not care if you are from brand name school?

And with this all being said, do you think it is worthwhile to enrol in the [in]arch summer institute offered at Berkeley? and regardless if I am going to Berkeley or not, would this program be beneficial for applying to M.Arch I to any school?

Thank you in advance to all your help.

Actually, the Ivies give out true "aid" in the form of scholarships and grants for individuals whose family's gross income is less than $150,000 especially with Harvard's new financial aid system. You can read more about it here. Parents generally are required to pay 10% of their gross income-- between $6,000 to $18,000.

That's where the loans come in. Harvard isn't particularly alone with the numerous changes to their financial aid program and most of the Ivies have either had similar programs or are adopting this new philosophy.

i have same observation as orhan about teaching, but in japan.  there are a lot of people teaching in all the schools who are from u of tokyo (same as me).  for teaching it makes a difference.  for practice it makes a difference too in terms of name recognition.  might help you get a job even, and this and that and the other thing as well.  or it might not.

the only for certain is that it won't hurt your career.

your pocket book, maybe.

Need-Blind initiative. Look into it. Anyone with parents with combined income of less than 65k can expect a full ride or full tuition from these schools. This program would be the benefit of Ivies where it does apply also to international students.However, most other universities don't give it to internationals. Other universities that are not on this list will give you grants also ( although not in full) if your family's income is low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission

My gut is to always go to a good school that minimizes your debt.

If you don't have the money to pay for a "brand name" international school I would recommend coming and studying in Canada instead. The average architecture school in Canada is much superior to the average American school and the fees are much cheaper. Look into McGill, UManitoba, UWaterloo or Carleton.

Wait, wait, wait. So someone whose parents' COMBINED INCOME is over 150k won't get decent aid from ivies? That is so unfair - does it take into account any other factors?

Because damnit, its not as if they can assume parents will automatically pay for their kids' graduate school. Is the situation different if the applicant is independent, living out of state, filing their own taxes... etc.

@jk3hl

From my understanding, it's because of this growing "gap" in the upper-middle class where they might not have the resources of their more wealthier peers but are far too "wealthy" to really qualify for any assistance of any kind other than merit-based scholarships. It takes some factors into consideration, I believe— undue hardship, families with multiple children enrolled in college at the same time and other circumstances.

One issue with people from wealthier backgrounds is that they are often considered as dependents until the government cuts them off at 25. Even if you are financially independent, FASFA or the IRS may consider you as a dependent. Harvard will still hold you to your parents income for a few years after the age of 25. Their expected contribution drops every year until your are 29 or 30.

This system is actually more fair and flexible to people of all income brackets compared to most state schools. Most upper-middle class students, at least at my university, got rejected from on-campus jobs because they only hired work-study students.

I've grown familiar with the subject because there's no way in hell I could afford to go to a state school for a master's. The Ivies, surprisingly, are in reach. Like the wikipedia article pointed out above, need-blind institutions make no differentiation between students who are "independent, living out of state or filing their own taxes."

Reeg,

What country are you from?

I was just wondering because I know a few international students who came here to get their US degrees and headed back to their respective countries only to make the same $$$ as their colleagues back home. However, there were others who stayed and worked in the US for a few years and went back home to command about 2x more than their colleagues. There were also students who stayed here through the recession only to give up looking for work and head back home totally empty handed.

At this moment, a US architecture degree for internationals may not have the same allure that it did a few years ago.

You'd be surprised at the number of full ride fellowships Berkeley gives out for its MArch program -- I know at least 3 internationals who've benefited from it in the past few years. They hand it out based on candidate profile and the strength of your portfolio, as far as I know. And doing the summer program certainly helps the for your application to any school; Berkeley is definitely in the top 15 MArch programs just based on teaching quality.

The bigger 'brand names' like Harvard and Columbia don't give that much financial assistance at all to internationals -- something like 10k yearly at the most, as of last year... and I think you have to demonstrate dire financial need. Just out of personal experience, Yale and Penn made me need-blind offers of about 10k+, and I could probably have swung the figure higher if I'd asked. Doesn't really make a dent in the overall amount you pay though. Smaller schools like Princeton and MIT generally cover 75% of your fees with stipend, and are pretty open to you asking for more if you need it. Cornell too, I think.

'Brand name' is still pretty important in Asia if you intend to practice there... although it may have lost some of its luster with more Ivy graduates heading there to practice. I got my first job back home in Asia with kinda absurd ease, just based on my resume and portfolio. The name basically gets you a foot in the door for the interviews; everything else depends on what you do with it. It's much less precious in the States, because it's an underemployed industry and getting visa sponsorship would be a freakin' miracle right now, whether you're from the GSD or not.

I think it might be more important to weigh these up after you apply to a range of schools and get application offers with aid packages. If you're trying to figure out which schools to apply to based solely off the prestige factor, I'm gonna say that paying full price for any of these programs isn't going to be worth it.