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UNC-Charlotte, Pratt, or CCA-San Fran.

Hey guys,

I just got accepted to UNC-Charlotte, Pratt, and California College of the Arts.  I'm really excited about each school.  They all offer MArch degrees with ties to urban design, inspiring faculty, Great Cities [some better than others], diverse study abroad programs, strong connections to the local design industry, and all three programs are geared toward technology, sustainability, and stewardship.

I'm wondering, what are the general opinions of each school once it's on my resume?  Does  one make a difference over the other?

Is it worth it to possibly go 100k in debt at CCA or Pratt versus 60k at UNCC?

If anyone is attending these schools - how likely am I to get an assistantship?  

So far I've been offered 10k in scholarships at CCA.  Pratt and UNCC are taking their sweet time with awards.   How do I go about asking for more free money from schools? is it even an option?  How do I seek counter offers from schools?

and finally, where would you choose?

 
Mar 30, 13 2:39 pm
gg_r
Pratt!
Mar 30, 13 7:35 pm  · 
 · 
Tanuja

Pratt

Mar 30, 13 9:20 pm  · 
 · 
observant

Argh.  You present a tough series of very different schools here.

Option 1:  Pratt (for NYC), UNCC, CCA

Option 2: UNCC (for easier living), Pratt, CCA

Though the mother campus of UNC is one of the country's best schools, UNCC is sort of trying to find its way, in a growing second tier American metro.  I'm sure it's connected to the design community in Charlotte and the surrounding area.  Did you not try for other schools (NCSU, VT)?  As an aside, had the state's a-school been at UNC Chapel Hill, it probably would have been in a league with Virginia for prestige.

Mar 30, 13 11:31 pm  · 
 · 
nisha_1123

How is UNCC compared with NCSU?  Pls advise

Mar 31, 13 1:46 pm  · 
 · 
observant

NCSU is considered THE architecture school in NC, and I've worked with some good people from there.  It has been around for a long time.  However, with growing Charlotte, and NC in general, UNCC founded its own arch school.  It's not totally new, but it doesn't have the history that NCSU does.  UNCC is still tied to its local design community and that part of NC, as a minimum.  Again, if you do good work, it might be doable.  If you want the comfort of a ranking, then it would be NCSU.  Also, being in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, there is a critical mass of brains in the capital region, with UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and NCSU being there.  Charlotte won't be crawling with college students.  By the time I went to grad school, I didn't like college students (bah humbug) and, for me, I looked it as a job, so the less ruckus the better.  But that's the info. I can come up with.  Also, pull up their curricula and put them side by side to examine content.

Mar 31, 13 3:26 pm  · 
 · 

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