If your portfolio is great, then your GPA will hardly matter. I am willing to bet that you can get into Ivies with that.

My GPA is 3.01 and I've got into UIC, Syracuse, USC and IIT. Your top ten schools are no harder to get into than those, so I believe you'll be allright. Of course your portfolio must be strong enough, let alone other things like letters, statement and awards/work experience. My application experience this year tells that a strong enough portfolio could get you in, but other factors, especially the GPA, could affect your scholarship chance and your advanced standing advantage.

I cannot offer you too much help, but as a SCAD graduate, I can comment on your chances of getting into that program.

SCAD's acceptance rate for undergraduate is fairly high.  Graduate school is harder to get into whether you're a current student or not.  A strong portfolio will definitely help.  I expect you will have to retake certain classes.  A few of my colleagues were grad students and had three or four years worth of classes to take, depending on how closely related their prior degrees were.  Also, SCAD was picky about GPA at admission and graduation, but that might be different now and they may let you in for a probationary period if you're on the fence.  If you pursue SCAD, make sure you ask about graduate fellowships, when I was there they were not well advertised.

Also, it's so interesting that you're at Olivet.  If I may ask, are you familiar with the camp ground in Adrian?

Can Most birds fly grasshopper?

You will get into all of them with the POSSIBLE exception of 3, and maybe 2.  However, if art and design professors think you have a strong portfolio and you've managed to snag some experience working for an architect, it raises your chances even more.  As for the GPA, some schools require a baseline of 3.0 for grad work, which can be waived with a "special procedure."  Call them and, WITHOUT being specific about your application, ask how they generally handle less than a 3.0.  Somewhere in your application, if there is an "other info" field, you might explain the impressive uptick in your GPA and that you realistically expect to graduate with over a 3.0.  As for recommending a school, that's a real mixed bag of a list you've got there. 

I greatly appreciate the information that each of you have passed along to me. In terms of work experience, I've been working for a masonry company in Champaign, Illinois for the past summer as well as the up and coming summer. I'm starting an internship with an architect in the Kankakee, IL area toward the end of summer and I've been told that it can be turned into a full time position following the completion of my required hours for credit, after talking with the architect, I will probably be working with him until I go off to grad school. 

I go to Olivet Nazarene in Bourbonnais, IL, not Olivet, Mich. I believe the park you're referring to is in Michigan.

@ amjohnson, i was thinking Olivet Nazarene in  IL. i use to live in tinley park and almost went to olivet in tinley.

why don't you choose urbana and keep your current job? kankakee is not to far from urbana, by the way i didn't know southern offered an accredit degree in architecture? the only schools i was aware of in illinois are, urbana, IIT, circle, Depaul, & Olivet

imho, a grad degree is over rated. Experience and license is more important, having a grad degree is more of a prestigious thing than anything. i also think in illinois if you have a grad degree you need less idp hours to get license? but there are states like ND that allow you to take the exam before you are done with idp

the schools that are accredited by the NAAB within the state of Illinois are:

Illinois Institute of Technology, Judson University, The Art Institute of Chicago, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, University of Illinois @ Chicago, and the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign

You've got an internship in Kankakee IL?  Just go to UIUC and call it a day.  On your original list, it's probably the best school. Employers in Chicago and in the cluster of states around IL really respect the school.  Their grads seem to do well in securing employment.

@amjohnson

wow! things have really changed since i left there 10years ago! never heard of Judson, i didn't know art institute offered a degree; i was accepted to circle but a 2year waiting list! i was accepted to IIT but $12k a semester for tuition alone!!

@observant

travel from circle to kankakee? thats a long drive; with no traffic probably 2.5 hours if not more; with traffic and Chicago construction your looking at probably 3.5 hours one way

^

I told him UI-Urbana Champaign, not UI-Chicago.  I believe he mentioned he is currently working in Urbana.  I have no idea as to the commuting distance between Urbana and Kankakee, and whether it is feasible during school.  Maybe summers ...