Hi,

are you happy there? Are the lectures/professors helpful?  I am trying to make a decision between UVA, Washington St Louis, SciArc, UPEnn. At the moment leaning torwards SciArc and Upenn.

Thanks

i would have picked UCLA over UPENN.

UPENN reputation/ranking is not good enough to swing my vote over UCLA.

Thank you for sharing your insight sode786! If there is ANYTHING else about Penn you can share with us, PLEASE do. I second Tauros' question, "are you happy there?" and "are the lectures/professors helpful?" I'm deciding between PennDesign and RISD at the moment.

Great lectures at PennDesign. Most beautiful campus there is. 

Here's a response I gave to someone. 

Dear sode786,

Thanks so much for your post. 
I was wondering if you could elaborate on your experience at Penn so far. I just returned from visiting RISD and Penn, and have about ten days left to make a decision, it is proving a lot harder for me to decide than I thought. Both programs are so different, yet so similar. I know that Penn is much more digitally oriented and has a really god interdisciplinary opportunity. Whereas RISD is known for their ability to develop your creative identity. 
 

So after a few years without a chair​, Penn​ now has one : Winka Dubbledam. She is able to give Penn a vision now. 

​​

To me her vision is to be digitally experimental. The projects exhibited at the open house were from the studios that followed this approach

 ​. ​M

any of the designs exhibited are nothing like what we see

 ​in the real world​

 today. However, it's worth noting that if you don't want to go through studios like this, Penn does offer more traditional studios. I am in my

 ​ ​

2nd year of the 3 year MArch 1 program and of the 6 studio choices this semester, 3 were digitally experimental while the 3 others were more practical. 

​You are right. It's great to be in a school where you have the option of taking Landscape Architecture studios, historic preservation classes, etc. In the 3rd year, you are also not restricted to just architecture studios. You can take Landscape Architecture studios if you like.

I'll give you a run down through what the studios in each year is like. In the first year, you don't select your studio professors. Winka has revised the curriculum for the first year making it better. Courses such as Visual Studies, which are to help us develop our digital skills for rendering, 3D modelling, etc, have been revised making them more useful and relevant. The studio for the second semester is usually on a large site. This year its redesigning a campus for Penn. This involves a thorough mapping of the site and all the factors which affect it. I think Winka's changes to the first year have been good. I think studios in my first year sucked because the project briefs weren't very exciting. But after seeing some of the new 1st year work,  I have been impressed with Winka's changes. Their projects are more exciting and you can see they've been given the chance to really develop their 3D modelling skills. Maya has also just now been introduced into some of the first year studios.

​In the second and third year you can select your studio professors by ballot. The final 3 semesters have work done in groups. Usually 2 per group.

Penn is a program in transition so right now, they are going through a period of hiring new professors and trying new things. Sometimes they get it right, other times they dont. So there's always the risk that sometimes they hire good professors and other times they dont.  Nate Hume, the owner of SuckerPunch now teaches here and he's a really good professor. It sucks if you end up with a new professor who's lack of experience shows in his style of teaching.That's what happened to me and most students in my studio didn't like the work we produced.

Outside of studio, the elective choices are usually good. I like theory courses, and I've been very pleased with my theory classes.​

I know deciding on program is of utmost importance, but I also care about the city and environment I live in in order to thrive and I am very drawn to Penn's active city, vibrant with so much life. I feel Providence is a very quiet city and my environment affects my inspiration quite a bit, which I know is not a factor for many, but something I am considering as an aspect. I really would like to know more about Penn if you can dish it out. I know a couple of others commented asking if you are happy with your decision there. 

​Philly is a cool city. Good food. When i do get the chance I go to concerts and generally try to have a social life. I do find opporunities to sneak out to NY and thats always fun. 

Penn would be a large financial burden for me to take on, while RISD has offered me a very generous scholarship that makes money not much of an issue. In that respect, i know many people advise to go where they offer you money. But if Penn is worth the risk, I'm willing to consider. Are you happy with your decision? If you have any regrets, what are they? I would love your brutal honesty about the program. I want to know what I'd be getting myself into. 

​I chose to come to Penn over UCLA. I have no scholarship here and I kind of regret not going to UCLA. I feel like I'm paying Ivy-League fees but not getting Ivy-league education. 

This is mostly because it's still in transition. I a couple of years, once Penn is able to find and keep studio professors and once Winka is able to establish Penn's identity, I think this will be a good architecture school.​

 ​

​ ​

We just had our careers fair, and there were not many notable firms here. I also don't know of many alumni who move on to the "best" architecture firms. So I'm doubtful as to how much employers rank a degree from Penn. After my first year, most of my colleagues couldn't find summer jobs. And right now, many in the 2nd year and final year feel "desperate" to find a job. So I don't think there's the general feeling amongst us that our degree has that much "swag". 

I was also admitted to University of Texas in Austin and U Mich. I am pretty much deciding between Penn and RISD because I love its accessibility to New York, Boston, and D.C. However, I do worry I'm turning something else down that is incredible at UTsoA and U Mich. Any details you are willing to go into about Penn would be very much appreciated.

​I don't know too much about other programs, but a friend of mine who chose Penn over RISD said he got advised by students at RISD that he should go to Penn instead. Not sure why though. So maybe find out more about RISD from someone in there?

I hope this is helpful, feel free to get back in touch if you have any more questions. ​

again -

go to ucla. 

trust me.

upenn is not an ivy league that i would choose over ucla. if it was princeton, columbia, harvard, fine. but upenn's level of output is not even close to UCLA. UCLA has many notable professors, Thom mayne, DANA CUFF, neil denari, Greg LYNN, MOTHA EFFING SYVLIA LAVIN?!!?

if you dont know who these are, then look them up. especially Syliva lavin.

This thread is from Last year boss , and Ucla is over rated, never ranked, run down facilities, especially their makeshift computer lab, and the UC system has no money.   The only architecture professors there worth a mention are Gregg, Neil, Thom.

rank doesnt mean Sh*t.

yale is ranked but it doesnt make better architecture students than UCLA.

Ranking doesn't mean much, true. Consider the fact that UPenn fell in rankings in the last few years because it literally had no architecture chair until Winka got appointed last year. Now, the program is fresh and restructured, and there is a strong growth vibe in the school. If rankings matter to you, Penn will jump into the top 5 in a handful of years, hands down. Winka brought in (and is still recruiting) a lot of new blood and famous faces. Just like UCLA is praised for having strong guest faculty that is shared throughout California, UPenn constantly has guest lecturers/speakers/adjunct professors that are shared throughout the East Coast.

UCLA is a strong school and is established. It wouldn't be my first choice in California though, let alone between Penn. Looking at both student works, I think UPenn's output is higher and getting better every year.

Just my 2 cents. I'll be in Penn next fall.

I'm wondering if anyone can shed perspective on UC Berkeley vs UPenn - similar discussion to UCLA vs UPenn maybe? If it helps, I'm looking at dual degrees in Landscape Architecture and Architecture at both schools.

I did the  summer program at ucla and I agree that after seeing Ucla student work last year they have quality work , their own kind of style .  However , i was also able to check out Sci-arcs work and was more impressed with their work, and presentations. I am not biased towards either school but prior to coming I assumed Ucla was the stronger school, not the case anymore 

Going to Penn in the fall as well. I was really impressed by their Open House, the breadth of their offerings and faculty. I will not be surprised if Upenn ranks in the top 10 again in a few years. 

really tho, the conversation comes down to  which school fits you the best and what your goal is in architecture.

I would just drop the whole ranking conversation. 

and i wont comment on sci-arc vs. ucla. they're both good schools and both excel at what they do differently. 

if youre into parametrics/grasshopper/wavy-funky-curvy zaha hadid stuff, sci-arc is the better choice. you have 

and about UC Berk vs Upenn? theyre completely different schools. if i remember last time i visisted UPenn, a lot of people, like the majority of people, were doing parametric stuff.

and plus, where you do you want to work and live after? California or East Coast? 

I really wish this whole 'where do you want to work and live after' comment was questioned more. Is the world really that limited?

I completely understand that if you attend school on the west coast, that you will have more immediate connections on the west coast. But from what I have experienced and heard from professors and employers on both coasts, it's not the like division between the east and west coast markets is like the DMZ is to North and South Koreas. 'Cross-pollination' happens. East coast offices want to break up the GSD club of incoming hires so they sometimes hire a west coast student or two. West coast firms are peppered with UVA, GSD, RISD, etc. grads. It's not easy per se to jump coast to coast, but it happens. I think perhaps there is more merit in choosing a school based on its pedagogy rather than which coast it lies on.