did any of you guys applying for school take a look at these charts?
i would be interested if any response from those who are about to enroll school to become an architect.

Wow, Orhan, not only are those charts good for learning about the education process and their schools...but they are a lesson in "diagramming"...great site.

10,

You description about your first attempt to organize your portfolio is interesting. Just made me realize how controlling I can be. I'm gonna try it and see what comes of it. It's such an organic way of creating structure. Did you find out something new about you in the process?

I'm sending you a link of my portfolio that I created for this year's admissions process. Since I've decided to apply next year, I'll have much more work to include and I'm sure it'll look very different. Basically it's organized metaphorically by my values that are at the core of every decision I make in life. In my case, my work thus far has been in the fine arts. You'll also see that they are also structured by medium (gesture drawings to more polished, paintings, sculptures, and installation work). Anyway, it would help if people can let me know what works or not. If I need to just start over, so be it. I have a year. So please, 10 or anyone and everyone, hack away!!!!

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=28328e97b22d9883d2db6fb9a8902bda

Very much appreciated to everyone taking the time to do this!

Anyone else think of SNL's "The lovers" skit when reading 10's "organization technique"

Rachel Dratch: One day we returned to the cripsona, our bodies browned by the sun, and the locals had killed and roasted a goat and...

Will Ferrell: We filled our bellies with goatmeat.

Rachel Dratch: Our hands greasy...

Will Ferrell: Once again, our bodies sluggish with goat meat.

Will Ferrell: That evening Virginia and i made love so powerful, me thinks I heard the god Zeus chuckling from on high...

Christopher Walken: And I was there too. Thats right, we did a three way.

rofl... O_o <smirk>

I take it that cwh1 is not really into performance art.

-1480/5.5 GRE
-Attended Cornell University, BS in Biology/Behavior/Society
-Have worked for two architectural firms
-Recommendations from sculptor/teacher, architect/boss, professor/department chair
-Attended Career Discovery
-Stressing over portfolio, as I am not a graphic designer or former art student
-Applying to UT Austin, UIC, UPenn, GSAPP, GSD, YSOA? (as total long shots) + two more realistic choices

Question: When applying to the more competitive programs, is it advisable to use an online portfolio printing service such as lulu or blurb? Will these school care if my portfolio is not some form of pop-up origami?

musiknouveau27

I looked at your portfolio and was generally impressed. I thought your themes were appropriate and your work seemed quite meaningful.

The few pieces of advice I have,

The title pages for each theme seemed a little too important, I'm not sure about the black background or the text, you should think about the general lay out of your text and how it relates to the compositions in your pieces. Also the photography of some of your drawings could be tweaked a little in photoshop. Don't be afraid to use the computer to "enhance" your work a little more...

I will think of more things to say tomorrow.

Has anyone invested in the "America's best arch & design schools 2008"?
Any surprises in there?

biblioteca,

Thank you so much for your advice. I'll have to give some more thought about the chapters and how to label them. I do agree that the black background and text has no relation designwise to the content. This part has been most frustrating. I felt like I was slapping a few images on page and just arranging the text haphazardly without considering how to effectively use the text and it's placement to really make the images and content shine.

I'll see about my photoshopping powers... :S


Really appreciate your critique.

Hi everybods- I am new to this community and wanted to join in all of the fun. After going through this application process for four months alone (and blindly, it often feels), I am so HAPPY to find people who I can relate to and vise versa. I'm kind of a later comer, but I promise I'll try to finishing reading the extensive thread very soon...(I've made it halfway so far...)

I have a quasi-non-architecture backgroud (Urban Design and Arch. Studies - liberal arts degree) and will be applying for M.Arch I this winter. MAN, it is a full time job!

My stats and hopeful schools:
GPA 3.78 (graduated in 04)
GRE 770v/700m/5.5a
Berkeley
Columbia
Cornell
GSD
MIT
RISD
Sci-Arc
U of Minn
UPenn
Yale

Right now I'm just focusing on creating content for the portfolio. Since I have an Urban Design background (history/theory - no studio work) I've decided to keep it focused on showing my ideas on good/bad public spaces in the area I currently live in. Anyway, at first I was going to just put in a hodge podge of work including things I did in art classes during school - individually good, but all unrelated. But someone told me that the portfolio needed a concept to tie it all together. How important do you guys think is a concrete, underlying theme for the porfolio?

Also, I have worked for 2.5 years at an architecture firm abroad but have no professional work to include in the portfolio. This is because w/o any formal design training, I wasn't involved with designing anything per se...more drafting, coordination, design review type of work. Does anyone think that schools will be wary of this slight gap in my application?

Hm, I wanted to keep this post short but I see I just couldn't help myself.

Anyway, thanks for your collective wisdom everyone!

So, I've been looking for schools other than Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, etc. to apply to (for the Masters of Architecture). Particularly, schools that I might have a better chance of getting into than the ones from the upper echelon.

I've been looking at the Catholic University of America in DC but I can't find enough information on it. If there's somebody that knows more please help me out.

I rather go to schools on the West or East coast, so if anyone can think of any other decent schools please speak up.

Thanks.

I should have added that I want to apply to 10 schools. I actually applied last year to 5 schools and I got on a wait list but in the end was never accepted. So this year I'm applying to twice as many.

I'm applying to:

University of Washington
Berkeley
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Cornell
University of Virginia
University of British Columbia
University of Maryland

and then one more but I don't know which one.

Again, I'm looking for a decent school. Nothing that's super hard to get into since I have a good amount of those on my list already.

What would you guys choose for the 10th school?

di-c, welcome onboard! I had it just the same way. Felt I was the only one going through this process. Was soo happy when I found this forum.

We have many of the same schools on our list. Have you visited U of Minn. and Cornell? Any thoughts about them?


Cheers

Here's a GRE question - I took it in late 04, and did pretty well. There shouldn't be much need to take it again, I assume? I figured it would be easy to forward my scores along, but someone I was talking to earlier said that some schools may want a fresh score.

manamana, you should be fine, I think the GRE scores can be five years old. If you're going to worry about though it you might want to send your schools an e-mail, at least for peace-of-mind.

Oh, and while I'm at it why don't I introduce myself (I followed last year's application thread and been lurkin' here for a while... thank god for this site or I'd be totally lost with apps)

I graduated last December with a four year ENVD degree
GPA 3.85 (last two years 4.0)
GRE ~1200 combined, don't know writing score yet

I'm interested in design/build programs, sustainability/social/cultural/urbanism issues, and program-intensive, responsive design (FOA, koolhaas, etc)

I'm applying to:
U Wash
Berkeley
UT Austin
MIT
GSD
Yale

I've been trying to narrow it down more (I can't believe some of you are applying to 10 schools! I'd go crazy) but I really like each school on my list and can't bring myself to scratch any of them off.

I'm currently working on the portfolio, re-working some old projects... kinda going crazy...

what is the community's perspective on the MArch progam at Texas A&M in College Station?

does anyone know if people are more likely to get accepted having a background in architecture and having worked for some top architects, or do they have accept half architects half diverse graduates...

I don't understand why people have these lists of schools that are 10 deep.

Do some research, talk to people, and narrow down the list. You can't possibly fit in with all those schools, especially when you have schools that are completely different form eachother on your lists.

Heck, if anything else, do it to save the app and portfolio costs.

I agree, I had a hard time finding compatibility with 4 schools last year, one being a wild card fall back. It takes some time to research schools and faculty, its not all about the school name.

jhooper - It sounds like you're talking about me. Well, I have talked to people and have done countless hours of research. I am interested in all sorts of aspects and that is why I have applied to such a variety of schools.

Another reason for applying to so many is because I don't want to repeat what happened last year where I was put on waitlists and then never accepted. I don't want to have to apply a third time. The more darts I throw the better chance I have to hitting the bullseye. You know what I mean? And plus I don't care how many apps I have to do and their costs, as long as I get in to one of these is all that I am interested in.

After that I can live my dream.

Is anyone who is applying for GSD not done calculus and physics at university level, I did a b.Sc Arch so far, so I have structures and environmental science which is quite like maths and physics but not exactly alike.....

That said in high school in ireland, our exams would cover more that the sats and some of college level courses, I recived A's on both maths and physics on those exams, not sure how I would mention that on a standard form.

any advice...

Jimmy - I hope I didn't come off as being condecending. I didn't mean it specifically to you, just a general comment having watched the 2008 thread.

I'm actually in a simmilar boat. I applied to only top name schools last year, knowing full well I had a good job to fall back on in the very likely event that i didn't get accepted (which is what happened). I'm taking another crack at it this year with much improved materials. Yale is my top school and I think i've got a pretty good shot at it, but i'm having a hard time finding backup schools that I'm interested in. Pratt is probably on the list, but I'm not sure what else yet, we'll see.

Please get off your high horses about finding your perfect fit based on countless hours of informed deliberation. You may want to inform Koolhaas about the 'complete differences' that you are coming across:

"All schools are surprisingly similar, and every one is more or less as good as any other. The more schools I see, the more cynical, or perhaps more reassured, I become of this."

Rem has spoken.

i'm applying to MArch programs this year and am in the process of compiling work for my portfolio and just wanted some opinions on what i should include.

i have an industrial design undergrad degree from which i graduated in 2001, but have little to no work from that program. i have some terrible hand renderings from a couple of projects, but i lost a lot of my work because i waited to long to pick up my project boards and the school threw them out. i do however have 6 projects from 2 years i recently attended an undergrad architecture program until a professor told me i should have gone to grad school. there is a story behind that, but i'm not going to go into it.

i don't want to pad my portfolio out with bullshit, so i'm thinking maybe 5 of the projects with some process work and a couple of other projects, one a renovation i worked on and a furniture piece i designed.

i just feel like i'm in a weird spot as i'll be applying to the non-architecture background programs and so many portfolio's i see have paintings, photo's, drawings etc.

Max...
I am in a very similar situation. I also have a BA in Industrial Design, from 2001.
I was speaking to one of the partners at my firm (who is a critic at the GSD on and off) and he said it is best for people in our situation to include more non-architecture work than anything else. The most important thing to show is that you have potential and can solve problems.
Do you have any projects from ID at all?

2 full projects and some bits and pieces. i'm really hesitant to put them in. work from back then really makes me cringe, due mainly to being young and not that into the course. the arch projects i have are good and two of my recommendations are from architecture professors. i just feel weird about having that design background and not really showing it.

UC Berkeley is accepting pdf portfolios this year, which is nice. Anyone applying there should check it out there are some requirements.

On a different note, i was laid off friday so I have more time to work on grad school applications!

Has anyone put together the resume part of their application yet?

I have been working for a few years and am applying to M Arch II programs.

How is a resume for grad school different from one you would use to apply for a job?

For example, on my job resume I list computer programs that I am familiar with...would grad schools not be interested in that? Would they want less detail on what I have worked on at each specific job and more detail on specific awards and scholarships from school?

Did anybody attend any of the open houses this year? If so, would anyone care to share their feelings regarding each school?

I went to Penn, Princeton, and Yale.

Upenn was a little disorganized, which ultimately reflects more on the department than on the administration as far as I'm concerned. The food was okay, but they gave out those little bottles of poland springs water. For a school that seems to be tooting the green horn as much as any other, I found this wasteful and contradictory. Also there were not that many faculty in attendance. They were throwing around a lot of words like "generative" and etc., evidenced in their highly world of warcraft/ sci-fi aesthetic. Most interesting was their dual degree programs in real estate, urban planning, and landscape. Over all the students seemed unenthused as far as intelligent conversation was concerned, but I would not write off the whole program.

Princeton was about as close to perfect as you would expect. Implicit conversation with students and faculty at lunch to start the day. The food was better than at Upenn. Then a round-table with an impressive swath of faculty, Sarah Whiting, Beatriz Colomina, Stan Allen, Paul Lewis, the guy with the beard, the old guy, that other woman, all were there. The focus of the discussion, apart from insisting that Princeton is awesome and that we should all want to go there, was that Princeton is an "ideas" based program, that anonymity is impossible, and that you are special. There was a silly argument about the / between art and architecture, something that I found a little regressive, but what can I say. The studios are great, the ivy was off the hook.

Yale was nice. The renovation of Rudolph hall meant that your open house was held in a castle suitable for a Bond villain, complete with orange carpeting, modernist furniture, and endless ramps, staircases. The program was jam-packed with interesting sounding events. There were guest lecturers, crits, seminars in theory, and etc. I found it hard to not feel like I was wasting my time at every moment. This school seemed to have the least focused ideology of any others I visited, except for maybe Harvard. It seems as though they have enough money, and a big enough program, to provide a lot of different options each semester, allowing you to chart your own way through school. Highlights included design build 2nd semester, Polar orange dry in cans, conversations with Dean Stern, and watching Eisenmann telling his students how to do a better job copying him.

Thanks 10, much appreciated!

Disappointing to hear about Penn though.

@aa11 - I suggest not putting computer programs on your resume for school apps

@10 - thanks for the wrap-up, but I think its a bit petty to bring up something like Penn using water bottles. Doesn't seem like a big consideration compared to the +$100,000 the students pay for their education. Its like complaining about the color of the inside of your glove compartment on a new car. About yale, can you explain more why you felt hard not to feel like you were wasting your time at every moment?

my 2 cents,

As a current M.Archer and graduating in '09 I think that it would be best to apply to 4-6 schools at the max. Portfolio is THE most important thing, then statement, activities (like AIAS), recommendations, then somewhere down the line gpa and gre...

In terms of portfolio, 20-25 pages, basic spiral bound and that is it. any mixed media is acceptable. getting an m.arch is dominated by studio (my studio is worth 9 credit hours) so the best thing to show is intent. Along with studio you will also do a lot of reading and writing.

Theory and history are important because they expect you to have a certain knowledge of architecture behind the design. it is not uncommon to have 3-4 twenty page papers due in addition to a studio project.

So my suggestion is to contact the office and visit on a regular day. It will be an honest representation of what the school is like.

Also, talk to those that actually go to that particular school. Do not go off just the website or brochure or even the open house.And unless a person is in the program or graduated from it, it is just an assumption.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect formula to get in. You can have a really high gpa and gre and an okay portfolio and get denied. You could have barely passed calculus and have a great portfolio and get accepted. If you apply to law or business school then those with the highest scores will get in.

Architecture school is not like that. The variable is ultimately the portfolio. Not all schools are the same.Some are more focused on history and theory, while others are geared towards technology and science. My grad and undergrad schools are like night and day.

gyrlusocute005,

thank you for the helpful commentary.

brer,

as far as water bottles are concerned, it provides you with an incisive look into the functioning ideology of an administration and department. There is a big difference between saying you care about the environment and actually acting on those beliefs on a day to day basis. An open house is a clear reflection of the administration and department, if there seem to be contradictions in this reflection, then it is a fair assumption that subject and object are one.

and in regards to feeling as though I was wasting a lot of time at Yale, I want you to consider going to a buffet when you are incredibly hungry. Even if you enjoy macaroni and cheese, you might feel as though you are wasting time when you could be trying the clams, pizza, crab legs, ice cream, or sushi. I meant it as a positive description of an open house that was jam-packed with succulent treats for the young architect's mind.

Okay, I misunderstood. I read it as though you were saying it was so bad you were wasting your time. Not as there was so much interesting stuff going on at the same time you were missing out on a lot and 'wasting time'. Gotcha.

@a11 and brer, i would put what software you are familar with or used, it doesn't have to be in big bold letters, but i would defintely mention it...

maybe you should not mention the software in your resume but make it obvious in your portfolio by including CAD drawings, rhino scripted blobby rendered things, or well formatted Excel spreadsheets.

i'm taking my GRE tomorrow morning and feel thoroughly unprepared. oh well.

I do not see any reason that an architecture school would care what computer programs a student has past experience with. Your portfolio indirectly shows what you know, who cares if its Rhino or Blender?

Hello, first time poster long time lurker here. Read over the other 2008/2007 threads (well most of, they are pretty long!) and thought I'd join in on the commiserating for 2009 since I'll be heading the way of Grad school in Fall.

I'm an MArch II candidate, and graduated from UW-Milwaukee in 2006. Been working pretty much since at a medium sized architecture firm, but just got laid off last Friday. I was hoping to make it until at least May, but our firm finally got hit and let go 30% of it's staff. Overall, I'm glad I took a break after my BSAS and worked, it's been very valuable. Hopefully I can get some filler work at a firm for the next 7 months.

School wise, I've got a list of 8 schools I'm applying too. From what I've gathered long lists are generally frowned upon on these forums, but I wanted to keep my options open. I like certain things about each of the programs, and would gladly go to any of them if accepted.



@aa11 this is pretty much where I'm at, about to begin my resume, and wondering how different it needs to be from a job resume. I probably won't change mine too much, since it is pretty broad and covers academics and work.

Stats:
GPA: was ~3.1, 3.5 Arch
GRE: could be better, 690 Math, 490 Verbal, 4 writing
Portfolio: I feel it's strong (and done!), few competitions in there including one in which I won.
Recommenders: Pretty much wrapped up, really had to get on the horn for 2 of them (they are pretty busy, but will write for me).

Started this whole process in June, glad I did. Way more time consuming and stressful than I thought it would be.

Question:
Is it okay to send in GRE scores and Transcripts earlier than the app date? I have app deadlines for Dec 15th, but wanted to get things in a bit earlier so I'm not stressing out the night before.

Looking forward to the long 5 months ahead!

Yes, getting the GRE scores and transcipts in ahead of time is advisable.

Could anyone give me an estimate of how many people applying to M.Arch 2 have gotten registered?


Also, what is the deal with UCLA's website, I feel as though it was designed for the child architects from the slums of Lagos who are perpetually hopped up on smack and watch blade runner every day.

thoughts?

did way worse on the GRE's than i had hoped. 670 quant and 460 vocab. whatever. my GPA is good and my portfolio should come out well.it's just a bummer. i don't want to take it again. once was stressful enough.

maxpower... yeah, I wouldn't stress it. I did way worse on the actual GRE than I did on the practice tests. Was bummed out too, but hey, it's not like you have a terrible score, just average. The best part is that now you can move on and never think about that god-awful test again!

Columbia...you say you are sending me my pin number. Yet my inbox remains empty. I am drowning in your sea of lies.

[http://www.raymondsteath.com]my portfolio[/url]

It's an old tread, but I'm trying to get some feed back early. This is my website in progress. How does my work look so far? (Kind critisism please:) thx. I'm appling in 09 for 10....

second try..

i did better on the math than expected but worse on the verbal - 790Q, 600V. hopefully that stellar quant score makes up for my shitty GPA?...

Anybody else feeling the crunch?