mm finallyyyy crawling out of the cave of savage hope... first time posting!

for UCLA, anyone heard about $$/scholarships yet?
also, any opinions of UT vs UCLA vs Berkeley?? So different, yet all have strengths!

i would like to hear the answer to smeesu's final question as well:

ucla vs ut vs berkeley

how do people feel about these programs?

ps: inigo, are you going to UCLA's open house, both days? so nice to have a legitimate excuse for skipping out on the brutal east coast weather for a few days ;)

UCLA open house, see you there.

my first notification! accepted into syracuse! yay!!!! my future isn't so bleak anymore!!!! :D

congrats wannabe! love seeing all those exclamation marks from everyone!

not gonna make it out to ucla for the open house, but i am familiar with their program (attended jumpstart program)

i wonder why gsd is late this year... perhaps scott cohen was too busy to make phone calls this week?

congratulations to everyone that got into their schools, i know there are a lot of you out there. Now it just comes down to which school you will choose and I wish you all the best in the future.

CONGRATS AGAIN!!!!

i got an acceptance package from UBC today...i think?

It's dated the 10th and reads: Congratulations. I am please to inform you that the Admissions Committee of UBC Architecture has ENDORSED your acceptance to our Master of Architecture programme and has accordingly PROPOSED to the Faculty of Graduate Studies that you be admitted for the upcoming academic year. What does this mean exactly? Am I in?? It also states that given my academic background, I will be expecting some advanced placement but apparently that hasn't been decided by the committee yet. To anyone else who's been accepted to UBC: did your letter/phone call express the same content?

I'm still waiting for TU Delft and U of T...

huh? maybe you've been admitted by the department but not the graduate school just yet? but it sounds like you're in anyway, unless the graduate school decides differently (which i don't think that'll happen)

congrats lala84

i wonder what happen to my application ... scary!

thanks N312 :)
where do you live? perhaps i got it before some others because i live in vancouver.

i'm in portland. so yeah it could still be somewhere around to the border i guess.

next week should be fun!

grad cafe update...

an mdess applicant got a nice big envelope from the gsd yesterday...

do we think there will be weekend updates or not so much?

lets say no... i need a mental break!

I'm the GSD MDesS applicant that posted on GradCafe. The nice big envelope was there waiting for me when I got home yesterday evening, along with my girlfriend excitedly jumping up and down. It was postmarked on the 12th. It also contained a big fat grant award that comes to well over half the tuition cost. So I'm a little bit excited today...

I'd guess the MArch notifications should be close behind.

Other news is that the open house for admitted students will be on Friday, April 3rd, and there will be a reception for admitted students in NYC on April 10th that will be held at OMA.

Good luck to those still waiting to hear.

parallel_lines--

where are you from, maybe the mail is taking some time since i am on the west coast.

I'm in Providence, Rhode Island, and my local post office is a major distribution hub, so I'm sure that helped it get here fast. If it helps figure out when you might be seeing something on the west coast, it was mailed on Thursday via Priority Mail.

hi, i'm an MLA applicant that spies on your forum b/c it's more fun than ours. i hope that doesn't mean that you'll be having more fun in studio too. to add fuel to the anxiety, an MLA candidate in boston got their GSD acceptance package yesterday......

WOOHOO!! Got my acceptance email from Pratt today (well it was yesterday)... Finally some words ... I can finally start enjoying my vacation here in Europe...

BTW ...to those people who have hard from Parsons.. does anyone know if they are only informing people who are getting scholarship first and the rest later or they have release all of their acceptance already?

Pratt = IN
Parsons = ?
UPenn = ?
Univ. Houston = ?

Received big package from Yale today...why do they have to be so convincing. Princeton or Yale...thoughts? Still waiting on GSD.

Hi inigojonesin,

Sorry about the delayed response. In answer to your question, Columbia vs RISD, ya know, I cant give a thoroughly accurate answer here-this the part where I need to do more research to determine which of these two will be right for me.

You asked about RISD's strengths: fine arts is RISD's strength, and they teach all students to think like artists first, and make decisiosn as artists no matter their major. I really like this approach; I started architecture after studying fine arts, and the synergy of the two will always be there for me. Furhtermore, at RISD i can take electives in any other fine arts major, or at Brown (for lib. arts).

What draws me to Columbia is also the highly creative, formal approach to architecture. Columbia seems to focus more on technical/computer applications that RISD, but neither is lacking. Columbia also seems to approach architecture in a more straightforward way; its an old, hard core architecture school, I'd expect more classicly based architectural training (not design wise but pedagogy wise).

But I may eat my words soon, I need to look at their cirriculums side by side, go to open houses, etc. to figure out which is right for me, which plays to both my strengths and weaknesses, puts me on the career path I want to be on, and what the net cost of each school would be.

whoa, grad cafe says someone got a GSD M.Arch 1 package in the mail today. Everyone, frantically run to you mail box, haha!!!!

thanks parallel_lines.

hello grad cafe poster for Harvard M.Arch 1 who received their package


SPEAK UP IF YOU'RE out there...where are you from??

Ok, ive been lurking for a while, and thought I would come out and share.

Yale -Accepted
Columbia - Accepted
Princeton - ?? (Probable No)
MIT - ?? (I know some people recieved calls already, guess I'll wait till monday to see if there are some more)
GSD - ?? (But according to the above posters here, someone has found out already...)
Penn - still waiting

just curious..

how old is everyone applying ....i'll be 33 this year...


also... why apply to so many schools?...i had a max of 3 that i was gonna send to, but just sent to 1 and got in (cranbrook)..the others were RISD and ART CENTER...

Hey man-hole,

I'll be 27 by the time fall semester starts.

I applied to lots of schools cause I had lots of interests, and also I had no idea how'd I'd rank amongst the top tier schools, or any masters programs for that matter, and didnt want to put all my eggs in one basket. My husband is coming with me so location was important-he needs to be able to get a job and enjoy living in our new home, too (though he says he'd move anywhere for my schooling). I had a hard time narrowing it down to 8 honestly.

What it came down to for me was:
1. Applied to both UCB and UCLA cause I'm a CA resident & the in-state tuition is unbeatable-but I already went to UCB and would prefer to have a broader education; UCLA was kinda my backup, sorry if that sounds cocky.
2. Applied to 3 of the Ivies cause I was really into their programs, but not sure how I'd fair-figured I was creating a portfolio anyway, why not give it a shot, but couldn't count on getting in (hence UCLA).
3. Applied to 2 art schools (Pratt and RISD) cause art led me to architecture, and I think I'd fit in well at either of these schools, and would be interested to take electives in Pratt's ID dept or any of RISD's fine arts depts.

I am now having a hard time deciding between my favorite of the Ivies (Columbia) and favorite of the art schools (RISD).

giantclam,
congraturations!!
were you an arch major in Cal?
is it possible to see your portfolio?
i'm approaching possible 0-3 (i'll find out by next week), perhaps 0 acceptances this year.
hence, i'd like to learn from others and from my mistakes.

I turned 23 yesterday.

I applied to 6 schools. UT because I'm in Texas and they have arguably the best program in the state.

I applied to 3 schools in LA

UCLA bc having studio with my idol Thom Mayne would be a dream, not to mention other profs such as Greg Lynn, Denari...

SCI-Arc because I loved it when I visited, great faculty of practicing architects, great digi-fab resources, a mission statement that def. stole my attention.


Pratt and Parsons, 2 art schools in New York, seemed like they could be a good fit. the climate doesn't exactly float my boat, but if they showed me the money i could probably cope.

USC - my last choice of the LA schools, a more conservative school, but nice facilities, friendly faculty, and the arts college is housed with the arch college. Again show me the money

If I could go back, I would probably throw an Ivy in there for shits, I'm thinking Penn's program seems like one i'd be interested in.

And the more schools you apply to, the better your chances right? plus you get to put it on the applications under "to where else are you applying." My logic was that more good schools could possibly make my application more competitive?

Hi Stasis,
Thanks! I was a B.A. Arch at Cal for undergrad. I dont really feel comfortable sharing my portfolio; its too personal for me. Furthermore, I'm not sure my portfolio would be a clue as to what to do, but I will offer some tips that worked well for me:

1. Dont be afraid to exceed the page/project limit, if the substance justifies the length & you can keep your portfolio interesting.

2. Do include diagrams, process drawings, and text to explain your thought process and the theory behind your design work.

3. But... when it comes to fine arts, this is not necessarily so.... i didnt feel the need to show a sketch alongside a finished drawing-just the finished drawing. What I did do was include a few sentances about what drawing means to me, and in my case that its a reflexive thought process, blah blah blah.

4. Be yourself. Highlight your work in the way that works best for you. Dont get hung up on how good other people's portfolios or design work may be, there's no apples to apples comparison for this sort of thing. I saw a good one on here using colorful text, and I felt lame for doing all B&W text, but whatever, neither is better, is personal preference. Just do your best, most sincere compilation explaining your potential as an architect.

zero pulse i'm not sure but if that is the case then fyi i haven't received my packet in the mail yet.

anyone apply to Cincy? anyone know when to expect an answer and by what method?

thanx giantclam for your advice.
i certainly keep those in mind when I apply again.
I too graduated from Cal as well. by the way, did you hear about the rumor that Cal doesn't accept many cal undergraduates to their M.Arch program? hope it isn't true cuz Cal's now the only shot I have

for those who haven't heard from gsapp and yale, is there still hope? i have not received any emails/notifications whatsoever and getting very very anxious and hopeless :(

giant clam, what year did you graduate from Cal? I just graduated this last december

im deciding between columbia, mit, and (hopefully) gsd

btw, i agree about the portfolio: mine was something like 80 pages...the only requirement I would follow is to keep the portfolio smaller than 8.5 x 11 (but not necessarily that proportion)

also I think you should probably have a website and a 'mini portfolio' of maybe 5-10 pages that summarizes your skills for job applications...that is if you are planning to work while studying at grad school...

kaywris - don't give up, there's still hope for GSAPP. They send them out in batches. It's not over, yet.

Stasis-yeah I heard that rumow about cal, I applied there but considered it a long shot

Ryan, I graduate in '04. Yeah my port was exactly 80 pages. I agree about the website, when I get it up I can show a link.... but that wont be any time soon.

wow 80 pages... I did 37 and i thought even that was too long, guess i was dead wrong.

my portfolio was 200 pages (1/2")... I don't think the mass matters as long as the work is communicated properly.

You'll have to excuse me for this somewhat silly question--I've been accepted to GSAPP but *stupidly* I didn't send in the scholarship form (I'm almost too embarrassed to admit this...). I probably know the answer to this, but just to get others' opinions: it is probably too late to talk to Columbia people about scholarships/money, right? I am a M.Arch 3+ candidate, if that makes a difference. I've heard that most of the scholarship $ comes after the first year anyway, but wanted to get your opinion on whether or not to even *ask* about this year...

jhk11, just call the office. they're nice. though they may have allocated all the scholarship pot to people who applied already...

haha i did the same thing, i was planning to call next week. you can still get loans im assuming

haha, you mean i have to compete with you too?! ahhh, hopefully we'll both get lucky

@stasis
"wow 80 pages... I did 37 and i thought even that was too long, guess i was dead wrong."

i'm becoming convinced that length really doesn't matter.

my portfolio was 12 pages. i stuck to the berkeley max for all of them because i liked the idea of limiting myself.

i got into UT (haven't heard from my other schools yet). so i think almost any length can work; it's all just personal perference as GiantClam said.

Does anyone know how large the m.arch1 class is at Columbia? I've been able to find the info for other schools, but not for them.

i believe it was around 90-100 last year.

jhooper - mind providing the link to those programs you were able to find info bout?

im an march ii applicant...fyi

Columbia actually releases quite a bit of admissions data each year, much more so that any other school I've found: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/admissions_2006-2008.htm

In particular, last year the gsapp received 772 applicants for the MArch program and accepted 208 (for an acceptance rate of 27%). 43% said yes for a final class size of 27%.

Given what i've heard about the increase in apps, however, who knows what this year's numbers will be.

whoops i meant a final class size of 89... :P