hey do u guys know how the grad programs at parsons and syracuse are? or their rankings?

arkitect.wannabe: interesting question. I had dinner earlier with a friend of mine who did her B.Arch at Syracuse and loved it. She felt like she had access to many great classes, including public speaking and other communication classes, which she feels have benefited her in her career. She has worked for a large firm in NY for the last six years and is very happy (and she definitely knows that in her case coming from Syracuse helped...she used alumni connections).
Tonight we were once again mulling over that Pratt vs. Parsons question and she related to me what one of her bosses (who is in his late 50's) said: "definitely Pratt." She and I both agreed that we think the trouble is, that even if a program is good today, our bosses are much older and are thinking of the schools in the way they stood 'back then,' when they themselves were in school. So to a guy like him, Pratt has a good reputation while he doesn't know Parsons. (Of course there are younger or savvier or more involved-in-school bosses, I realize.)

It would be interesting to do a little boss—or older-people-in-the-field—survey on which schools they like over others. Maybe it would be a truer survey than the one done by DI (or perhaps it would just feel more real and less removed). Who's up for that?

hey meowkytekt that's a really good point...opinions of employers will depend on their graduating year as well...never thought of that :S

do u have any friends at sci-arc? all i know about them..i got from their website haha so not the most reliable source of "fair" assessment.

just got the call from UVa. in!

Woohoo boobitrap and Mzungu ... congrats!

And GC I could have written this :
"I admit the essay was the most challenging part of the aplication for me. Though it took more time and work to put my portfolio together, the thought process I went through for those essays was much more difficult, and more emotionally trying as well."

I was surprised by how hard it was for me. I could have kept doing my portfolio forever and it was fun to work on and see it evolve and become complete, but the statement was torture for me. Emotional would be a good word.

Also, I have noticed I'm becoming cranky as the days go by.... hubby thinks I'm obsessing, but it's just so hard not too.

Good luck to everyone else waiting and waiting.

soo...GSD said that I "should expect to hear" their decision by late March (via email correspondence about missing transcripts, eek). Still far away, but looks like they are arguably ON schedule, against my earlier forecasts.

I know it's not any sort of significant info, haha. just wanted to contribute the little that I can.

:)

Thanks for the update di-c. It is significant to me...

I was tracking them and last year they started notifying accepted students as early as March 11, so it sounds like they are going to be later this year?! Unless they meant all students would hear by late-March; lasts year's wait list went out March 25, in that case they are right on schedule.

Jeez, I cant wait for the waiting to be over--I feel so silly making a big deal out of such minutiae (not to mention I am officially the most annoying person I know), but I cant help it!

Are calls typical?

I just broke my phone, now im paranoid that im missing an important call. Im on the job hunt as well. Does anyone know of a way to route phone calls to your computer?

I dont know if calls are typical. It seemed last year that all those who were accepted to GSD in the first wave were called, and I think Yale did the same too. I think everyone who was called got an email shortly after, though.

woohoo! congrats to admitted! i guess i'm not surprised w/some of the delays since more people are applying this year!

arkitect.wannabe, no, i declined 3 acceptance letters 4 yrs. ago after deciding for myself that graduating w/about $120,000-150,000 ($30,000-40,000/yr tuition ONLY) was not a good idea for me. this is why this year, i have only applied to my state school which is only $16,000/yr + copious amount of $$$ to hand out from a healthy pool of scholarship funds that my state keeps fully stacked. but at the same time, having applied to only one school + this surge of applicants (400-500 more applicants per school?) is freaking me out - A LOT!!!!!!!

newport: what's the school you applied to this year? i'm so nervous/excited for you!!!


just so u guys know, i got a package from syracuse today confirming the completion of my application...it's got some book...an M.Arch 1 catalog and some...poster. haha i guess they like advertising?

I gotta say, the SCIarc admissions & financial aid staff are the nicest and most prompt at returning emails of all the schools I applied to.

Just throwing that out there.

thanks a.w, i live in nj so new jersey institute of technology is that ONE school i have applied to! it's my state's science and engineering school. there are only 2 schools accredited in this state - princeton + njit. princeton's $40,000/yr for tuition alone! and njit is the largest architecture program in the eastcoast though it's pretty ho-hum, maybe that's a good thing? no hype but comes w/a very solid education and very well respected in the tri-state area i will forever reside in. so i don't know, i'm so crazy scared that all my eggs fell onto THIS school, yikes!!!

i also got the sci-arc financial aid reminder email.

they made the unfortunate mistake of not hiding the applicants' email addresses (!!!!),

so of course i counted them - around 200 or so email addresses in total.

which naturally led me to wonder, why only 200 recipients of the financial aid email?

the over-analysis has begun.

and of course it crossed my mind to hit "reply to all" and send some sort of spiteful "i hate you 'cause you're my competition" response...

but i didn't. YET. :P

hey hobopj's there might only be 200 email addresses because the rest are international applicants...and we don't get financial aid...:(

208 recipients. almost all gmail addresses.

hmmm. I expected SCI-Arc to be a little more together than this. that email list could be pretty dangerous in the wrong hands.

Bad move, SCI-Arc.

The SCI-ARC email:

I almost lost my skittles! The phrasing that they made mention that they will "send the award letter to you shortly after you are notified of acceptance". Notice the "will send" and the "you are" in this email. So of course, I also checked the other addresses and my batch only listed about 95 people. At first, I thought that that sounded like a reasonable amount of accepted applicants given the likely attrition rate that happens when people choose other programs - even if it is a bit inflated. Now, I think they went out in batches esp. if other people received batches of over 200.

My heart can't take much more of this!

GiantClam - likewise, I have to give props to the U of Kansas. Their grad admissions coordinator is lightning fast to return emails ... in sharp contrast to some of the other schools ...

I received a heart-poundingly large envelope from U of Oregon today. Turned out to be a "your application has been received and passed to the department" letter, along with a (very appealing) brochure about graduate/family housing, to keep me busy in the meantime.

Got the same email from SCIarc with visible emails. Began to over analyze the wording as well. Looked like around 90 addresses in my email, so I'd believe they sent them out in batches.

CAD Mangler: Also got the same envelope and it had my nerves on edge. Good material nonetheless to keep yourself busy.

I also applied to SCIarc, but i'm an international applicant. My heart is pounding hard coz i didn't get any emails from SCIarc other than "your application is complete notice".

For those who receieved the SCIarc financial aid email, are you all in the US?

Has anyone here applied to RPI (MArch I) this year?

Entasis79 - I saw someone on gradcafe just got their acceptance from RPI.

hins-
The SCI-Arc emails are US only, I believe. Don't sweat it!

Kungapa, yes...I saw that too. Ha. (Nervous laughter...)

I saw that about 10 minutes after I received an email saying they never got a transcript from me. They even want me to just send them a PDF of my grades from online!!! I guess that might not be bad news, right? If they are still trying to get my info in a very quick fashion even after they have started sending out notices. Maybe I am waitlisted.

Hey, I was the one who posted on GradCafe that I got in to RPI. I was really surprised that I got it so soon, considering I had exactly the same problems Entasis79 had.

I sent them my transcript THREE times between the beginning of December through February. I even emailed them to make sure they were going to the right address. Eventually a professor from the program called me and had me scan in a copy I had at home (full of my handwriting... oops.).

When I got the acceptance letter, it came with a form requesting that I send my transcripts! It also said to return "Form 1" which didn't come in the letter at all. I'm excited about the acceptance letter, but a little less than impressed with their ability to handle transcripts and forms!

Congrats Daveamos!!!!
That is awesome! I was wondering if anyone else was applying to RPI.

So I am glad to hear its not just me. I will keep my hopes up I guess.
Congrats again!

To those who have applied to UMich, check your status webpage! I just checked mine and I got in. Official letter of acceptance and, if applicable, any scholarship information is being processed right now. 2 acceptance, 2 more to go
1

Wow, congrats daveamos and lost in stress!

where did u look for Umich?

it was the email they sent you with how to setup your "wolverine access"

the initial page is:

https://wolverineaccess.umich.edu/

Follow the steps to setup a new account for "new and prospective student business"

from there you will be able to login and check application staus, finiancial aid staus, and even decision.

Hey lost is stress, where on the application status page did you see your acceptance, mine just seems to say that my application was completed though under admit term it says fall 09, does this mean i was admitted or is that just the term of my application?

There are two links initially, i believe "application credential" and "application information", or something like that. After they have made a decision a third link will appear, "decision". In regards to your question, I think that is only the term of your application. In the decision link there is a lengthy written notice about your acceptance. Just remember no decision is better than a rejection, so keep hope alive!

damn, the admissions office just told me that i will be notified from 2-3 weeks from today which means 3/10-3/17. my patience is really being tested here, to the max!!!!!!

Ok.... one more website to refresh

oh and congrats lost!

Thanks Kanu. Even though I have two acceptances so far, I'm still waiting for my top choice to come in, that doesn't arrive until mid-late march, good luck to us all!

This just in, a low gpa does matter if you have to get into the Graduate College as well as the Architecture program. Sigh, I knew my ills from previous years would come back to haunt me.

Congrats to everyone who took their homework in gen eds seriously and are deservedly getting acceptances now. I am still hopeful to hear good news from the remaining 4 schools on my list.

I know at UIC, the min GPA for the arch program is 3.0 but its only, something like, a 2.75 for the graduate college.

I applied to Michigan as well and don't even have the "decision" link on my Wolverine Access page yet -- thoughts? Also, my "admission application" status is for the Summer of 2009, not Fall, did you apply to the MArchI program? or a different one? so nervous!

I think all MArch I (3G) at Michigan start this summer.

i applied to the G2 program, i have BEnvD already so i would start in the fall

I think i'm going to be having a panic attack for the next month. I can't deal.

FUCK YEAH!

I just got a call from U Washington in Seattle. I'm in!!!

Whoooohoooooo!

Now at least I know I'm going somewhere in September.

haha, that's awesome andimdone!! Congrats!
I think I would poop my pants if i got a call at work from UBC :P I really hope they don't call me, I prefer to get a letter in the mail and have time to sit, gulp a glass of wine and mentally prepare. Great, now I'm going to be carrying my phone around with me at the office. eek!
Congrats to all of you with the acceptances rolling in.... keep em coming!!

okay, that was weird. I just got a phone call..... and it was a auto-telemarketer. My heart is still pounding... argh!! TORTURE!!

I got a call too! From UW! Yay!

Now the rest are just torture...but, at least there's UW! Not bad, and finally feel like *all* that work might pay off :D

Oh, and the rest are Yale, UBC, UOregon, Columbia, Rice and MIT. Hm, we'll see.....

i just checked my messages on my broken phone and had a message from UW too!

Congrats UW people!