wow, a thread about USF...

don't feel bad about UF... it is pretty difficult to get into these days...

anyways, about USF... i'm not a student or a graduate, but i do live in the tampa bay area and i serve as a guest juror a few times a year...

prior to about 5 years ago, the work coming out of the school was pretty bad... they've vastly improved over the last few years... this is mostly due to an influx of younger profs... unfortunately, a lot of the better profs that have been there over the last few years haven't been sticking around for more than a few years... luckily, the best design prof that they have, michael halflants, has stuck around... at least for now... the administration is less than stellar and in my opinion (and the opinion of others) it is holding the school back... i think that a lot of that problem is that there is a huge disconnect between the professional architecture community in tampa bay and the school... the local aia chapter (and particularly the emerging architects group) has repeatedly tried to reach out to the school...

they moved into a different building a few years ago, and while it is much improved over their previous home, the facilities are definitely less than ideal...

in summary, the school is definitely on the up-swing... but the upwards trajectory seems to have slowed in the past year or two... i think that it has the potential to be a pretty good school, but i'm not sure that it will really get there until some of the older faculty/administration retire... hopefully some of the talented younger faculty will still be around once that happens...

hope this helps...

USF. ah, good memories of dorm rooms and stupid stupid girls... oh wait, those memories aren't so good. and i hate tampa. ack! i'd recommend leaving florida, actually...

holy crap, you went to USF holz???????

and yes, tampa sucks... st. pete is much more palatable...

however, i'm definitely looking forward to leaving...

t-minus 25 days...

thanks but you am i making a worng decision on going to USF... im thinking about pinning-up again nest year

no, an ex did. and i lived near sarasota at the time. congrats on bailing!

USF still has a LOOOOONG way to go.

We'll miss you Phil. St. Pete won't be the same. Tampa unfortunately will never change.

i feel like im going to waste my money on going there if the program is not that good!

in real life does it affect your employment if you came from a school like USF

arc,

i never felt that it should be an issue, but in the real world am finding that it does come in to play for certain firms.

from what i know about USF, i don't think i'd go.

what do you know about USF???

Outside of Florida, USF is probably so unknown that you would need to rely solely on your portfolio and not the school's name (or conversely be bogged down by the name). Within Florida, just about every firm has USF grads, but they are primarily run by UF grads, mainly becuase UF has been around longer. Alos, it is rare that I see someone from USF advance quickly within a company. (good ole boy club)
If your options are between going to USF or taking a year off and reapplying to UF, I would suggest attending USF for the year, see if it suits you, if not reapply to UF as well as other schools in the SE (Auburn, Georgia tech, etc)

as always, the decision about which school to attend should be a personal... it depends greatly on both your current situation and what you see as your future career goals... if you already live in the tampa bay area and you plan on staying here for a while after graduation then USF will be fine... if you have aspirations to move to new york to work for a starchitect after graduation, then USF is probably not the place for you... it has been said a hundred times before, but your education is really what you make it... if you're really good, then it won't really matter what school that you went to...

i think that ken's advice is pretty good... if you've already been accepted to USF then go ahead and start there for a year... after that year, if you still want to try UF, you can try to transfer next year... that being said, i don't know of too many people who don't get through pinup at UF one year that are able to get accepted in the future... it does happen, but i wouldn't say that it's common...

my recommendation would be to go ahead with USF... bust your ass and produce some really good work... end up with a kick ass portfolio... then later down the road, if you want to bolster your resume you can get another masters degree somewhere else...

thanks alot guys!!! i will give myself a lot of time to deliberate about this... I know that prominent school doesn't necessary makes you better than any other arc students... it just continuing my Architecture degree requires an enormous commitment... In real world it seems like everything is always about brand names like a clothing line (chanel, coach, guess, etc.... But i know the decision is on me...

"It is this believe that a power larger than myself and other then myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable" (Maya Angelou)

i sort of believe that it's up to the student. (not without exception, because i've seen some students served badly by their schools.)

why don't you search out some usf grads and find out how THEIR experience has been. chances are it'll be different answers than the answers of uf students about usf and different from those of our peanut gallery. best if these people are people you admire, people who have had a career trajectory like you would like to have...

i've seen schools, when they're in a bad patch, actually shaken up and improved from within BY proactive students! think how great a school experience that could be. even once you're in school, you owe it to yourself to keep looking around at other schools, see what they're doing, and make sure that you're getting a similar level of faculty commitment, resources, and opportunities. if not, make noise and make change!

another florida school that you might consider is florida international university down in miami... their program is even younger than usf's, but the last time that i looked at their program they had a lot of young professors that were educated at some top schools were doing some interesting work...

i'll see if i can get a friend that just graduated from usf (and is one of the best students to go through the usf program) to add his comments to this thread...

florida int'l DOES have some good faculty, has a nice new tschumi building as well, and is in a really interesting part of miami.

I am surprised to hear the FIU campus area described as "a really interesting part of Miami." By many standards it is an urban planning nightmare. What do you find so compelling about this area? - that I, joining many others, consider to be one of the more banal and un-humanistic (is that a word?) in the region.

I might add that Tschumi is the perfect choice for a building and an area that gives little importance to human needs. Although I havent yet visited this particular project, if it is in keeping with the majority of his oevre I doubt being user or community friendly was his primary consideration.

Just to finish my astonishment at the trend of this thread - Who are the good faculty - and what criteria are being used that elevates FIU beyond USF or any other school?

Not attacking Mr Ward or Mr Aphil, just serious questions from a very suprised reader.

when i visited fiu i walked the campus - which was ok - and then walked across the highway bridge to the neighborhood on the other side. very cool place. apparently not thought of highly around miami maybe because it's a little funky. my realtor aunt said it was "little havana". all i know is that i wanted to buy a house there. cool texture and life to the neighborhood, nice little houses, and walkable.

i co-taught a housing studio with marilys nepomechie a few years ago, and we had several visits from her cohort marta canavés over the course of the studio. both great. i also met another faculty-member at an acsa conference a few years ago and he was pretty interesting, though i can't remember his name...

I appreciate the expounded view of the FIU campus area. Not wanting to beat a dead horse, but if I may: You are correct in saying this area is not highly thought of by the locals, but with good reason and not because of any funk factor. This is not little havana, which lays several miles to the east,(and i guess is now being used as a realtor's selling term like "charming"), but an area that not so long ago was an intact and beautiful swamp mixed with agriculture.

It has become in the years since the development of the FIU campus one of the nations worst examples of drain/fill/build/ exurbian no-where. Bounded by a labyrinth of freeways, filled in by strip malls/fast food franchises and suburban sprawl, it is the epitome of poor planning, bad design and shoddy architecture

I can understand why one might appreciate the multi-cultural mileu of south florida; but one does not have to trek to "sweetwater' (nationally recognized for its poor storm drainage) and environs to find them transposed into such an egregious demonstration of suburban blight. South Fla has so much better to offer.

I am not familiar with the work or teaching of those you mention but will make a point to do become so.

To the Student in limbo; I am so sorry you are going through this unfortunate situation, I went through something similar and when I asked my father what he would do, he told me that the student makes the school, the school will never make the student, therefore it is that group of school makers that will uplift the name of the institution. I know it sounds crazy but architecture is all about making through process and only you would feel extremely rewarded to see a school like USF to go beyond the expectations because of your given contribution. The old "UF game is far gone with the wind, you can go and pin up again, and again, but GOOD LUCK my friend, GOOD LUCK. For your information, UF already has a competition pin-up for their 110-130 students entering design (5) then they pick about 10-20 students from other community colleges, are you going to be one of them? you can keep trying or just take what you have and make it beautiful. who cares about employment, you can be a waiter and be extremely happy, the good architects die poor anyway, and if you want to make money CHANGE YOUR MAJOR, I know a lot of UF students who did not get anywhere, on the other hand I also know many that work for very important people and continued their studies in very "famous" schools. So what? this is not Hollywood, just get up and start designing. piece of advise: look at the work of Wright, Ando, and Carlo Scarpa, Did they go to any schools at all? NO, the answer is not. Their work is amazing. USF is amazing too, and all the teachers and students who work really hard to share the passion and not to show off. Please let me know if you need some advising. I am more than welcome to help you any time. Even to pin-up at UF, I helped numerous friends and they got in, so what?

Giancarlo Giusti... Thank You for your thread. it did really make sense. On my pin-up last April 18th 2008 (I will never forget that day) they were 65 transfers who pinned-up.. they only took 10 students.. When i found out that i didn't get in, I was so upset.... i felt so incompetent ...questioning myself if those students who got in were better than me??? then now i realized that I am just a victim of my time... Their resources were limited they can only take the best of all the best (???) I look at my pin-up board up to this day.. And i am so happy of all the works that I have done..... Actually the pin-up result had pushed me to perform even better... I love Architecture

Giancarlo Giusti.. If you don't mind me asking are you an Architect?

If you really love architecture so much, put the past aside and start making, just make and make, tables, lamps, models, chairs, sculptures, portfolios, beds, toilets, houses, car jacks..... whatever, just make, and you will see. the school will come and knock on your door looking for you when you least expect it, also read architecture, and eat architecture, trust me nobody is taking it away from you. Also, a very wise professor (Mr. Cooke) told me once. "The greatest designers are those who can sketch and travel." What are you waiting for?

I don't know what I am, but I just graduated from USF with the top ranking GPA and all the other awards with all the nice toppings that I never asked for. Now I work in a very good firm trying to learn how to really put buildings together. Meaning, the stuff no school will ever teach you... I love my job!

Thank You so much... This Fall 08 I am taking Core Design 1, and Into to Tech. and Mr. Cooke is my Prof on those two subjects... Do you work in Florida? (Orlando, Tampa)??

Are their alot of Architecture Firms in Tampa?

ARC...

gg works in tampa... he's the guy that i was referring to above... he made some very good points... (thanks for adding your two cents giancarlo)

if you're going to have cooke for your first semester, then you should do fine... he'll whip you into shape really quick and you'll be ready to excel through the rest of your time there...

there are a fair amount of firms in tampa... they range from big corporate firms like HOK to small design oriented firms... keep in mind that tampa bay includes not only tampa, but also st. petersburg and clearwater... and you could even stretch down to sarasota where there are quite a few firms doing some interesting work... and in my opinion, the best design firm in the area (wannemacher jensen architects) is in st. petersburg...

Ok now it makes sense!!! because when I went for a field trip to see a number of Architecture Firms here in Orlando, Florida, I notice that most of their interns are from UF. I didn't see anybody from USF.

arc student

go straight ahead don't look back, take what you have learned on make something happen. "i can only change my future"

hey GG you seem to be a motivated.

oh my ..... learned and

GG, I am in the Program now. I have Beverly Frank. Couple of weeks ago, We received our grades, I heard from other design class that She is tough. Nobody got an A really... I got an A-/B+ in Design and I got a B- on graphics which now according to her i am making a huge progress.. She is nice and very understanding (so far) She commented that "No reason not to be an A+ Student"... wow..