Oh, and a little background. I'm 29, have a BA in literature, have worked in publishing with production, design, and management, and I've been a leisurely visual artist since I was a kid. Good GPA, decent portfolio, and A's in the two grad classes at Cornell (with a rec letter from the theory prof).

Thanks again.

I know it's torture sitting there waiting to hear from the schools and trying to glean any information you can...but wait until you hear where you are accepted then go visit the schools...we could give you our opinion, but it should be your opinion that counts.
Each school is good in its own way-a visit will help you figure it out!

Sorry I'm not posting for your answer, but what do you feel about UW? I'm an undergrad thinking about applying for the BA in Arch program. The pre-reques (with 200+ students) seem a little disorganized, but from what I can tell, with my academic standing, is that UW is pretty conventional in its approach in architecture (which is of course good and bad). On the other hand, Seattle and UW seem to really stress sustainability, which is pretty cool. I am pretty sure that Seattle is one of the greener cities in the US so it might be a good place to make connections with firms in the area.

I've heard mixed responses of UW as well... anyone else would like to add to that?

UW:

http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/blog.php?id=C0_471_39
http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/blog.php?id=C0_451_39
http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/blog.php?id=C0_203_39

Cornell (undergrad, but relevant):

http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/blog.php?id=C0_202_39
http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/blog.php?id=C0_342_39

I didn't see any for Austin

i would say only go to UW if you envision living in seattle.

I just graduated from the UW BArch program and I loved it. The prereq classes have been updated since I took them and now take advantage of hand drawing as well as computers. Once you get into the program, it is awesome. I did the study abroad in Rome with awesome professors and really enjoyed my time there. There was only one studio I did not really enjoy, but that was because of the professor. Despite this, the students in my studio really made it worth while and made up for the prof. All in all my studio (all 49 of us) were very tight knit. Also, I'm from California, and I fell in love with Seattle, but I am back in California working at an architecture fim, so I would say UW is great even if you don't envision living in Seattle. The city is very walkable and has a really great public transportation system. The campus is a 5-10min bus ride from downtown, but UW has its own little neighborhood downtown. Other then that one studio professor, all the profs at UW really care and want to teach you, they will not spoon feed you info, but if you try and are interested you will be rewarded.