I also get into this program. No financial aid. Thay said I could apply TA position after one semester. However, considering the relatively low cost in Austin, it is acceptable for me.

I think the program has a strong point in the sustainable design. I can see it from their student work in the UTSOA websites. It does not have the digital style like UCLA or UPenn, but it might give us a strong design ability.

I also found out that if my wife works for 12 months there in Texas, I will be eligible for in-state tuition, which is very appealing.

They said TA is possible after one semester? I thought it was one year, but I haven't asked directly. Did they mention the aid specifically with that position?

Sunshy3, are you selecting from multiple schools?

I work with a UT grad who was able to get a position as a TA after one semester. Between that and a work study position, she managed to get an advanced degree without a cumbersome amount of debt. This is very appealing to me considering the average salary we can expect to make as graduates.

In general, every UT grad I've spoken with has had very good things to say about the program and all seem to know how to put a building together. I'm going to the open house on Friday in hopes of attaining a better sense of the studio culture and professor-student dynamic.

Has anyone else considering UT received a package with information on advanced standing and financial aid? I called last Friday and they were supposed to be mailing information out that day, nothing yet though.

One more question: Do any of you know how the summer courses work? The website lists a typical 7 semester schedule with an additional 6 credits listed as summer courses. So it's really 8 semesters, right?

Did anyone get adv. placement?

I got a letter in the mail, 39 hours of credit!

I think if you are interested in digital design that there are faculty there to guide you. I'm so pumped for Friday. Can we get a tally of ppl on here going?

Count me as 1

I won't be able to make it to the open house, but will visit next week. I know this has been brought up on the other thread, but a report of how the open house goes would be much appreciated.

I received the prior course work credit packet yesterday, but no financial info yet.

no idea about those summer credits, but hopefully we can get around them somehow.

Also accepted here. Won't be able to make the open house as I'm out of the country. It's a very appealing option to me because it's not a freezing tundra of a place and I've been to Austin and loved it. As far as the school itself, I wandered around the building and through what I believe was a graduate review and talked to the guy who runs the shop for an hour or so, but never got an official tour or anything. They seem to have a solid program together, and their shop is actually really nice (still research to do on accessibility).

people who are considering this program, where have you looked at housing so far?

I'm going for a visit next week, so I could give the lowdown on housing after then. That said, a lot of people have different desires and standards for housing, so my perspective might be the opposite of someone else's.

Also appealing to me for its climate. Live in Ithaca now (work at Cornell, waitlisted for MArch 1), and spring is showing little sign of arrival.

I've checked into housing a bit. Today, I called UT's Hosing office to ask about the wait list for grad housing. The woman I spoke to said there are about 300 people waiting for 1 bedrooms and about 150 waiting for 2 bedrooms. At first, this seemed like an appealing option because the rent is $100 to $200 below market rate and most of the housing is on the river near the bike trails. I guess if you're going to be in Austin for 3.5 years and don't mind moving more than once it may be worth getting on the list.

My wife and I have been checking these neighborhoods out:

South- Travis Heights, SoCo, Bouldin Creek and Clarksville

North- Hyde Park

they are all within a few miles of campus and the rents seem to all be about the same accept in Hyde Park, which is slightly higher.

BTW ocotillio, the high in Austin was 75 today

ocotillo,

I am selecting among Austin, Upenn, UCLA and Umich. Umich gives me a scholarship of $20,000 in the first but they cannot ganrantee anything in the second and third year. I think it'll be a hard choice for me.

Sounds like you will have a tough decision, sunshy3. Austin seems to be the opposite--no certainty at first, then likely funds later. I'm still curious what the funding is for their other aid options. I'm waiting to visit next week instead of calling, but if anyone here has info I'd love to hear.

Blake, my dad just called with the AP letter from UT. Some of the details weren't clear (from his reading it to me over the phone), but the letter said in certain terms that I've been recommended to take 2 vertical studios, followed by 3 advanced studios (2.5yr program, which is what I expected).

I'm heading to Austin tomorrow morning, and to open house on Friday. Looking forward to it, and I'm sure I'll see some of you there.

Have fun in Austin, AP. I have a good friend who lives out there, and he can't say enough good things about the town. I'll have to get out there myself one of these days for a visit.

Finally!! I can direct my attention to something other than that miserable commiseration thread...*sigh of relief*. Still waiting on one school (GA Tech), but nonetheless pretty much set on UT. I received email notification of financial aid from Richard Cleary on the 23rd, and info regarding advanced placement (39 credits) in the mail today.

I've heard excellent things about Austin (and not just from Texans). Two neighborhoods have been recommended as cool areas by friends living in Austin: the Greenbelt area, and East Austin. Anybody else packing up and moving ASAP?

I'm anxious to hear how the open house went.

anyone interested in splitting rent on a house between 3 or so people? I've got a buddy who is at ASU and did this with a few fellow arch buddies, worked out pretty well because they all had weird schedules...

See some of y'all soon! About to head to Austin.

For those of you who can't make it, I'll try to write out a comprehensive account of what went down when I get back.

Awesome, Blake. Looking forward to the report.

Oh man, I don't miss the days of having roommates.

well, I WAS going to go to the open house, until Denver decided that now would be a great time to have the first real snow storm of the season and close airport... damn.

also, has anyone received financial aid for Austin? I got the AP credit letter today (39 hours too) but no $$$ letter.

Didn't get into UT, but I'm from Austin. I'm at UTSA right now, and I'm planning on moving back to Austin once I finish school. I miss it.


Housing: East Austin is becoming a "re-gentrified" area. A number of architects and developers went in there and built contemporary mixed-use and condos. Some lost their ass with the economy though. Good place with some rough spots (near 11th st and the bus station out there).

There is no specific "Green Belt" neighborhood. There are green belts everywhere (designated non-developed land). Zilker Park is a great spot to live with green belts near the neighborhood, but there are pricey rents since a number of "hipsters" have moved out there.

There is student housing everywhere, but the closer to campus you are the shittier and more expensive rent is.

Hyde Park, Travis Heights, SoCo, SoLa, etc. are all great places, but you'll have to search for cheap rent.

And if you plan to buy, you need to consider $200-$400K for a 1-2 bedroom condo/house.

I just spoke to a friend yesterday from out-of-state and he said everyone thinks Austin is nothing like the rest of TX. He's definitely right. It's forward thinking, democratic, educated, and green.


DAMN, I miss Austin!

landshark - i received a travel fellowship via email from richard cleary. never heard about fafsa stuff, but i have already told arch school that i will not be attending texas. not sure if they have stopped processing my fin aid stuff.

hey missmeer, i'm curious about your perspective as someone declining UT.
financial aid, michigan, and boyfriends aside, what's your overall opinion of UT's program?

what did the travel fellowship entail?

this is all great info,

thanks nosleep, it's nice hearing it from a local.

Has anyone worked in Austin? What's the outlook for someone graduating - for example I went to ASU and there are a number of firms attached to the school that regularly siphon off students ranging from larger and more corporate to very small practices. Obviously at the moment the job market is crap everywhere, but is there a good diversity of offices?

when i worked for a small firm up there, they were interviewing for a new position (this was before the recession). they interviewed an M.Arch grad from UT, and one of the main reasons they interviewed him was because he was a UT grad

There are a number of alumni that stay in Austin because they love the city. The school is well respected among the alum and non-alum in the city.

I do believe that the school has many connections outside of Austin for recruits and job placement/internships with some big-name firms.

Be careful though. I believe the recruit liaison at the school raises the salary expectations of new grads. Keep your salary assumptions low. Even if it is a good school, we're all still novices at the game once we're out of M.Arch.

well folks, the time has come.
here is my open house experience:
9AM - Open House commences with Richard Cleary giving an overview of the program and its goals. The program at UT seems very broad and dense. They stressed that it is quite self-driven. However, they do want to ensure your personal progress is to their standards. They do this via a portfolio review after your first or second studio where they discuss strengths and weaknesses and make suggestions of how to improve. While they are known for their sustainability, they wanted to stress that that is not their identity and acknowledged there is much more to architecture than simply being green. That said, rather than teach about sustainability, it's described as being completely integrated within the design program. They talked up their extensive materials lab as well as the Alexander Architectural Archive.
After Cleary spoke, we got to hear several faculty give us brief descriptions of their backgrounds and what they are currently doing/building. We heard from Meerka Benes, Vince Snyder, Dean Almay, and Juan Miro.
Meerka Benes is in landscape architecture and is a historian. Prior to coming to UT she was faculty at the Harvard GSD.
Vince Snyder is an architect who teaches studio and practices in Austin. He also teaches construction from what I heard from the students. We saw some really nice residential work of his. Snyder worked for Gehry before starting his own firm so he showed us some projects he worked for there. It was really interesting to see some samples from the 80's of Gehry experimenting with solar gain. He seems interested between the relationship of complex form to structure and construction (my impression).
Dean Almay teaches the Dallas Urban Lab studio which is an on-going project sponsored by the very wealthy owner/developer of the Trinity River Development in Dallas.
Juan Miro is a practicing architect and studio prof. He has taught the Studio Mexico for 18 years (I believe). Studio Mexico is a pretty literal name as it is an abroad studio in Mexico. The duration of its existence signals to me that it's a great studio to take. The students all seemed very fond of Miro for his encouragement/support of students to really pursue there own interests.

11:15AM - After our 15 minute break, we had a panel discussion with only current grad students and ourselves. So this basically was a free-for-all Q&A. All the students really seem to enjoy the program, and living in Austin. They admit the work load is strenuous, but I'm thinking "well duh". One girl stated her typical day consists of her coming to studio at 9am and leaving at 1am. At least she gets to leave? The graduate students seem very close knit and everyone knows each other. Each Friday they pick a different bar in Austin to go have drinks for Happy Hour after studio lets out. They invited us to join them, but I refrained so as not to compromise my driving abilities in returning home that evening. The studio culture they said is a good one, quite competitive, but not to an unhealthy point. Like I said, they all seem to be friends (which is awesome). When inquiries concerning money were voiced, the students told us to blatantly ask for tuition waiver (I think they were referring to out of state-rs). So there's a good chance some of you can get the incredible in-state tuition price (they said contact a lady named Anita Motty(sp?). They also said it was relatively easy to get funding for travel fellowships if you present a valid purpose for the travel (ie relating the trip to studio work, etc). We also discussed the procedure for studio prof selection which is a lottery. The first day of studio, all the students meet in a lecture room and hear each professor speak of what their studio will consist of that semester. Student then rank their choices, followed by faculty placement. The students I spoke to said they had never gotten lower than their second choice.
12:15PM-5:30PM - After the panel discussion, we had a tasty box lunch with students and faculty, and after that we were free to peruse the school and all the studios which were in session. The facility is very nice, pristinely preserved with a beautiful courtyard and operable windows throughout the facility. It was built by Paul Cret in 1931. It also has a great location on the edge of campus adjacent to the (in)famous clock tower. The studios seemed a little cramped, but that had to do with the fact that each student gets 2 studio desks for work. They also have a nice workshop on the basement floor with woodworking/metal-working, plastic vacuum forming machine, CNC router and three laser cutters. They also have a 3-d plotter as I saw some models made by one. There was a formal reception in the courtyard to precede the happy hour excursion. However, I left before it took place.
I think this is a fairly comprehensive account of what went on. I'm sure others will have more details to add once they get back to a computer. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I'll end this with a couple of stats that were on a sheet they gave us:

Graduate enrollment: 373
M.Arch1: 169
Student/Faculty ratio: 9:1
Full time faculty: 75
Tenured: 32
Tenure track:12
Non-Tenure Track: 31

DI rankings 2009:
Undergrad: 6
Grad: 9
Int. Design: 9
Landscape Arch: 11

rocksauce,

to address your question, they gave us a list of about 35 firms/companies from which new grads received jobs from in 2008. I believe they said that many of these firms regularly select their employees from UT's pool of students.

The reported salary range for 2008 was $34,000-58,000.

I also forgot to mention that Juan Miro showed us some really nice projects he's built with his firm as well.

Black Smith,

Your comments and descriptions are awesome! But they admit 169 MArch I student this year???

Black Smith,

Your comments and descriptions are awesome! But they admit 169 MArch I students this year???

ocotillo,

i only applied to two programs - umich and texas - both of which i would have had no qualms attending. texas is a highly respected program and i have gotten my fair share of (good natured) beef at the architecture firm i work at (in austin) for not choosing texas.

their emphasis on sustainability was years ahead of many other programs in the u.s. -- something i was always drawn to - and has remained one of the strongest programs in the nation in this regard. they do a lot of solar decathalon stuff if you're interested in something like that. i have also always been impressed with their neighborhood/outreach initiatives. when i visited the school ~1.5 years ago, a studio was working on designs for the alley flats project --- very interesting!

and you can't beat the location! but i'm from here and i live about 4 blocks from the school, so maybe i'm biased. ;)

but yeh - at the end of the day, if it hadn't been for this aspiring lawyer + scholarship (and of course the fact that i think umich is a great school and a great fit for me -- i.e. i'm not having to sacrifice my ambitions), i'd be at UT in a heartbeat, no second guessing.

oh - and the materials lab that blake mentions above --- quite dreamy!!! i did the summer architecture program at UT back when I was 17 and I was just entranced by the materials lab. oh and one thing that's awesome about UT is that the co-op (which sells all your art/drafting/modeling making materials) is literally across the street. as is cafe medici (siiigh, if only it was still metro - that place was 24 hours)

at sunshy,

no, I believe that number to be the total number of students in the M. Arch 1 program.

from past years statistics, it seems they try to get a class of about 50 each year for M. Arch 1

Oh and here ya go:

http://vincentsnyderarchitect.com/

http://mirorivera.com/

sites for some of the faculty I mentioned in the earlier post

awesome info - thanks all

blake smith, thank you so much for that recap! I'll probably be visiting in May during final reviews, but it was awesome to hear what the open house was like.

So I'm going to go out on a limb here...

Unfortunately, I don't feel like I've been able to see much work that has impressed me during my visit. It's actually quite a shock, considering ISSUE has some fantastic material within. Where is the student work? I've seen only preliminary drafted drawings on students desks. This is a sharp contrast and the biggest let down to me during my visit.

U of M presented over 50 student projects and held a jury during the Open House. I didn't actually see many professors floating around on Friday, but when I walked around the studios I couldn't help but feel that everything was just too relaxed. Maybe this is the 4 years in Boston talking. I'm looking for a program to really push me, and this combined with the lack of strong work makes me feel uneasy. I do understand that UT has a great reputation for sustainable design as well as practice oriented construction knowledge (which I firmly believe are both very critical) but having been in practice for 4 years, feel that I might benefit from a more theoretical program like Michigan.


also, how could the lose Sergio and the BaSIC program to Portland State?!

Has anyone else felt these reservations?

They lost BaSIC??? BaSIC's web page needs to be updated, if so http://www.basicinitiative.org/About.htm

That is a bummer.

I think so? I'm going to meet with Richard Cleary today. I'll let you all know, but I havent seen or heard about Sergio and I've been down here all weekend!

definitely let us know. i think he is gone, but if the whole program is disassociated with UT, that sucks.

wow, PSU's website is terrible, by the way.

sturgey, I'm pretty much with you on your assessment of the studio work (as seen in the studios themselves on Friday). While the work in Issue is mostly impressive, and hopefully indicative of what the more motivated students are producing, the general lack of intensity in the studios was disappointing. I was hoping to see more quantity and quality. There were a couple of studios that had what I was hoping for, but for the most part, the atmosphere seemed a bit too laid back.

That said, I believe the more motivated students have the resources available (human and physical) to make very sophisticated and elegant work. So while I share your assessment based on what I saw, I still feel like UT is a viable option for a number of reasons. UT has a world class faculty, period. Also, the facilities are on par with far more expensive private schools:
-multiple laser cutters,
-3-axis mill...soon to have a 5-axis head,
-3d printer
-large shop in general,
-beautiful day-lit studios with high ceilings that would be a pleasure to spend time in,
-larger-than-average studio space per student,
-beautiful library reading room w/a great selection of periodicals,
-etc.

Along with this, one has to consider the fact that an education at UT will end up costing a fraction of a private school education. While they don't seem to be offering many admitted students a ton of aid up front, there seem to be several ways to get money and leave UT with little-to-no tuition debt.

Regarding Sergio Palleroni, I don't really consider that "loss" to be a big deal. He has a reputation for being dogmatic in the worst way, and that is exactly what the environmentally and socially conscious design movement does NOT need. I kept these thoughts to myself, but during the post-open house happy hour (which was highly enjoyable), I heard at least a few current UT students express similar thoughts about Sergio. There are still plenty of opportunities at UT to be involved with design-build work and other community based projects (most notably, in my opinion, is the Alley Flats Initiative).

One final note - Austin is a great town. I took the time to check it out rather thoroughly...it seems like a great place to experience a very high "quality of life."

While I was not entirely stoked about the studio work, I was quite impressed by the current students that I spoke with, and was also impressed by the prospective students that I met. Therefore, I left Austin trusting that, considering the perceived drawbacks, UT would be a great place to study.

I just wanted to post my comments, for what they're worth. I will be attending UT in the Fall for MArch 2 post-professional (if anyone needs a roommate I may be interested). I graduated from Auburn in 2007 with a BArch, but also attended RPI for 3 years.

I visited UT several weeks ago and was also not overly impressed with the studio work, but there were some excellent projects and I was more than impressed with the professors. The resources available to students at UT are amazing and shouldn't be overlooked.

Personally, I've found that I appreciate having peers around me that challenge me and I've been able to find those people at both of the schools I've attended. You must be willing to be self-critical and challenge yourselves (which shouldn't be a problem, from what I can tell about all of my fellow posters.) I think it comes down to where you feel most comfortable. UT seems to have a very collaborative approach and I like that a lot.

Being a post-professional candidate, I'm sure to a certain extent I have different priorities (I'm looking to learn about their various community initiatives and how to implement these programs in a city context.) However, I completely agree with the post above: I think UT would be a great place to study.

sturgey, what did cleary have to say?

hey folks --

Richard and Rosamin were both very friendly. they offered me some good perspective and set me up to speak with two current students who might be able to address my questions/concerns in the best way.

Richard and I spoke about my interests, and ways of working in studio. He stated that many people coming from the east coast mistake Austin's laid back atmosphere for lack of rigor. He argued that while there is a good mix of critics and different types of learners at the school, the students at Austin that excel are self motivated and are proactive about engaging critics. This seems obvious, but is not necessarily available at schools that focus on production and have professors that 'push' you to produce rather than giving you time to find your way. An interesting perspective that i can sympathize with -- as I find myself somewhere in the middle of these two ways of learning.

Personally, I'm interested in pursuing design/build architecture as both a way of thinking about design and practice and as a more environmentally conscious socal impact endeavor. I'd like to find ways to take advantage of the newest technologies in materials, as well as digital fabrication and parametric form finding in this process. Richard immediately was excited by this and mentioned that many faculty and students share a mission in the joining of these distinct ways of thinking.

I came away with a more positive feeling of the place after our discussions, but am still concerned for most of the same reasons when choosing between U of M and UT (now add SCI-arc in the mix!). I know a dozen strong Michigan grads who are great people and creative designers in strong offices, and know that UM is regarded very highly here. I don't know a single UT grad in Boston, or working for a bad ass office. I understand that they have the highest pass rate in the country for AREs, but I dont want to be a CAD-monkey, I want to be a thinker/designer/builder. I'm concerned about the lack of theoretical emphasis on design -- I can easily assign myself a boathouse project or a winery -- I need something more substantial if I'm going to pay you to teach me.

that's where I am right now. I know there are a lot of positive things going on at the school, but there's a lot nagging on me...ugh austin is beautiful.

Are people here set on Austin or still debating vs. other programs?

I left Austin with many of the same thoughts expressed above...

I absolutely remain interested in UT, but I'm not done visiting schools (or hearing about wait lists), so the debate rolls on...

my contribution to the thread: 54 pictures from the visit

Sturgey, I'm 99% set on Austin. I visit this Friday, so barring any bizarre incidents, I'll be going. I'm in at UT and UW, waitlisted at Cornell. My perspective is this: considering all three schools, their resources, their history, their reputations, their overarching focuses, and underneath all of that, their cost, for me personally Austin gets the closest to my needs. UW doesn't seem to have the firm grasp on what their goals are, and I keep hearing from people that it is so regionally focused that it would be best to remain in the NW, which, while I love the NW, I don't wish to stay there. Cornell seems to be in disarray. So much flux, no accreditation, Milstein Hall might fall through, their current facilities are sub par, etc., et al. But more importantly, their balance between pragmatics and theory is tipped a bit too far in one direction for me. As I see it, Cornell could well equip me for starchitecture servitude. There is a strong precedent for prestigious futures for their grads. But I need a more rounded experience. I don't think that UT is lacking in theoretical potential, I just don't think they put that out there as their modus operandi. They do truly seem to embrace theory, and to encourage students to branch out of the arch discipline as well (am I right?). Cornell claims this too, but I don't believe them. What about the content of "Issue"? That work did in fact come out of UT, no? I just think they probably expect you to find your own focus because they are such a diverse program (with sustainable design as the underlying assumption).
But you know yourself, and don't need my analysis.

Jeffrey Kipnis disturbed me at Cornell's symposium this year, saying, more or less, that sustainable design should be left to the engineers. Take from that what you will.

Is anyone considering the sustainable design program at UT?

http://soa.utexas.edu/sustainabledesign/curriculum

For an extra couple of semesters you get to emphasize/specialize in sustainable design.

I wonder if it's worth it? Did any of you who visited the school hear anything about it?

Also, I was under the impression that the BaSiC Initiative was still at UT, even though Sergio left. I received this e-mail from Jane back in November:

"Our current project under the umbrella of the BaSiC Initiative is the Alley Flats project. More information about this project can be found at http://www.basicinitiative.org/ Dr. Steven Moore works with this project and can be reached at samoore@mail.utexas.edu In addition, Dr. Michael Garrison also has an upcoming design/build project."

considering it, yes, especially if funding comes along. it seems like something you don't have to decide right away, even taking a couple years to consider it. do you get that impression?

i'll ask cleary on friday explicitly about BaSIC.

landshark -

When Steven Moore spoke during the morning session (a brief talk prior to the "main" faculty presentations outlined by Blake above), he said that if you're interested in a real SD "credential" rather than just an emphasis/minor, the Specialization in Sustainable Design is the way to go, but would likely add one semester to a program of study (if the specialization was pursued from the outset of your time at UT).

A few people at my table during lunch were talking about the SD curriculum in further detail with Moore (one of these students was admitted specifically for the MSSD program), but I was caught up in a conversation with a few fellow open house attendees...anyone else have something more substantive to offer?

i think this discussion board has been really helpful. I'm leaning UT now... a lot of folks at Michigan are going to be disappointed! I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited about being done with this crap.

the money is right, the place is beautiful, and i think an atmosphere that allows for a little more self reflection is ideal for me. on top of all of that, i'm betting that UT has enough balance to let me pursue all of my interests while preparing me for my own design/build office - and not to be someone's bitch (although the big names can be exciting for a while!)

Does anyone that visited have any advice to make a visit tomorrow more fruitful? I'm making a list of things to ask, and getting a couple tours, etc. Anything that shouldn't be missed (that maybe you did)?

I'm curious what your list is... maybe that would help spark some discussion here.

I'd ask where do UT students end up working? (with specific examples not the generic it depends or all over answer) I haven't met anyone here in the architecture scene who has known anyone fro UT. Maybe this is more a question for finishing students.