ah, yes. I go to UC. I heard a rumor that only 5 out of 80 third-year students seeking coop found placement. That was a few weeks ago (we are in between quarters right now) so they still had a few weeks to go. But usually it's not a big problem to find firms, so I'd say this is definitely a change that screws up the cirriculum. Scary.

As for the other questions.... I hope it's still worthwhile to consider UC and the coop is not the only claim to fame. for my sake anyway. in my opinion, the actual time at uc - the majority of the cirriculum - has content. i mean, surely the 3 quarters on coop is not the only good thing about the school... there are 15 other quarters spent in DAAP.

I AM a third year architecture student in DAAP, and I'm currently on co-op in Nashville.

bravo, that rumor is a little extreme - I wanna say perhaps slightly over half of the 80 found employment at architecture-related firms (though many of them found jobs on their own, the co-op office people were very ineffective this past quarter). The remainder of the students are doing self-guided study tours or are volunteering, or just getting the co-op quarter waived. The co-op people are extremely sympathetic with the students about the scarcity of jobs, and are doing alot to accommodate the people who didn't land a job. No one's getting "screwed", or anything.

If I were you, I wouldn't be swayed by any future job-search hardships. If you're industrious and a good designer with the right computer skills, you'll be able to find employment most anywhere in the country as a UC intern if you look carefully enough, trust me. You really just need to spend alot of time on your portfolio. The risk of not getting a job, though, is far outweighed by the benefits of having that experience on your resume, which is something UC is really good for.

But all of that will be irrelevant when architecture bounces back with the economy by 2010 or 2011 (everyone hopes), and you'll have 3 or 4 offers on the table from firms all at once.

But yes, as bravo said, and I'll reiterate, though the co-op aspect to UC is icing on the cake, academically DAAP is really great.

So are you graduating high school, or applying to March?

EDIT: Roughly half of the ARCHITECTURE students in my section found employment, can't speak for any other departments.

archny: our firm routinely invites UC students to co-op with us. it's a truly great program and we find that 3rd year UC students bring a maturity and real-world perspective that we rarely, if ever, find with entering M.Arch grads. we love having these folks in our office ... as a group, they're smart, talented and quite capable. we've never, ever had a dud.

regrettably, because our work is way off right now, we're not in a position to bring somebody in for the coming term. but, we believe that's just a temporary condition and that there will be UC folks back here just as soon as our workload returns.

my main point is this -- the co-op experience seems to have a truly beneficial impact on the education of UC grads. they're up-to-speed the day they enter our firm and that gives them a true competitive edge and it boosts their career progress. I think it's a great way to obtain a great architectural education and I wish I had known about the program when I was deciding where to go to school.

whatever the more pessimistic pundits might have to say on the subject, these horrible economic times aren't going to last forever. I'm confident the UC faculty will find a way to cope with this short term problem without negatively impacting their student body. don't let near term economic considerations deter you from attending UC if that's otherwise a place you find attractive.

Yup, comb, you said it as eloquently as I ever could. I wonder what firm you work at? =)

Interesting topic... I plan to apply to DAAP's M.Arch. program this fall, and I've been wondering how badly the economy is impacting the co-op program. I already have a number of years of work experience under my belt, so I could probably opt out of part of my co-op requirements if I wanted to, but I'm looking forward to hopefully testing the waters in some office settings and project types that I haven't experienced before. Given that my first co-op quarter wouldn't be until 2+ years from now at the earliest, hopefully things will be back on the upswing by then.

I attended the M.Arch. open house this past fall, and I think I remember hearing that roughly half the students do their co-op locally while half end up going elsewhere in the country or the world. Is that still a fair statement, or has there been a big shift in one direction or the other?

Co-op aside, how would you describe the teaching style and general academic culture at DAAP? Have things settled down since the whole David Niland fracas? Most talk about DAAP seems to center around the co-op program, but I find it harder to get a good handle on what's happening in the studios.

Yea, things have settled down although the Dean recently left/retired. I don't know a WHOLE lot about the grad program, though I am intimately familiar with the undergrad. I don't think grad school is co-op centric like undergrad is, though.

Your studios are nice (well, nice for arch studios) ha ha. Big windows with a balcony overlooking the courtyard that people cook out on. I think someone put a full-size hammock in the studio, good place to crash.

But yeah, it's maybe half and half, or more like 40 (local) 60 (out of state).

Sounds about right... I've been through the facilities a few times and they seem like decent spaces. I'd just have to develop a tolerance for pastel colors and disjointed geometry.

Bahaha, yea. It's notoriously difficult to find your way around at first but you get used to it... good ol' Eisenman!

all: thanks for the responses. the current economy makes for an unfortunate job market, but understanding how this has affected u of cinn at least makes me more informed of what options i need to consider.

jk3hl: i applied to the march1 program and was accepted. i've been accepted into the march1, "b" option. i don't really understand the difference betweent the "a" (i'm assuming there is an "a" option) and the "b" option. oh, and by option, that wasn't my option, but the one i was assigned to. was surprised to learn that the program starts at the end of june (was anticipating starting a program in late august). if you have any insight into this, that would be helpful.

right now my choices are very different (columbia, berkeley, penn, ucinn (or i guess "uc" as i've seen it referenced on these boards)). i initially applied to the program because i learned of it through recent grads who had no end to their praise. both were undergrads who continued on to the masters program at uc and were (and still are) gainfully employed by top-notch nyc firms. i haven't had the opportunity to talk to folks who have only completed their masters at uc. however, as living in gin has asked, i'm also curious about the studios... who teaches them... what are their bents/areas of focus, etc... where they've done their work, etc. it's hard getting a handle of this from the web site, but i've done a bit of research following the links provided on other uc-related posts i've read. i will be visiting as part of the open house next week so i hope to gain more insight into the areas i've described, but any additional info or contacts would be wonderful. oh, and the financial incentives and cheap cost of living compared to the other schools/cities i'm considering is certainly attractive.

Have fun at the open house... Be sure to chow down at Skyline Chili on Ludlow Avenue, just a few blocks north of DAAP. I recommend the three-way with a couple of cheese coneys on the side.

The cost of living is a big draw for me as well (in addition to the fact that I grew up in the Cincinnati area)... I'm eligible for in-state tuition at City College of New York, which is peanuts compared to what I'd pay at most other schools, but when you factor in the cost of living, co-op earnings, and the fact that UC allows you to apply for in-state residency after the first year, UC still comes out to be my cheapest option.

archny:

I am a current thesis student at UC. I did my UG here. The numbers are actually a lot better than they used to be. Only 2 Grad students are yet to be placed in a paid coop. The Coop Advisors busted their butts to find jobs in this terrible economy. So the economy has obviously made it more difficult to find a job, but coming out of school with those experiences and connections is priceless and gives us a edge coming out, so don't let the economy deter you.

As far as the grad studios go they are really very good. Two quarters a studio designed a health clinic for a town in Africa, and now a couple of them are administrating its construction. This past quarter a studio completed entries to the Lyceum competition. Last year the UC students swept it and the winner got a huge travel grant. The thesis studios are great and so are the faculty.

The thesis faculty have a wide range of interests, but they work in two year cycles so this year's thesis faculty won't be the same as when you would take thesis. I am not exactly sure what "option b" means. But everyone starts during the summer instead of fall. This is because we have two quarters of coop and an "option quarter", we need to get a head start. In this option quarter you get to do whatever you want. I worked for an artist's studio, did historical restoration, took a natural building workshop, and developed a historical tour of Cincinnati that is now getting turned into a class. My point is you really have control of your education.

I will be here at UC next week when you come. I am one of the student leaders so if you ask for me, Joe McGovern, I can show you around and answer your questions. I hope this helps, but like I said come see me when you are around.

James: By the way that is my hammock and it is awesome to work on your thesis document, and to sleep.

Ha ha, nice. Take it easy, Joe.

Nice... Thanks for the info, Joe.

When I attended the open house this past fall, I briefly met a faculty member who had a strong interest in urban infrastructure, but I didn't catch her name offhand. Does this person ring a bell? Urban infrastructure is also a big passion of mine and will likely be a topic for my undergrad thesis, so at some point I may try to get in touch with this professor over the next few months.

Sounds like Rebecca Williamson. Sound familiar? It could also be Patricia Kucker.

Thanks... I actually met with both of them, but Rebecca Williamson is the one I had in mind.

Joe, I'm glad to hear that you guys are doing so well in studio! I love that you have a hammock. Back when I was in senior studio (I was in the last full class to graduate with a 6-year BArch) we had a much different set up than you guys have now. In short, it was the Fire Marshall's worst nightmare and he shut us down the day after final crits. We had curtains, christmas lights, a TV and a papasan chair, all enclosed in a 12' high wood shelving system. Behold, our desk area, which we lovingly called "The Rainbow Lounge":



Note the vintage Eisenman in the background :o)

Later I'll tell you stories about the trouble we got into shooting a water balloon cannon off the balcony over Clifton Avenue ...

My god... That studio is a fire hazard. I remember seeing something like this in 2002 during my visit. I had all but forgotten it. I don't know how you all had time to build this, unbelievable. The water balloon cannon sounds awesome. All we do is "DAAP" things. aka throw them off the balcony and watch them smash.

Flying projects? Yeah we did that too....



And I must give credit where credit is due; the "hutches", as we called them, were there long before we arrived. They were "ancestral senior thesis hutches" if you will, LOL. They were structurally sound though:



I still have the leopard print pillow in the chair....

PS. The water balloon story is awesome. Actually it was a giant slingshot that required like 3 people to do it, and we got the balloons really far. One Friday night, when we were all in studio working, we decided to take a break and shoot some balloons at people going to parties at the frats along Clifton. There were like 25 of us on the balcony and we shot it, and it landed right behind a couple of sorority girls. The guy that was with them somehow saw us all crouching on the balcony and ran up the hill after us. Mind you, this was one guy and there were at least 25 of us. Naturally we all scrambled back into the studio and hid under our desks, LOL...the dude actually climbed up onto the balcony though (!), couldn't get in because the doors were locked, but he wandered around out there for a minute before he left. Ridiculous, right? God those were a fun 6 months...

our firm is not taking any UofC students this time. We usually take 2.

joe: thanks for the insight. i'll def look you up when i'm there tomorrow.

No problem, I am giving one of the 11am campus tours. I would be giving the DAAP tour as well, but they scheduled it when all thesis students have a class.

Also we have a happy hour at the campus bar at 5, that all the visitors tomorrow are invited to. So if you are interested plan to come to that. You will get insight from a lot more students that way.