Financially, they are in very different brackets. Unless you have been given a very substantial scholarship by Pratt.

I am also in Vancouver, I do not go to UBC though. I have however, visited many times and sat in on some critiques.

Needless to say, I will not be applying at UBC when the time comes next year for me. The studio culture seems fun, and I have several friends at the program, but the output is not inline with my interests. More specifically the thesis work.

I believe the UBC student blogger touched on this sometime this year, something about there not being much "Architecture" being produced in senior projects. It appeared to be more oriented to community planning, diagramming and what not. There is also a growing green focus at the school from what I have seen. I'm sure it could be a great school for the right student.

This could be a generalization, but for me, Pratt would seem the obvious choice if:

a) money is not an issue
b) you are more interested in the formal aspects of architecture

Take everything with a grain of salt, I'm just giving you my perspective as an outsider who has spoken with many students and graduates of the program. Get as many opinions as you can, and go visit the school if it's an option!

Best of luck in your decision.

Can you please give me the link of this UBC student blogger?

The very odd thing about Pratt is that they have been very evasive about how much tuition will cost as an international (Canadian) student in Pratt. They've only shown me the domestic (American citizen) cost of tuition. On my acceptance letter there's been no hint either, and when I called the office, the administration kept re-directing my call to someone else, as no one would tell me the cost. I've heard a lot of bad things about their bureaucracy though. So all I can assume now is that it is a lot, and enough to not tell me until the day we register and have to pay for our courses.

But thanks though! I'll decide by tomorrow so someone else can take my spot at either Pratt or UBC.

lots to read!

Cheers.

I graduated from UBC, liked it there... I liked the profs there, architecture school will be what you make of it, no hand holding, you find your interests and pursue them... but there are some world class design profs as well as profs in sustainability, history / theory etc, and there will probably be opportunities to do some interdisciplinary seminar courses with other grad students from other faculties, and some nice study abroads, some design build courses, etc. education wise, I don't think there's a big difference between one school to another, although there may be some advantages reputation wise of different schools in different regions, you can probably work anywhere... In the end it's your portfolio, and what you make of your education, what you do that potential employers and other post-professional graduate programs will be looking at later...

Also, I guess it depends on your own personal financial situation, but I think the tuition thing is HUGE... It's nice to graduate from an M.Arch and not be totally wrecked by debt(it will be the same caliber education as any US school IMHO) and at maybe a tenth of the cost... Honestly, we don't make enough as architecture graduates to be worth $18,000 to $30,000 in tuition alone per year of M.Arch... As a Canadian resident, you pay maybe between $1800 to $4000 CDN per year in tuition, you can do your whole M.Arch and cover some living expenses and do studies abroad for less than the cost of one year at some American private universities... Plus if you are from Vancouver, you can probably live cheaply, and it's a fun city... I don't know... I'm not sure what the tuition is at Pratt though, I do know some State schools are considerably cheaper... But I'm no sure I would pay to go to an IVY league school over a Canadian school if I were a resident, unless I had some kind of scholarship or teaching position or something so as not to come out of school in huge debt... Anyway, just my honest 2 cents, but I would listen to some other people...

But I think it really depends on what you want to do... You might want to try living in a new city... But then again you can always do that after you graduate and work someplace new...

bRink, I personally feel the same, that it only matters to a certain degree which school one goes to, and how one makes of it, though Pratt has a "better" reputation down in the states.

I also found out from the UBC admin that about a fifth of the students are from the US because even as an international student, they would be still paying far less than they would in the US as a domestic student...

Ok, after years of research of both institutions, I have decided to choose UBC for the most part because I don't want my post-graduation life to be ruined by debt, which can hinder my ability to move around and work. Hoorah.