Archinect
anchor

Help Choosing a grad School

Hi everyone. I just wanted some advice about the grad schools I got into: Columbia, Rice, and Georgia Tech. Each one is at a very different price point, but I was wondering the pluses and minuses of each program, how they are viewed by employers, rankings, is one way better than the others, etc... As of right now, I'm really torn. As a native New Yorker, I'd love to go home (I eventually want to end up there anyways), but Columbia is so expensive and I got a relatively small scholarship award. Georgia Tech would be a free ride, with a position as an intern at Perkins+Will in Atlanta or assisting faculty with research. Rice is about half the cost of Columbia, and only accepted 12 people into the program. Another thing I've been considering is the length of each program. Columbia is 3 years, Rice is 2.5, and Tech is 2. I'm willing to take out loans to pay for school, I just want the investment to really be worth it. Any thoughts?

 
Apr 7, 09 8:50 pm
gardenx

A friend of mine went to Rice and thought it was an excellent program. Read some of Lars Lerup's books to get a taste of where his head is.

Apr 7, 09 10:56 pm  · 
 · 
ARCHCareersGuide.com

To truly answer your question, what are the most important criteria you plan to use to make this decision. You discuss cost, opportunitiy to work as an intern and desire to go home.

List these criteria out and compare each program against those criteria to help you make the decision. In other words, do not compare the programs against each other.

Long term, firms do not care where you went to school -- they want to know what you can do. Given the economy and free ride from GA Tech, that appears to be the best option from a financial viewpoint, but will it meet your other criteria

www.archcareers.org

Apr 8, 09 6:33 am  · 
 · 
trace™

If you went to Columbia and got the MBA in RE/MArch, then I think it'd be worth it.


Other than that, hard to ignore the free ride, given the economy and all.


If you think you'll end up in NY, then C might hold more weight, elsewhere it is just another good school.

Apr 8, 09 8:06 am  · 
 · 

Block this user


Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?

Archinect


This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.

  • ×Search in: