so I got a thin envelope from MIT (my top choice) in my box, and was expecting my first rejection. nope. waitlisted. hmm, do people ever get off these or is this as good as a rejection? hey! at least they almost wanted me!

the best part is where it started off with "The admissions committee was favorably impressed with your application...". it says they usually draw from the wait list after April 23. obviously the other, awesome, schools I've heard from already want a decision by the 15th. should I contact MIT and beg? or is this generally frowned upon?

thevillain

People get off waitlists sometimes, my friend last year was waitlisted at Sci-arc and UW and was then offered an acceptance to both programs.

thevillain - why is mit your top choice?

I love the faculty, the balance of the curriculum (artisticy-expression stuff mixed with a process-driven scientificy-stuff), the broad spectrum of fields incorporated into said curriculum, the ability to get all crazy upinthere with scripting and whatnot.. something I have yet to deal with in my short architecture career. It's a top-notch program, but in all the areas that my undergrad shied away from. my bs arch focused on alot of pretty surface-y/bling-y stuff, and theory. I just felt like MIT would really supplement what I learned there. ya know, balance.

c'est la vie. gsapp was probably tied for my top school anyways, so I wont lose any sleep over this.

Just got in Pratt with $6000 ... :)

koru, did pratt mention that in the email?

Does anyone have any word from Cornell. They sure are taking their sweet time. It's my last school before I make a decision. Who else is waiting to hear from them?

Tally insofar:

Princeton: Rejection
Yale: Rejection
GSAPP: Accepted, 12K
Pratt: Accepted, 6k
Cornell: ?

I need Cornell's reply to leverage money with GSAPP. Oh and Yunez I have to say your portfolio is pretty nifty. A fellow filipino here so pretty excited to see the few other future Filipino architects.

AAbelSun, damn 12k for gsapp.. goodjob! that's the highest i've seen so far. I dont think they like to give out alot in the first year, so be careful with the leveraging.

So is tomorrow going to be crunch day for the GSD? Has anyone else received a package?

thevillain-- I think you could write/email MIT and tell them that if accepted you'd attend the program. It might help move your name up the wait list a bit.

Regarding the timeline, you'd have to accept at a different school, pay the deposit (a few hundred bucks) and then drop out if you were accepted to MIT.

My 2 cents.

thevillain,

I didn't know how much is normal for scholarship from GSAPP, I just looked at the disparity between that and tuition cost and it still seemed like a lot. Do you think I should just count my blessings and accept? The other day I was thinking about first day of class and meeting all my peers and meeting any of you guys on this thread. That just seems like an awesome thing. EXCITED!!!!

Waitlisted at Syracuse. Small envelope came today. Blah blah blah unranked list, blah blah blah call us if you have questions, blah blah blah please inform us of your decision soon. I live in Chicago if you're wondering about location.

Tally so far-

UMich- 2G Waitlisted
Syracuse- M.Arch 1 Waitlisted
Minn- ???
Florida-???

archhk ,

Yes, they mentioned about scholarship which isn't renewable in the email..

Pult: Thanks for showing your portfolio! It looks amazing... Black pages? That must have eaten up a lot of ink. did you print it yourself? The portfolio looks like total GSAPP material, did you apply?

yes, that disparity is certainly daunting. I would research/talk to a few people before you decide what to do, because I honestly do not know what the "normal" scholarship @ gsapp is either. I was just basing it on what I've seen here + gradcafe. I'm going to have a lot of $-related questions to ask them at the open house. It would be really nice to get a pulse of what kind of increase in scholarship aid gsapp students get as they go through the program, the acceptance letter was very cryptic about that.

hey thanks for the thoughts MArch4April.. that's exactly what i'm going to do and just cross my fingers something opens up.

FYI Villain,
When I applied a few years ago I asked GSAPP for an extension on the decision deadline, and they gave it to me.

Hey recent Pratt acceptees...congrats again...I think it seems like a great place.

Questions did everyone that heard receive a scholarship? Could it be they just sent out acceptances to the star applicants today? Just wondering if I should hold out any hope...

o1nichols,

thanks. GSAPP rocks and I'd accept, but Robert AM Stern stole my heart. I'm pretty much done with the process, only curious about GSD at this point.

atty don't give up hope until you actually receive a rejection or waitlisting letter. it might take a few days for them to get you your email.

and mizzlefizzle, minnesota just finished up their decisions i believe and should be finalizing them soon

I just remembered we have to wait another week for the UPenn decisions.

pult,

ive heard stern has been known to do that every once in a while. has your friend whos applied to pratt received news? wish him luck for me and i assume that you havent heard anything from the gsd yet, otherwise we wouldnt be having this stern discussion

Thanks li...you are right, its not over till its over I guess. Just having one of the days....stuck in the office at a job I hate...looking at another 7 or 8 hours of work...followed by a couple more 20 hours days to come this week...

Pult,

its a shame that you have dismissed gsapp, i think we would get along (based on your porfolio) working together in a studio setting. oh well, im sure there are plenty of people waiting for you to turn down danielle smoller and mark wigley

atty,

As li dandan say don't be anxious so early…After seeing amazing portfolios in here and comparing them with mine, I can guarantee you that Pratt doesn't pick best applicants :)

I'm sure you'll hear good news any minute now..

Hey Atty, just curious what do you do in the office?

I hope so but have a bad feeling.

I am a corporate lawyer.

li dandan-

Congrats on the Clemson acceptance, especially on getting into the arch + health track. I heard today, too - I'm in for the 3 year program and waitlisted for the health concentration. Which is going to make for a hard decision, provided I also get in at Syracuse. Their programs seem pretty similar.

oh, ew atty. i am trying to talk my friend in my urban planning law class out of going to law school, especially since he doesn't even know what he wants to do.

what turned you on to architecture? i can't remember if you said before, since there's been 20 pages of comments since then...

and if you end up not getting into pratt you do have another school to look forward to!

thanks! they seem to prefer 2-year track people for the health concentration from what i gather. My friend that is currently in that program really loves it which is why i applied in the first place.

It is a really tough decision... I have no idea how I am going to decide anything!

ew is right li. As for what turned me on to architecture...always been interested...wanted to do something creative...want to actually make something...

and yes I do have another school to look forward to and it is one I am very excited about...so I guess you are right...I need to relax

Woop! just got my UBC M.Arch acceptance letter in the mail! Passerby, you were pretty accurate with timing when it would arrive. That's pretty a nice semester in Tokyo book they included too.

does anyone know about the notification times of Rice opt1 and Berkeley.. I've heard that, some accepted to Rice already ...

Word2Bird - you did Berkeley's summer program in 2009? Who's group were you in? Going to UM, apply to Berkeley?

Word2Bird - you did Berkeley's summer program in 2009? Who's group were you in? Going to UM, apply to Berkeley?

Yay!! Woop!! Woop!! big congrats. Now the wait for Toronto. If you got into both would you pick UBC?

I think Berkeley will start notifying this week for accepted, everyone 'knows' by the end of the month, although if you aren't notified of acceptance by next week, you will probably intuitively know that you were not accepted.

I was around Wurster this past summer and overheard they had 900 applicants for 2009. This sounds unrealistic, but I heard this from an admissions officer in the graduate admissions office...

guyforget_ i did participate in berkeley's first summer [in] architecture program this year. why, did you? i was in matt's group. i hated that guy, and he hated me. wouldn't even write me a letter of rec, but it turns out, i didn't need his help anyway. :D

i've been admitted to u of mich and cca. still waiting to hear back from berkeley, ucla, risd and sci-arc. expecting rejection from mit. for now, the only school that can shake things up is berkeley. well, mit was my reach to it's my first choice, but u of mich was pretty high up there on my list as well as berkeley.

Oh, I'll definitely pick UBC even if I get into Toronto. My order of preference was:

UBC M.Arch (in)
UBC MLA (in)
UofT MLA (don't know)

So Toronto was my "back up" basically. Although I wouldn't have minded going there, they were really disorganized and kind of pissed me off sometimes.
Anyways, big congrats to you too. Which one will you choose? Assuming you get in everywhere of course.

Yeah man, your instructor was kind of #%$! (which ever four letter word works for you), crazy he didn't write you a letter. Good job with Mich, Ann Arbor is great. I was going to apply to UM, but had to pare it down - I decided that I'm originally from the Midwest and I just got out here, and that was good enough, although I still applied to two Midwest schools. I got into CCA also, just went to check it out a bit today - facilities are nice! Also got into WUSTL and Oregon. Waiting on UC, Berkeley, and Texas.

hey discordant, what state are you in?
i'm in TX ... still hanging onto the dream for UBC. hoping the mail is realllllyyyyyyy slow.

oh i thought all of the canadians heard already.. but you just got yours today? and you're in canada (guessing)? there is hope!

How come you didn't apply to M.Arch in Toronto discord?

Well my initial first choice was UBC. But I'm reconsidering Toronto M.Arch if I get in. I've lived in Vancouver before and have never been to Toronto, and someone I really care about is moving to Toronto so I don't know....I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Just by looking at their website, program wise I don't know which one is better. you're from there, how is Toronto's Master's architecture program?

Dalhousie was actually my backup, since it was essentially an undergrad application for their B.E.D.S 2 years, then masters for 2 more.

guyforget_ who are you? post your portfolio. it would be nice to see a fellow [in]arch's work. more info on me + my portfolio on page 23 of this thread. who's section were you in? don't say keith. i love that guy.

matt was such an jerk! he would say really inappropriate things, such as calling projects ghetto and just the use of the word "ghetto" all over the place. that's one of those words that should never be used, unless you're singing ghetto super star or actually referring to jewish ghettos or something like that.

ghetto should most definitely never be used to = something of poor quality or rinky-dink. that's just rude!

Keopi: I'm actually in Toronto, Ontario, so I would expect it to get to me before you. But I would think it'll only take a few more days, end of the week at most. Good Luck!

So I didn't apply to Toronto for M.Arch because I didn't take certain courses in high school that they required, even thought I took similar ones in undergrad. The admissions woman (Yvonne) said it was pretty non-negotiable (w/e). But needless to say I've visited the arch. building numerous times, looked at work and talked to ppl. They're agenda is urbanism, UBC's is sustainability/environmentalism, that's the basic difference as far as I can tell. The arch. faculty at U of T just settled on a renovation design for the building as well. It looks impressive, and will be a huge improvement once it's done....but the entire building will be under construction while your there, all 3 years.

Toronto it's self is really eclectic, kinda grungy at times, more multicultural than anywhere I can think of and probably Canada's only "Real" city. (aside from maybe Montreal). If you've never been I'd highly recommend it....it's just disgusting in winter though, especially in North York where I am. Transit is pretty bad too, for its size. But if you don't end up coming here for school you need to visit at some point between May and October, it's pretty vibrant at that time (especially check out kensington market, cool place).

seems, like i could go on all day about Toronto actually, despite wanting to leave it so badly. But I'll leave it there for for now.

for everyone that was talking about "leveraging", i have a question for you all that maybe you can help me with...

How would one go about "leveraging" for more scholarship/grant money from a school? I was offered a relatively small amount of money from GSAPP but I really need more in order to consider going there...GSAPP is my DREAM school and I wold do anything to go there!
On the other hand, Clemson and UT offered me substantially more money to attend. How would I go about "leveraging" this situation? What would I do and who would I contact? I NEED to go to GSAPP!! :(

Hey Bird, don't have a link to my portfolio (it's not online), and would rather not post it here anyways - yours looks good though! Only two pages from this past summer, eh? My portfolio is all from this past summer as it is the only visual work that I have taken part in - everything else = riveting papers on the political rhetoric of the Italian Renaissance, or on whether or not Marsilio Ficino's Neoplatonism really constituted an original philosophical system, etc.

Regardless, Berk is #1 choice, so dying to hear.

MMARCH - that statement seems to be a good place to start - just direct it at them....(?)

does anyone know if we get accepted after being placed on the waitlist, will they still offer some kind of financial aid or do we just have the fork out the change?