They're sneaky like that. Guess I'll see you there! I'm really excited about it too!

@Cvett

Ga Tech is my first choice if I get in. I called Robin Tucker, who is listed on the waitlist letter. She is very nice and I called around 2pm Eastern time. Good luck to you as well!

psheldahl and Daubentonia - you guys perspective M.Arch IIs at the GSD?

I'm trying my luck too and will be going to the open house to try to get more $

anyone have any tips on how to go about this?
in terms of 'competitor schools' - which schools are we referring to? I do have another offer from MIT with substantially more aid - but I'm not sure if this will help me

@praxis99
im M.Arch I
i also just received an email from the GSD financial aid department telling me that there aren't any other grants scholarships or fellowships that i am eligible for and that i should look into outside grants.

Has anyone here NOT heard from UCLA yet, or UH (Houston)?

Daubentonia - are you an international applicant?

I've heard that it appears the GSD doesn't negotiate on funding

sonali07-

I'm still waiting to hear from Uh as well. They're deadline wasn't till Feb 15 though, so I was expecting them to take a little longer to notify.

sonali07 - I still have not heard from UCLA....taking the silence as a rejection!

tzara,

yep, me too.

sonali-

Still waiting on UCLA and USC. Has anyone heard back from these school recently?

I did however hear back from UH on March 2nd.

@mobility

How long did it take to get your funding information from Houston?

@praxis99

not international
they do negotiate
my friend just got more
it might just be situational

@Daubentonia

Did your friend negotiate in person or through email? Thanks in advance

@doorknob

Through email,
I guess she has words made of gold
cause they said no to me
and they substantially increased her aid

can one negotiate for more than the cap allowance in grants at the gsd?

@bellysunk
do you mean the amount they quote that you'll spend a year
~50K
cause you can't go over that amount
but you can get all tuition paid for plus more
on grants

i hear there is a cap for tier 1 and tier 2 grants. ~7k for tier 1 and ~18k for tier 2 (something along those lines). so assuming this, it is not possible to get more aid beyond those amounts.

daubentonia, do you know people at the gsd who have received full tuition + more (from grants) during their first year?

thats a good question, i would like to know the same. at the gsd i think tier 1 cap is 8500 and tier 2 is around 18000, but i could be wrong.

I'd ask for more
she's poppin champagne
with the grant money they throwin at her
she is a minority though
so they might have brown money set aside for them browns

Both aims to jump start season
Australia's Marcus Both believes golf clubs he is hitting top form at the right time to challenge for the Air Bagan Myanmar Open presented by IBTC next week. Both, who ended last season on discount golf equipment a high note when he claimed a second Asian Tour victory at the Johnnie Walker Cambodian ishiner Open.

I broke my foot and got rejected from UCLA tonight. How was your evening?

@ rascuache
How did you hear from UCLA?

@FORMZ
I still have yet to receive financial info

And... (as mobility was trying t put into words), sorry that you broke your foot. Did you apply anywhere else?

And... (as mobility was trying t put into words), sorry that you broke your foot. Did you apply anywhere else?

hello guy, I had a very beneficial meeting with Jill Stoner (why I had to escape that crit) and it looks 99.9% likely that I will be coming to Cal this Fall. It looks less likely that I will be in the first year studio... keep me updated with your choices and have fun in St Louis! Thanks again for everything.

I got my official letter with financial info from Houston today, it was dated March 29th.

Oh nice man, you're going in as an option 2 now? Yeah, makes sense looking at your work. Did you get more cash? When are you coming back to the Bay? August. Nice meeting you too, best wishes...

jess and michael (loremipsum): it was great meeting you both at cal's open house. i very much look forward to seeing the two of you around wurster. congrats, again!

tyler: still not sure how we missed each other over the summer, but it was nice to finally meet you. well, come to think of it, we sat at opposite corners of the studio space, so that's probably why.

anyway, it was really nice seeing familiar faces from the [in]arch program at the open house.

i too was reminded of why i liked ced and wurster soo much, as well as the general berkeley area. i only saw one person from my summer section though...hmm.

by the way, have any of you three receiving info on how we accept cal's offer and submit our intent to enroll? i haven't received anything as of yet.

i'm really excited about relocating to the yay-area! i don't know how excited i am about picking up rhino over the summer though.

you did not receive a letter of admission from the Cal Graduate Department? You just need to login in to where you applied in the first place and follow some links, best... Nice seeing you also.

hmm... i'll follow up with sara, but no. so far, i have only received the email from sara on 3/16 with the letter of acceptance from stoner attached.

see you in august, tyler. btw, what are your thoughts on the elective since we're required to take the 200a core studio and one class... i think the choices are structures, construction, history, and others. i am thinking of construction possibly.

oh, I don't really know. I don't think I was paying attention when they were talking about that. I wonder if I can take a course on Aesthetics, Painting or Drawing or something... checking out Wash U this weekend but am pretty sure about Cal...

Yeah, get in touch about that. Or just log in to the application site, you might not need to wait for the letter...

Best

just tried going through the cal grad admissions site and there isn't a link to accept. i think that gets generated, then they send an email. oh well, i'll be patient and will follow up tomorrow or friday. when's the deadline to accept?

i'm not sure what the other required courses are, but i remembered hearing from students that construction and structures are required. i believe arch history can be waived if you've already taken one. i don't think they went over this stuff formally as this was supplemental info we received from speaking with students there...

best for your best! we're both going to be be using that to close our letters now, huh?

best,
bird

Anyone went to the GSAPP's open house today? How was it?

Hi everyone, first time posting-

i went to GSAPP's open house today and loved it!
i spoke to a few first and second year students who seemed very happy there. They love how there is so much going on. I got a real sense of that today...there seems to be such a range and multitude of opportunities for grad students (including summer travel with labs).

The studio space was not as cramped as I expected. First years share a computer with one other person (which could be good because it encourages non-digital work). Second years are given their own computers. There were also a ton of study models all over the place, which was awesome.

Mark Wigley is hilarious.

@sandiego: If you have any questions about the open house, feel free to send me a message.

I'm pretty sure I'll be at Columbia in the fall :)

Hope everyone has fun at open houses this week and next!
Cheers

I posted in the school blog with photos of the GSAPP Open House. Please feel free to read.



GSAPP Open House

I was there as well, and I second archibee's comments... the school is crowded, chaotic, diverse, even a little manic, but it's a microcosm of NYC in that way. There was a great creative vibe about the place, and all of the students I spoke with seemed positively energized to be there, no small thing given that we're near the end of spring semester.
As for the facilities, I was happily surprised with the quality and quantity of what is offered. As noted, every student gets a desktop computer at their studio desk, loaded with every (legal, reliable!) software package you could imagine, from Rhino to Photoshop to MasterCAM.
They also have CNC mills, routers, waterjets, plasma cutters, laser cutters, and 3D printers, along with the standard wood shop. The caveat is that, in keeping with the rest of the school, they're all stuffed into 1 or 2 dusty rooms, instead of being placed within individual, polished sanctuaries as at Yale or the GSD...
Lastly, the opportunities to travel are fantastic... in the spring semester (of the 3rd year, for the M.arch kids) EVERYONE travels somewhere as part of their design studio; recent trips have been to Brazil, China, Japan, South Africa, India...

I was there for the AAD program specifically, so if anyone has any questions regarding that program in particular, or anything else, feel free to send me an email.

Back from the GSAPP.. thoughts..

First of all, I think they should have had Mark Wigley speak at the very beginning. The Q and A with students really confused me actually and sort of turned me sour towards the school for a little while. I also wish that we'd had a chance to mingle with more of the faculty and staff during lunch or that they'd sort of "sold" themselves more effectively. It sort of felt like they didn't really care that we were there.

Did people who were there generally get the sense that the school's energy is really all that Mark said it was?

I didn't think that the studio facilities were all that bad. They certainly weren't any worse than what I had in undergrad.

I think we we were there during a particularly on-edge period for the students.. as Mark said they had just returned from traveling and the others were mounting that "hump" phase at the 3/4 mark or the semester.

Overall I think it was a poorly executed open house. But if you can see past that I think the school is actually pretty incredible.... I think...

Pratt or UCLA?

I've been to both open houses and I am still in limbo. Thoughts?

lewisandclark_ this is when i would suggest that you start to weigh in other factors such as money and location. which school offered you more $ and do you see yourself working in new york or los angeles? i think ucla being part of a larger university may give you the opportunity for dual degrees and even to take classes in other disciplines. though if you're looking for more of an art school perspective, then pratt probably offers more of that. ucla is public and pratt is private, so then resources become something you can compare. some went to public schools during their undergrad and want the experience of a private school and smaller programs.

there really isn't a which school is better, but the question is much more about which school is a better fit for you.

interesting news about columbia's open house. thanks for sharing, all.

BaaaNaaa,
What program? I feel the exact same way about columbia's open house.. I felt better after hearing Wigley speak(he was awesome), but I left with mixed feelings about it all.

I'm in UD btw.

lewisandclark can you describe the experience at UCLA's open house please?

(akin to what people have done re: Columbia)

Is there anybody here who still wait to hear form UCLA?

@lewisandclark

I would also like to hear your impression/experience at UCLA's open house if possible.

Sorry.. I was there for M Arch

@guyforget -
Yeah, I was informed that I've been upgraded to the Option 2 path last night, pretty cool. I'm still waiting to hear about opportunities for increased funding, and will be in the Bay Area early to mid August.

REJECTED from UCLA....

The wait was worse than the rejection itself. Now that I've nothing to lose, I've a mind to call them and berate them for stringing us along for so long... Just so not cool. I really respect GSAPP and their upfront rejection, which came earlier than expected.

---

TheVillain- how was RICE'S open house?

Oh yeah, I forgot you guys like these rejection e-mails, for some reason...
--
Dear ************:


Thank you for applying to graduate study at UCLA. We regret to inform you that you were not admitted.

As you may be aware, UCLA receives many more applications than there are student places available. As in your case, each of these applications is carefully reviewed by departmental faculty committees. In this extremely competitive environment, many talented and promising students are not recommended for admission by these committees.

We understand that this decision is a disappointment. Should you wish to address specific issues regarding your application, please contact the graduate program to which you applied.

Please accept my best wishes for success in all of your future endeavors.

Sincerely,


Ross Shideler
Associate Dean

@ Sbeth85, sorry to hear that, but I totally agree with you that the school could have been much more decisive. What are your plans now? Would you be attending a summer program?

The experience at UCLA was amazing.

Granted I'm a New Yorker of 15 years, so getting the opportunity to spend an entire week and one half in L.A. may have colored the experience.

Also, I had just come from Michigan. And it was a shade colder.

The UCLA campus was beautiful. Big campus culture is something I'm not familiar with. So it was nice to be introduced to that and still have the luxury of the city not far off.

The first day - the bus tour - was very welcome. We checked out the Mark Mack house on the Venice canals. We stopped by Morphosis. Got to check out a slew of their work in-person, which was very rad.

Then to a Danali house. Sexy. And then a stop by the Hodgetts firm for tour and some beer.

All in all a great day #1

Day #2 (the meat of everything) started with a good intro from Hitoshi. I'm a bit of a Japan-o-phile granted, but having Hitoshi, specifically, helm the ship is definitely inspiring.

The faculty presentations were very impressive. Saw a lot of the student core work via those slideshows.

One minor drawback was that it was the first day of school - and that being said, there wasn't an overwhelming amount of student life to observe. All the studios were empty, empty, empty. It was hard to envison a day-to-day there. And there wasn't much work to see in-person.

But the small catalogue of work they did show in the gallery and hallways was very slick... sweet.

They had a BBQ mixer at the end of the day to wrap up.

I definitely fell in love with everything and I suppose I should trust that feeling if I'm going to be in this for the next 3 years and beyond.

The only other concern which isn't UCLA-specific, per se...

Is this California budget B.S. gonna f#*k with the school? Everyone I speak with says I shouldn't worry, but it was definitely the elephant in the room at their open house.