yup, I was up at UT yesterday and saw about 20 or so people pouring over portfolios and applications, they had the coffee dispensers set up and everything....

k song time. begin


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev5RMiujiQE

teenasee- are you selling anything? i thought about doing the same thing, but with yard sales and cupcakes. i'd like to know if etsy actually works :)

p.s. i like your jewelry, it's a lot of fun
keep archinect updated if this venture works!

I just received a decision from ASU. I wish all the schools would reply this fast...

Wow, really? Man. That is fast. Hope the decision was a good one! =P

Oh man I didn't even say! Yes, I got an acceptance from them. Apparently, ASU always notifies really early. I had no idea until my friend asked if I had heard (because she had) over the weekend and then I got my email last night.

Now I just have to wait about 2 months for the rest of the decisions.

Wow! That is fast. Yeah, I think it may be a while before I hear from GSAPP, Pratt, UCLA or SCI-Arc...

I sent my stuff in so early, and only now got a confirmation email.

by my calculations (aka. observations from last year) we should be hearing from Texas in the next week or two, and Michigan should be accidentally posting their decisions on their site. The waiting is driving me nuts, and the snowy hell that I live in is not making it any better. I had to randomly escape to Charleston this past weekend just to get my mind off it all...but it didnt really help that much.

Yeah, I've been reading the 2009 thread and checking thegradcafe and it seems other schools should be notifying soon! a lot seem to go out at the beginning/middle of march.

;However, the time line on UPenn's website says they don't notify until April 1st.

On last year's thread people started getting phone calls from UVa as early as the Feb 22... this thread has been very quiet lately but I imagine its just the calm before the storm...

And lidandan, congrats on your acceptance!!

Good luck to everyone in the coming weeks!

Villian, when does Michigan usually post decisions on their site? Is it through the UM Friend account? I'm getting anxious about this stuff.. Only applied to four schools...

Do the schools notify by e-mail AND by post or by post only?

I'm asking, because it takes 2-3 weeks for a letter from US to be delivered to my country, so I'll go crazy by the middle of april

zga, it seems that U of M accidently posted decisions on their website too early last year (late feb?) and what they intend to do is send emails (early march?). I guess just keep checking it periodically, I know I will be, but dont expect anything till march. And yes, it's through their 'um friend' system I believe.

Jazzie,

They are all different:

Some call you
Some email you
Some send mail (I know Harvard only sends letters via mail)
Some you find out by logging in to your online account.

Thanks, I definitely will be checking daily.

ADavin , thanx
I hope they'll notify me as soon as possible, cause I'm going nuts

Congrats lidandan about ASU! Should I be getting discouraged that I haven't heard from them? I hope not...

Jazzefina, during the undergraduate admissions process I was at home in Karachi. I wrote to some of my schools and requested them to send me their decision by email. And some of them did. Back then, fewer schools had online notification systems.

Thanks guys!!
imsleepy, I wouldn't worry quite yet. The official decision came from the graduate college which handles alllll of the decisions for the entire university, so it may take a bit longer to hear from them.

Hi all: Does anyone know if Berkeley contacts those they have accepted before March? Their website says notices of acceptance will be sent out "by the end of March", but it doesn't mention a start date for letting people know. I heard they rec'd 400+ apps just for the the Option 3 applicants this time around and, if I remember correctly, approx. 1100-1200 for the total M.Arch pool.

I think Berkeley notifies in mid-late march. 1200 applicants? awesome, I like my chances at one of my top choices (rolls eyes).

Is anyone else facing a similar dilemma: I'm currently a project manager at a firm. I've told them I applied to grad schools. We, like every other arch firm in the world, are hurting severely for work. I can tell they're somewhat hoping I leave, just to clear up salary for the bottom line. I'm feeling the pressure to get in somewhere.

when you say "rec'd 400 applicants" you mean they already reviewed the applications and have recommended 400+ people for admission?

Villain - I'm in the same exact spot. My design firm did a round of layoffs last fall and then paycuts this winter but things have gotten even slower. So I definitely also worry that if I don't go back to school there may not be a job for me here. I know with the massive influx of applications, reaches seem even more out-of-reach, but I'm sure you'll get in somewhere. Did you apply to any "ranges" or "safeties" that you would be happy to go to if (when) you get in?

I wouldn't call any of the schools I applied to "safties", but I did apply to ALOT of them. I saw the writing on the wall with the slow work here and the massive applicant pools, so I feel I've put myself in the best position. if I dont get in anywhere, I'll take it from there. perhaps culinary school :)

TheVillain: 400 applications rec'd, not reviewed.

Villain- Just out of curiosity where did you apply and for what? sorry if you already stated this earlier.

ucla, berkeley, sciarc, ut, rice, um, maryland, upenn, gsd, mit, columbia, and cornell. where it was offered, I applied to the AP (2 year) versions of the m.arch.

sorry i'm so late in the game to chime in here. i only applied to one program - option 1 at berkeley. i have a house, a kid, a husband with a stable job, a great job of my own, so moving isn't really desirable. i chatted briefly with someone on the review committee last week. she said the total number of mArch applications went up by 10% from last year. they hadn't even gotten to looking at the option 1 portfolios yet. yowza! they say patience is a virtue ...

I just got another email from ASU about their open house. I applied to approximately one million other schools, but it's nice to know I will definitely be going somewhere. Takes a lot of pressure off.

I also applied for the 2 year options wherever possible (first professional degree, undergrad in architecture). I can never figure out why some schools only have 1 year post-professional or a 3+ year option.

1 year post-professional isnt an option unless you have a b.arch or an m.arch. I think the only school I applied to without an explicit AP (2 yr.) option was ucla, but I'm sure they give you credit for what you've done. schools like yale completely omit that option because they think your undergrad pre-prof arch studies do not = to the year you would be excused from. It's sort of a law-school logic.

Villian, what was your undergrad degree?

b.s. arch. basically the "4" in the 4 + 2 track. I wouldnt suggest it to any HS student who knows they want to be an architect, but at the time I wasn't 100% sure. not that I am now.

Yeah I got a 4 year pre-professional BA in Architecture...

I applied for 2 year options whenever possible, but I have already received emails from 2 schools saying they were putting me into the 3 year option pools because I had a BA not a BS... pretty superficial if you ask me.

Glad to see my undergrad education going a long way! Haha, oh well its not like another year of studio will be bad for me (although another year of tuition debt scares the hell out of me), and I have no regrets about the degree I have. I found a job in architecture right after leaving school, and I got to take a much more multi-disciplinary range of classes outside of just arch - something I think needs to be stressed more in these hyper- theoretical schools that further isolate architects with their esoteric jargon.

Villian, I didnt mean that to be a swing at you or your degree, btw. I am just saying in general about architecture education.

I had a coworker who got a BA and was forced into the 3+ pile as well. They ended up going to gsd and taking the extra year. I agree, it's bs they sometimes make you guys take another year. While the BA degree may not be as technical-driven, you're definitely at least a year ahead of the grad-school-game IMO. Oh well. My advice: go to the programs that let you skip that year. The extra time and money is not worth the shininess of the school name.

lidandan--
As a fellow applicant going for their first professional degree but with an undergrad in architecture, I also find it frustrating and interesting. At least it helped me narrow down my list of schools! I understand and agree that I need to go to school for more than a year, but can't imagine going for more than 3 for architecture alone. That would be 7 years of studio for me. Yikes! [Note: I am NOT bitching, just reflecting]. I think we are stuck in between this fight between the 5 year past and the 7 year future. I personally think the momentum is already quite great for the 4 ugrad + 3 grad track. It seems to me it would benefit the profession for some to have some leadership to choose one direction over the other. I guess this goes for everything, including registration reqs, etc. But, I know that type of thing will be slow to change.

ADavin--
I'm in the same boat. So, you are not alone. So much for 4 years of undergrad studio! That being said, I agree and I am SO happy to have gone the BA Arch route. I was able to take classes outside the Arch building, have a life outside studio [even though at times it didn't seem that way], and minimized the risk of becoming an isolated architect as you speak.

AD, no offense taken. I thought you were comparing the b.s./b.a. to the b.arch anyways. regardless of your comparison, at the end of the day they're all just different tracks and there's no "right way" to do it. I was just saying, if I could do it over again, I'd get the b.arch.

Yeah exactly... why do they think 4 years of pre-professional undergrad doesn't equal one-year of their special ivy program. (i'm generalizing here)

Also, it seems a lot of schools are 4+2 programs anyway, so why wouldn't the graduate schools reflect that? It seems to primarily be (I don't know for sure because I haven't actually looked) the schools that DON'T have an undergrad architecture degree, just the masters programs, that are 3+ only.
I'm already 6 years out of high school I don't want to add 3 or more years of graduate education to that.

and gs11, you are right. It did help me eliminate schools I wanted to apply to. The only one I applied to that is the 1 or 3 year option was UPenn and that was my "reach" school any ways.

@avec: i applied to berkeley two years ago, and i got my acceptance via email on march 21st. they were the last school i heard from, with most notifications clumping around march 10-13th. they also never gave me any information about fellowships/loans, so if that's where you want to go, be prepared to chase them down about that a bit.

weighing in on the BA/BS, 3yr/2yr distinctions: i did a BS and am now in my final semester of a 2 year MArch - and i wish they had let me do the first year. the extra year definitely adds to the financial burden of graduate school, but i don't think another two studios would really have been 'remedial' at all. i think there's a lot to be learned in any design project, and core studios are a great opportunity to work with the full-time faculty of your school and really get to know them. if you've studied architecture in undergrad but are being considered for the longer MArch track, you'll most likely still be able to place out of many required courses, which will open up your schedule to pursue your interests more specifically. 2 years goes by FAST, and now that i'm almost out there are lots of professors and courses i'd always wanted to take but just couldn't manage to cram in.

that's an interesting take on the other side of the argument. If I could afford it, taking that extra year and making sure I really immerse myself and get my graduate studies right, seems ideal. + waiting another year to allow the profession to right itself a little bit might be the best move, timing wise.

thanks for the info snarkitekt.

i'm surprised that those with a BA in arch would be placed in the 3 year pool with those who did not major in architecture as undergrads. seems the BA arch students have a clear advantage (technical and experiential) over the those who had another major as undergrads, making the likelihood of being accepted potentially more sparse for the non-architectural background applicants (me). you'd think schools would mention that in their 3-year option description.

Exactly,

Just like Snark said, aside from the financial burden, I really do not mind the idea of getting having an extra year of studio and courses. But to simply sort it by:

1+ = BArch
2+ = BS Arch
3+ = BA Arch and all other Undergrad Majors

Doesn't seem to make as much sense as pairing the BA and BS together. There will obviously be clear advantages of starting off in the core studios as the more knowledgeable ones, but its hard not to take it a little personally. I spent my junior year abroad in Copenhagen with DIS and I got to know many arch students from various backgrounds - and I know for a fact that I am just as qualified as almost any BS and even BArch graduate.

But thats my 2 cents and I will leave it at that. Life is what you make of it, and right now my main concern is to GET IN to some schools, regardless of how many years they think I need!

I dont know, when I compare my BS to someone else's BA they're usually pretty comparable. Sure you guys missed a few structures courses we spent looking through sizing charts and arbitrary formulas for kips and lateral forces, but none of that stuck anyways. What I use in my day to day as a project manager are my design skills, fostered in studios. and it's my understanding that in your BA curriculum, there are as many, if not more, such studios. fundamentally, the BS and BA arch degrees are 50/50 liberal arts/architecture for a more 'rounded' undergrad experience. the only difference being what the focus of that 50% is (more technical for bs, and more design based for ba)

the one you can give the edge to is b.arch, because they start right out of the gate with nitty-gritty architecture courses and have the extra year. but, working with all b.arch backgrounds currently, I dont feel they're light years ahead of me. and any advantage they have is based only on professional experience, not academic.

Well I'm glad I could get this thread moving again...

My original thought was the schools that lump BS/BA/BDesign (like me) together into the 3+ programs with the other non-architecture majors. Where everyone starts out the same, almost as if starting over again. But these are all very interesting insights. And I definitely agree with snarkitekt about having extra time to pursue certain professors or seminars, etc... especially if you choose to study abroad and lose out on time on campus to do things.
I am not too concerned with that, though, but I see the merit, as I am taking this current off year to take graduate urban planning courses which is my primary interest outside of architecture.

And Villian I can't remember hardly anything from any of my major courses in undergrad. Especially not structures since I took that in 2007. maybe I do need that third year...

Wow....I just stumbled across this site and am now officially terrified! I am a lawyer who has finally decided to get out of the law. Reading through all this posts makes me very nervous. My portfolio is so different than people with art/architecture backgrounds it is making me so nervous.

Reading through last years thread it seems like we should expect to hear the second week of March...does anyone know if this is typical?

I applied to Yale, Columbia, Parsons, Pratt, CUNY and NJIT.

So nervous!

I am pretty sure we will hear around the first and second weeks of March from the majority of the schools. At least I hope so, since open houses are at the beginning of April and I need time to plan for those (if necessary, of course).

Reading through this thread and last year's thread made me so incredibly nervous, especially while doing my portfolio. I wouldn't worry about yours not looking like everyone else, though, because even the people with architecture & art backgrounds have vastly different portfolios.

I never posted mine because I didn't want to jinx it but now that I got into a school here it is, in really low quality on my sparsely updated blog:

http://tinyurl.com/yg9jqyt

no criticism necessary because it's too late :)

I think it is for the best I wasn't reading this when I was getting my application together...I probably would have been scared off!

This is so much more nerve racking then applying to law school. Law School is so LSAT and GPA driven you basically know where you will get in before you apply. This, at least for me, is like a total shot in the dark.

Now the problem is I will be obsessively checking this damn board to see if people have heard....ARGH!

(nice portfolio by the way)

What made you want to start over in architecture?

I already check here all the time, and if nothing new is here I just re-read the 2009 thread to see when they heard. Same with thegradcafe.com. It's sick.

Oh yeah,

For everyone who hasn't looked, and those interested in looking over and over and over.... and over again.

Here are the results from last year on GradCafe

Architecture Results, Notification Dates, and Some Financial Data