TheVillain, I hope that's a good sign for acceptance.

Since I'm international applicant, GSAPP won't offer any financial aid, so for me, MIT is better. Anyway, I feel little depressed with rejection...

dont be. I'd trade a (hypothetical) admissions to any ivy for one to MIT.

this site makes me anxious.

cyber scream:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

are the GSAPP rejections for MSAAD?

Just got an email from GSAPP... Rejection....

so... how is this GSAPP thing work?
seems like they are every where.

i wish columbia has made horrible mistakes and all the rejections are its opposite

ah..

i wish i have received e-mail from them now.
making me crazy

J10: I dont think you wish that. columbia seems to be terribly grumpy at this point. let's wait till it wakes up a bit and realizes how nice of a day it is outside.. and starts delivering good news.

I am an avid reader of this posting...have commented once...but thought I'd share. GSAPP rejection here too!

@Villian - haha..I wish it worked that way! But it is beautiful out!! yah upstate NY!

man, it's definitely Black Tuesday. weird that they're sending out boatloads of rejections before sending the rest. mysteries of the admissions office....

lets start a new time-passing survey: how much student loan debt is too much? how much should one reasonably expect to get in fellowships for grad design programs?

i'm feeling that ol' self-destructive streak HARD today - thinking about diving into the wine-dark 100K+ sea of debt and never coming back

Rejected from GSAPP. Damn...

GSAPP............rejected! so happy, ha.

They just want to kill dreams first thing.

I think any student loan debt is too much. I had a bit too much fun studying abroad and not working for a year or so during undergrad and currently have about $20k in debt. I'm hoping to not exceed an additional $40k for grad school.
I'd expect no money for grad school and plan for that, that way there are no surprises.
If I had to get a lot more than that i would become a teacher or whatever other professions forgive loans for a while, get my loans forgiven, and then come back to architecture.

On another note, I also wanted to thank everyone for the comments regarding safety schools. It definitely gives me some things to think about. Gosh, I really hope my GSAPP rejection isn't a premonition for things to come...

I made out of undergrad all right, some debt but not unmanageable. but even with my tiny undergrad debt, the monthly payments hurt. I have to take much bigger loans for grad school and it's definitely a consideration that, realistically, how will I pay them off every month and how much more interest is going to be added?

Long time lurker, I just felt compelled to share in the GSAPP rejections :(

Though, I was hoping I could ask for some advice if someone is willing. I have a B.A in Int.Arch and applied for the dual program M.Arch/MS.Historic Pres. at GSAPP. Accepted to HP, rejected from Arch. Does anyone think it would still be worth it to attend for Historic Preservation, and just reapply next year for M.arch??

congrats to everyone who has recieved acceptances, and if you're still waiting, keep your head up! They're still coming!

rejected from gsapp too!

i am an march 3 candidate with an undergrad in comparative literature and no design background

i took drawing and web design classes and had a bit of help from a friend who is an architect to put together a portfolio but was pretty clueless going into this process

would love to see other non-arch-background folk's portfolios--especially admitted people, if you would share

oh and student debt is no fun--i still have quite a hefty amount:(

I asked this question a few pages back, but didn't get an answer:

If you get rejected from a school where you thought you'd get in / really wanted to go (let's say, oh, I don't know, Columbia), is it okay to call admissions to find out why / what you could do to improve your application (in case you were to reapply)?

in at knowlton! accepted via website

any suggestions/recommendations about OSU vs UMich? both programs seem comparable, except in state tuition for OSU vs. out of state for UMich. i don't want $$ to influence the decision, but we are talking about 25K/year difference.

As far as the student loan thing goes...I've accepted that I'll be in that debt all of my life (even though I know its the wrong thing to think) but I'll have what I want in an education. I made it out relatively unscathed from Cornell during undergrad so am willing to dig deep into my pockets and empty out my piggy bank for this.....

GSAPP ACCEPTED!

Joscelin, also non-arch background. applied to m.arch I programs. so far, accepted into UT Austin and waitlisted to Yale. I have a b.a. in politics.

My portfolio:

http://issuu.com/sixtrain/docs/rayho

neat, thanks sixtrain, great work

I'm really bummed about Columbia... I had such a great time there this summer. Oh well...

Still waiting on UCLA, Pratt and SCI-Arc.

Congrats to everyone who made it into GSAPP!

Nice Portfolio sixtrain! Are you going to the UT Austin open house at the end of March? If so, I'll see you there...

-

@Joscelin, I posted my portfolio a few pages ago noting that it somehow got me into UT Austin, and also CCA, but rather than make you dig:
http://issuu.com/jgaumer/docs/jg2010marchportfolio

-

Continuing the "what are you doing in the mean time" conversation...

I'm finishing up my last semester in my B.A. in Mathematics at a state school here in Southern California, while working at a small (~5 people) architectural engineering firm in Orange County. I would say that this waiting game distracts me more from school/work rather than vice-versa, haha. Other hobbies such as bike riding and drinking beer, do a much better job at distracting me from this wait!

Theres a posting on the cafe saying that UT will have contacted all applicants by weeks' end... not sure how reliable this is, but I'll take it!

Ambrosia,

I had a friend who was rejected from a school and contacted the school to ask for some constructive criticism on why she wasn't admitted and what she could do to improve her chances for next year. It turned out that they had mistakenly sent her a rejection when she was actually accepted. Granted that this was not for architecture school and she is the exception rather than the rule, I don't think it hurts to try.

@rascuache: thanks! and yea bought my plane ticket down there already. really excited to check it out.

also, which school/what city are you working in?? I'm from south OC originally.

alonso978: oh god I hope that is true...

To go on with the conversation. I applied to 9 schools. So far i'm batting .500 as i go 2 for 4. Still left to hear from are:

Berkeley
Oregon
Cornell
UT
Parsons

I'm a recent graduate in architecture. I've been working with a large firm in Denver for two years now. Wanderlust has been burning though, so this as my last week at work. I'm escaping the country to backpack South America for the next 3 months. I timed my departure to coincide with hearing back on applications. I leave mid next week so i'll be dying if I don't hear back soon.

Good luck everyone, and congrats the lucky few who made the Columbia cut!

so...just reading this thread after a mindless stint at work and don't want to be a party pooper, but is no one else calling shenanigans on melany?

no prior work or academic experience yet time to apply to fourteen schools (and clearly, little architectural focus, if you're that confused about what type of program you want) if i counted correctly *and* do so well that you are the only person here or on grad cafe who can claim a personal call from BS? I'm calling B.S.

What can I say? It's my competitive nature. Melany, the only way to save yourself is to post that portfolio. Otherwise...shenanigans.

alonso78, yeah i'm hoping that UT will still make some acceptances this week as well. no word from them yet though so i'm assuming its a no go.

but to continue. I applied to 7 schools,

Michigan - accepted
UT - ? assuming no
Rice
Syracuse
Virginia Tech
Maryland
Cincinnati

I graduated with a b.s. in architecture this past may, worked at firm for the summer before they felt the effects of the recession. Traveled a little in the fall and got my portfolio together.

Now, i'm teaching a 3d computer course at a community college where I got my Associates degree in architecture a few years back.

congrats and good luck to everyone!

mugged:

Based on the somewhat limited number of postings on grad cafe for UT (as opposed to GSAPP, MIT. etc.), I've convinced myself that no word yet does NOT count as bad news. Then again, I am basically making this up!

Good luck!

yeahbaby,

I was thinking the exact same thing. Really wanted to call b.s. but didn't want to be the first one to do it. And agreed with the extreme lack of architectural focus as well.

But agreed post the portfolio melany

sounds good to me alonso, I'm all for just making it up at this point

good luck to you too

I totally think melany is a "pics or it didn't happen".
i was just trying to backhand them into posting it for the benefit of the children--- i mean does stern really just call to say "man your portfolio was awesome"


so, i say it again... PICS OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN

@yeahbaby - certainly not defending melanys incredulous post... but i know a few kids from years past who have received a personal call from Stern. i was actually sitting next to my best friend when he received the call.... so it is possible.

I am going to assume people wouldnt lie about admissions...whats the point.

My list:

Columbia - big fat no
Parsons - in via email
Pratt -
CUNY -
NJIT -
Yale - silence...assumed rejection
MIT - silence...asumed rejection

well that clears the possibility of the call up lol thanks turtle.

but still.

And so it begins... Good luck to everybody.

A funny thing happened to me last month: I got laid off from my job in NYC, and ended up moving back to my hometown of Cincinnati to be closer to friends and family, and to save money on living expenses (unemployment benefits go much further in Cincy than they do in NYC). It also happens that Cincinnati is my first-choice school for my M.Arch., so I took a little bit of a gamble and decided to move here instead of pissing away my savings on rent in NYC. I also applied to UK and OSU, so there's a chance I may have to pack up all my shit again and move a hundred miles up or down the road, but at least I'd still be somewhat local.

So not only am I compulsively checking the mail to learn my grad school fate, I'm also compulsively checking for my security deposit check from my former landlord in NYC. These next couple weeks are going to be stressful...

it's not uncommon for people to make that stuff up. for law students, it's almost an expectation that people will make up information on their applicant message boards, which i might add are tremendously more elaborate than archinect's. it's a little scary, actually.

LIG, sorry to hear that you were laid off, I know the feeling.

I actually wanted to ask you about the cincy program and what your thoughts are on it. I applied there as well because I'm really intrigued by the co-op program that they offer.

On the other side of that I know nothing about what type of design or projects come out of the program. They're website doesn't isn't very telling on the program and the student work they have posted only seems to be a small sample, and unfortunately I wasn't able to visit in the fall.

Figured since it is your hometown you might be able to shed some light on the school and what they are about.

Thanks in advance and good luck.

Living in Gin! There he is. One of the original Page 1 guys.

Anyway...

Again, congrats to all the acceptances on here! Great portfolios too. I really liked sixtrain’s Toothpick project and rascuache’s Quake 2 level. That reminded me of building levels in Doom way back in the day. I bet the adcoms haven’t seen too many projects like that.

My belated answers to the big questions over the last two pages:

Just turned 29, been out of school 6 years with a BA in Sociology. No arch/art background. M. Arch I portfolio included photography, drawings and painting. Far too embarrassed to post it here though!

Applied:
Catholic - Accepted
Maryland - ?

Will go to Catholic if that ends up being my only admit. I’m making a major change in my career/life and it needs to start with grad school, preferably now and not in another year. Expect to incur up to $50k of debt, obviously would like to keep that at a minimum.

Ambrosia, give them a call. Up to the actual people there if they want to give you quality feedback or just some line about, "many qualified applicants this year blah blah blah." Maybe wait until March is over, but give them a call. Certainly don't think THIS is the norm, but I too have a friend who was rejected, called to get some input and found out that the rejection was a mistake. That's just insane. That was at U of Wash.

Well everyone knows you can never trust a lawyer....

Lawyers get a bum wrap...we aren't so bad!

bum rap...jesus....my brain hurts

@sixtrain : it's small world! I used to live in the same building you live right now....

Haha, I just laughed my ass off in the office reading lidandan's post... I agree: Melany - lets see this portfolio, or I am calling your bluff!

Living in Gin: Were you by any chance let go because of your excessive on-the-job Archinect usage?? I feel like I am going down that road these last two weeks have been so unproductive. I only kid but come on, man - 4500+ posts???! Haha

@design99: LOL no way! koreatown is lovely this time of year/life. are you still in nyc now?

Living in Gin... I have the same story as you, almost point for point.
Got laid off from an architecture firm in Boston in july. decided to go back to school, moved from boston back to cincinnati (where i grew up), and UC is my #1 choice.

good luck to you on UC, any idea when they will began notifications?

I don't think I was let go because of excessive internet usage. If I was, they didn't tell me. Basically, we had a major slowdown after a couple of large projects wrapped up, and I was one of several people let go. It didn't come as a complete shock, as the writing had been on the wall for a few months.

My general impressions of UC are that they tend to be a bit more pragmatic and practice-oriented than some other schools out there, although heavy theory, scripting, etc. is available to those who seek it out. The student work I've seen at DAAP so far has been solid (if not as cutting edge as the stuff you'd see at GSAPP), and I've always come away with a positive impression from the faculty and staff I've dealt with so far. The facilities are good if you can get over Peter Eisenman's disjointed shapes and pastel colors.

If I remember correctly from previous years' Archinect threads, DAAP seems to lag a bit behind the other schools in sending out notifications.