Sbeth: that was FAR more personal than the acceptance email which went something like this: 'you're in with support. details to follow' (literally, 2 sentences). At any rate, you're right, it is great to at least get a waitlist. when I was straight-up rejected from everywhere I had no idea how to gauge where I stood.

Thanks jaded! I think so. I have to decide between the MSAUD at Columbia and the DRL at AA as well. The GSD gave the most money and I'm most interested in their program sooo I'm definitely leaning that way. Good luck to you!

WaitImpatiently- I also applied to the SMarchS program and haven't hear back yet.

tyMArchII- 4/9

thank you tyMarchII and Sbeth85.

your critiques are definitely noted.

I see exactly what you mean Sbeth85. Thank you. I wanted to show variety of medium / technique and so forth. That was the intention and lacked the aspects you talked about. I attempted to make models / 3D sculptures and they didnt turn out good enough to be included. Could you elaborate on the problem solving aspects which I can include? I am asking this because I talked to a few arch. students / professors / admissions, they said that since I do not have an arch background (and not trained architecturally), they would be looking for your artistic approach / presenting your ideas.. or something.

Do you guys think that a summer program is helpful/recommended? any suggestions of schools? since the summer program isn't exactly cheap (tuition and housing), I would like to gain more information about it.

Ersatz, I applied to UofT and UBC in Canada (only these 2 schools accepts students from multi-disciplinary fields). As for the States, I applied to UPenn, Columbia, Harvard and MIT (figured that since I am paying so much tuition/housing if I was to study in the states, might as well apply to these guys).

thanks again.

big red,
I am pretty sure the summer foundation courses are required. I haven't really heard of anyone not taking them.
Are you thinking of going there? IF so, are you going to be at the open house?

praxis99

im going to the GSAPP, MIT, GSD, and Princeton open houses. I might still drop by Yale over the weekend. Anyone else having to decide between the Yale and MIT open house?

If GSD is a no go, I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to a summer of fun and relaxation...

yunez - i take it that you chose yale over mit

:)

see you at the open houses

Everyone-

Lets meet in NYC for the GSAPP open house. Then we can rent a big van and carpool over to Boston for GSD and MIT. Sounds fun right? *you do not have to be accepted to any of these schools to tag along (because I have yet to be accepted to MIT or GSD)...

tactilegoods -

I got AA_DRL as well. Have you heard back from them yet regarding any Bursary money?

tyMarchII - Genius Plan! Haha...I didn't apply to MIT, was rejected from GSAPP and GSD seems to be ignoring me...but if they decide to ever talk to me...I'm down for a van trip!

@mitboi: I looked through your portfolio twice, once quickly like I think an admissions committee would, just flipping through, and what I got out of that round was that you were a talented illustrator with a great understanding of rendering techniques, composition, human proportion and perspective techniques. However, like mentioned above, since you are showing relatively similar things, it did get a little mundane. Only the second time I looked through it did I see things like the title of the piece on p. 36, 38, which lends a conceptual edge and reference to historical knowledge to your work. I would have totally missed that the first time around. It would help to elaborate on that aspect, and make the titles more clearly seen. For example, you should have shown various iterations of Space Through Music, and the relationship you found between things like a crescendo or staccato in a piece to implied space. Show them a logic for the artistic decisions you make. On page 26 where you added buildings for composition, you should have emphasized that. Maybe next time you could draw a cityscape with the emphasis on various interventions that you put in. Or to make it more personal, draw each school's architecture buildings/studios and add an intervention that would make it better. I think that could really catch someone's eye. I think it's really important to show process, but not process like you have on page 30, because that doesn't actually show me how you think architecturally. It just shows the rendering at various stages. On page 22 the rendering is impeccable as it is on all of your pages, but what if you designed your own "cresting?" And then attempted to construct and install it? Or collage it to a street scape where this style used to be?

anyway, sorry for the longish post, I just felt like someone of your talent should get into school!

Villain, April 8th - 9th

ooh i like that idea!! let's do it! i'll tag along for MIT--what the hell, i love that part of boston...minus the frank gehry building :-\

I forgot to say this earlier... but thanks TheVillain re: my portfolio. I hope I get into UPenn if only to say I did.
I can thank my D6 professor for teachin me how to cut the crap out of my portfolio. He always said stuff like "one small excellent picture is better than 7 large ugly ones" and would say things made his eyes bleed, etc, in both studio and in reviews.

Probably the best professor I had and maybe ever will.

I found the van... it might be a little cramped though!

@soni: thank you. I wish Sarah would call me :(

@li dandan: your welcome.. always great to have profs like that instead of having to learn it the hard way.

Beeyaaahhhhh!!!! I Love that van!!!

@mitboi

your portfolio really should get you into a school ! The drawings and paintings are out of this world ! Man, how much time did you spend on your portfolio??

If you had asked me 2 weeks ago, i'd say you are sure to get into a grad sch. But now that I have seen the portfolios of those who have been accepted into grad sch, I hold a different view. Your portfolio just ain't glamorous enough. 'Nuff said.

I'd suggest you go to page 6 and take a look at the portfolio that's been posted here by one of the archinecters. Architecture is a design discipline and you just have to go all out to impress with some superb rendering. These drawings will then seal the deal for you. Don't give up, you have the talent and passion.

Yes, attending a summer program is so expensive. I am thinking of doing that as well to beat the competition come 2011. lol. Anyway, I think I have been bummed out of the schools I applied to. My portfolio is similar to yours i.e I have only drawings and paintings. But none of those digitally rendered stuff and sculptures. And I had no one to consult then, so it was really done based on what the school wants. Look at Yale's requirement for M.Arch I - "..the portfolio should demonstrate the applicant’s drawing skills and three-dimensional aptitude." This is so misleading.

Anyway, it may be a blessing in disguise not to get into any grad schs. This year could easily go down in history as the year with the largest no. of applicants to the M.Arch program, albeit with a severely limited pool of funds to award in the form of scholarships/fellowships to incoming students.
As the economy is on the mend, i believe the no. of apps (in 2011) will go down in tandem while schools have more time to rebuild their balance sheets. That should bode well for us, the 2011 M.Arch applicants! woohoo!

@ Sbeth85 - hey, congrats ! I am so glad your work has been recognized. You are one of those on this forum that I remember as being particularly warm and genuine : ) That's a quality that will stand you in good stead. Never be a sponge.

@tymarchII: count me in haha. I'm already in NYC, but I'll take any excuse for a roadtrip. MIT and GSD are pretty, even if I haven't been accepted to either :P (go GSAPP!)

...especially if it's in THAT sweet ride.

@babybokchoy, thank you very much for your feedback. Greatly appreciated. Originally I thought I'd let the drawings do the talking themselves, hence the minimal texts. I realize that's a mistake and more of the thinking processes should be included. Will definitely take up on your suggestions.

Thanks again. :)

mitboi,

It is still early to hear responses from the Canadian schools now so I wouldn't discount yourself completely yet. Hopefully you will hear some good news soon!

Others still waiting to hear from UT?

Y'all thinking what I am? This purgatory means waiting list...

@Pythagoras: thanks for your comment! I take that your bachelors was in another discipline as well then? Yea, I spoke with mainly the admissions at UofT and they basically just told me - use any medium and just be creative. Show you can draw (repeating the ..the portfolio should demonstrate the applicant’s drawing skills and three-dimensional aptitude.").

If you are to do the summer program, which school would you think about? Maybe we can attend the same ones. lol. I also didnt have that many people to talk to during the portfolio making process but everything took me close to a year. I started drawing again Jan of 2009.

The large number of applicants really didn't help.. :(
Oh, I saw Yunez portfolio. He is a beast. lol

@st1tch: Thanks, I hope there is good news for you too. Did you hear anything back from your 3 schools yet? Btw. did you get mail from UofToronto a few weeks ago regarding the leaked information?

EnemyHands

Im still waiting to hear as well. Im a little surprised its taking this long considering the first round of acceptances went on in the end of february. Im thinking either waitlist or a slow painful death (rejection).

On the positive side I was accepted to Syracuse today via small envelope in the mail. Didn't know what to think at first but it turns out it was good news.

Hi ya'll!


firstly, congratulations on all the acceptances, the hard work has paid off!
---im in so far @ of cincinatti and UIC. So U of C is top choice so far...

enemyhands, im waiting on UT too, it would tempt me away from cincinatti because of the warmer weather....

but waiting for penn, sci-arc (of course) and i guess still a glimmer of hope for mit...(as i hear acceptances from last year as late as the 22nd)

peace!

Hi ya'll!


firstly, congratulations on all the acceptances, the hard work has paid off!
---im in so far @ of cincinatti and UIC. So U of C is top choice so far...
uic and Uof C have same open house dates! go figure..


enemyhands, im waiting on UT too, it would tempt me away from cincinatti because of the warmer weather....

but waiting for penn, sci-arc (of course) and i guess still a glimmer of hope for mit...(as i hear acceptances from last year as late as the 22nd)


anyone know how big the class size is @ U of Cinci for M.arch??

peace!

sorry for the double post that wasnt my intention

mitboi,

No, I have yet to hear anything from the schools that I have applied to but some of my fellow classmates that have applied have yet to hear anything either. I didn't get any email from UofT about leaked information, what did the email say? If you would like, I can send you a copy of my portfolio via email.

@mitboi and @pythagoras: if you guys are looking at summer programs, I'd give a hearty recommendation to GSAPP's intro to architecture program. 5-week intensive. Do the day studio if you can; you'll get more out of it. But great people and NYC in the summer is it's own exciting, hot sweaty mess.

@pythagoras: love the attitude! that's an awesome way to look at things :)

i still have not heard anything from cincinnati... not sure what this means. since people have received both acceptance and rejections, i am wondering if this means i am on the waitlist? i think i have broken my gmail refreshing it so often...

@st1tch, sure, that you be great. I'd like to see your portfolio. I will PM you my email. I will also forward you the mail (not email) regarding the leaked info. Basically they forward the list of applications this year to all the graduates students. The info contained ppl's names / grad / school / undergrad studies / etc.

@sixtrain, did you do the program at GSAPP yourself? I will definitely look into it. I wonder if I can just email them and don't have to go thru the app. process again, I mean, they have my rejected portfolio already.

my comments are disappearing. and i have so many amazing things to say.

mitboi - i dont really know what they look for in non-arch-major portfolios because all i know is arch undergrad stuff, but your drawings are amazing. i'd go through this thread and check out other peoples portfolios if you don't have much success this year. perhaps you got a little too winded with the amount of drawings you included, you could probably whittle it down a bit more or include three dimensional things, like sculpture (as said before) or those neat assemblages of objects people do.
as far as summer programs, you would probably want to go to the one a school you really want to go to is offering. wow that sentence is confusing....
go to the summer program of a school you want to attend?

english is hard

what leaked information are you talking about mitboi?

BOS02135,
I am still yet to hear from cincy as well, same goes for some of my classmates. Im not really sure what to think of it.


But so far...

Michigan - Accepted 2g
Maryland - Accepted
Syracuse - Accepted AP

UC - ?
Rice - ? Reach - wouldn't expect to get in
UT - ? Assuming no or waitlist
VT - ?

Would like to hear from VT and UC soon so I can see all my options. Congrats to everyone.

mugged, I'm curious: did maryland place you in 'studio 1'. I'm assuming since they put me there they wouldn't give me AP?

@li dandan, thanks for your comment.

As for summer program, do all schools have these programs? I guess I should start researching soon. Just don't like how it will cost like $5-6000 for 5 weeks.

But if its worth it, then gotta do what I gotta do!

@mitboi: yea, I did that program last summer. it really helped me get a sweet portfolio together, not only in the project I could include but in the help I got from my TA on putting it together (he was amazing.. helped critique the portfolio and tear it apart). more importantly, it got me really fired up about architecture and kinda confirmed that this was what I wanted.

of course, it also sold me pretty well on GSAPP, although I'm keeping an open mind and looking hard at the other (significantly cheaper) programs I got into.

---

update: got into Berkeley via e-mail last night.

thevillian,

Rice open house is April 8th and 9th, starting at 2 PM that Thursday. I called to ask. I am looking into flights into Houston now... I'm unsure if I will book before I get the financial aid information through the mail, but I also don't want tickets to go up even further; they're already really pricey!

i know columbia & sci arc have them. I would definitely start researching them. A lot seem to be for high school students but I really don't know. There are probably a million threads on the subject in the discussions here.

thanks adrasteia.. I know, i feel the exact same way. did the person you talked to give any indication as to when they'd be sending us something?

@passerby1ce, the letter pretty much said:

"in processing your app. to our program, some info. about you (incl. your undergraduate field of studying and your fourth-year avg) was inadvertently communicated beyond the Admissions Committee. The Admin. Comm. comprises Daniels faculty members and grad students and some of your app. info was misdirected to a # of our grad students outside of the committee"..

Signed by Prof. Pina Petricone, Director of M.arch Program.

did you guys (UofToronto applications) get this mail?

it was date Feb 19, 2010.

I'm in at Syracuse with $8,000 scholarship.

I'm undecided between there and Clemson. I'd better make some open house arrangements!

Can't say that I have

sigh... why does sci-arc notify so late?

I've noticed all of GSAPP's summer classes seem to be late afternoon or evening. Is this just a general grad school thing to make classes late so professors can work (as architects) in the day and have classes after work?

another question - are any of you going to try to work (part-time) while your getting your masters? I def. didn't have time to work in my undergrad, but gradschool could be different (i think I'm much more efficient now).

thevillain

For Maryland I applied for the advanced standing (2-year) track for those with BS undergrad degrees in architecture. The studio name is listed as Comprehensive Design Studio

im going to try and get a job, maybe at a computer lab or something on campus. I like having extra money to blow on stupid junk (like my dvd collection and makeup and digital cable lol). Also I had a job at the UF computer lab for three years in my undergrad and it's where I did about 60% of my work for all my classes. And it was super easy and the supervisors loved me and decent pay and it was right there in the architecture building. But I may have been a bit spoiled.


tyMArch I think it might be because professors work and some students work during the day. Or because undergrad studios are during the day and some profs have to do both. Older = later studios.

I see some of you are considering a summer Intro to Arch program. I recommend the program at Cornell. 6 weeks but they do teach a lot. I can share more details if anyone is interested. The program as GSAPP is a little lighter in terms of content but still very good. I assume RISD also has a summer program that helps for the Portfolio :-)

Trip down to Boston ... from GSAPP ! Looks like fun ! But quick question... Can we attend the open houses w/o the acceptance :-)

I see some of you are considering a summer Intro to Arch program. I recommend the program at Cornell. 6 weeks but they do teach a lot. I can share more details if anyone is interested. The program as GSAPP is a little lighter in terms of content but still very good. I assume RISD also has a summer program that helps for the Portfolio :-)

Trip down to Boston ... from GSAPP ! Looks like fun ! But quick question... Can we attend the open houses w/o the acceptance :-)

someone just posted a UBC waitlist on the GradCafe. Does this mean the rest of us who have yet to hear anything from them should be expecting a rejection?