okay here is the deal. im in my early 30's and i have a financial industry background. i worked in the financial industry at various front office capacities for the past 10 years. For the last 4 years i have been in the commercial real estate space doing investment banking and i have been more intrigued by the the design and creative side of the business, however i dont want to completely abandon my finance background. i recently decided to change my career to architecture. I applied to 6 schools. My undergrad degree was in finance and information technology with a minor in economics, my gpa was 2.75 overall (primarily because oi was pre-med when i started but changed majors in my 2nd year) graduated with a 3.3 gpa in major. My GRE score was 800, im not a great standardized test taker. i thought i had a good portfolio and excellent reccommendations and decided to apply to M.Arch programs.
Well letters came back, i got waitlisted at Syracuse and Sci-Arc and denied at Cornell, GaTech, NotreDame, WUSTL. Not sure what to do or what my next step is...
any advice??? I really want to do this and possibly get my MBA in Design a d Strategy in the process, but i wanted to get into Arch School first. I do have a family but are finances are in order so that we have the flexibility.
Im thinking of doing the summer institute at Harvard and a few others, still trying to decide and see which one is the most cost effective and beneficial for me.
have you contacted the schools that did not admit you? sometimes they will provide the feedback that led to your non-admittance.
also, syracuse and sci-arc are good, competitive schools. if you got wait-listed at those schools, then you are doing something right, so i'm sure a little investigation and correction will fix the situation
from what i've seen on these forums, the summer programs are a great way to get your foot in the door. i think they have a high acceptance rate into the m.arch programs.
First, your obviously low GRE score. This year might already be too late. You should take it again to bring up the score if you haven't already.
Second, I wonder if the lack of office experience at these really competitive schools did you in. Some of the largest grad programs like Michigan tend to have higher acceptance rates and previous arch experience isn't critical. You might consider applying to less competitive programs to increase your odds.
Third, why would you apply to Notre Dame and Sci-Arc at the same time. Do you prefer classical architecture or a third-rate film school?
Fourth, you might be looking in the wrong direction. I would trade my degree with yours to get into real estate. Do you have any advice on how an architect can get his foot in the door in a RE office without going back to school for RE?
i applied to Sci-Arc because of the school and the prof. i visited the campus and liked what they were doing! I liked the classical nature and delivery of Notre Dame, and thought it would be equally great learning exp as well. I liked both new-age contemporary arch as well as classical.
With that said, and taken the advice of so many in work/out of work tect's, i decided not to continue with pursuing a M.Arch designation.
I changed focuses and now I am doing development with a state municipality as well as getting my MBA and MPP degree. I felt it, I could accomplish my goals another way and decided to not start all over again, plus the financial commitment and lack there of once school was completed was a huge deterrent.
I was accepted to both schools in the long run though, so i am happy i saw it through. i'm appreciative of the time it allowed and how it gave me incentive to see of this was really for me...
Good luck to everyone else!
Mar 25, 11 12:18 pm ·
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Acceptances Letters came back
okay here is the deal. im in my early 30's and i have a financial industry background. i worked in the financial industry at various front office capacities for the past 10 years. For the last 4 years i have been in the commercial real estate space doing investment banking and i have been more intrigued by the the design and creative side of the business, however i dont want to completely abandon my finance background. i recently decided to change my career to architecture. I applied to 6 schools. My undergrad degree was in finance and information technology with a minor in economics, my gpa was 2.75 overall (primarily because oi was pre-med when i started but changed majors in my 2nd year) graduated with a 3.3 gpa in major. My GRE score was 800, im not a great standardized test taker. i thought i had a good portfolio and excellent reccommendations and decided to apply to M.Arch programs.
Well letters came back, i got waitlisted at Syracuse and Sci-Arc and denied at Cornell, GaTech, NotreDame, WUSTL. Not sure what to do or what my next step is...
any advice??? I really want to do this and possibly get my MBA in Design a d Strategy in the process, but i wanted to get into Arch School first. I do have a family but are finances are in order so that we have the flexibility.
Im thinking of doing the summer institute at Harvard and a few others, still trying to decide and see which one is the most cost effective and beneficial for me.
Need advice pronto -- it'll help
What did you end up doing Talentjones?
wow....no one really help tal.
i figure most people stopped reading at "financial industry"
have you contacted the schools that did not admit you? sometimes they will provide the feedback that led to your non-admittance.
also, syracuse and sci-arc are good, competitive schools. if you got wait-listed at those schools, then you are doing something right, so i'm sure a little investigation and correction will fix the situation
good luck
from what i've seen on these forums, the summer programs are a great way to get your foot in the door. i think they have a high acceptance rate into the m.arch programs.
Did you get into any schools?
First, your obviously low GRE score. This year might already be too late. You should take it again to bring up the score if you haven't already.
Second, I wonder if the lack of office experience at these really competitive schools did you in. Some of the largest grad programs like Michigan tend to have higher acceptance rates and previous arch experience isn't critical. You might consider applying to less competitive programs to increase your odds.
Third, why would you apply to Notre Dame and Sci-Arc at the same time. Do you prefer classical architecture or a third-rate film school?
Fourth, you might be looking in the wrong direction. I would trade my degree with yours to get into real estate. Do you have any advice on how an architect can get his foot in the door in a RE office without going back to school for RE?
get your MBA, forget about architecture
TALENTJONES:
the first question you should ask is.. why would you apply to Sci-arc AND notre dame?? that is a major polarity.
Its a stifle in vision, which coupled with low GRE score, and i dont now about your portfolio.. but it probably didnt help enough.
See how the waitlist thing goes, but chances are they wont give you a scholarship
i applied to Sci-Arc because of the school and the prof. i visited the campus and liked what they were doing! I liked the classical nature and delivery of Notre Dame, and thought it would be equally great learning exp as well. I liked both new-age contemporary arch as well as classical.
With that said, and taken the advice of so many in work/out of work tect's, i decided not to continue with pursuing a M.Arch designation.
I changed focuses and now I am doing development with a state municipality as well as getting my MBA and MPP degree. I felt it, I could accomplish my goals another way and decided to not start all over again, plus the financial commitment and lack there of once school was completed was a huge deterrent.
I was accepted to both schools in the long run though, so i am happy i saw it through. i'm appreciative of the time it allowed and how it gave me incentive to see of this was really for me...
Good luck to everyone else!
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