What the rankings mean to me: It helps to get the school's name out to future confused students such as yourself (marketing and promoting), in turn getting more applicants which allows the school to be more selective and potentially get stronger applicants into the program.

I have been a part of the archinect community to see 3 cycles of the application process and I have never seen VT been brought up so many times before.

Maybe you can contact the other people on here who are considering VT vs XX and compare notes.

Digital has more emphasis in the undergraduate program at Tech. Also, the person you spoke with at Tech sounds like the graduate chair, and he is a very wise individual. That said, I think you should go with the program that you are instinctually drawn to.

So...contrary to the rankings, I went with Clemson....

wahoo87,

you made this decision in 3 hours of posting? damn, i wish i was that decisive. what pushed clemson over vt for you?

Rusty,

I did. And believe me, I am NOT that decisive. Posting on this was kind of my last option and straw. I have been stressing over the decision for quite a while - but also a short period of time given time restraints. I accepted by Clemson 11 days ago and by VT a few days ago. Clemson gave me a week to decide - so it was a RAPID decision. They kindly gave me an extension for a few days, but I didn't want to hold them up (my deadline was until tomorrow).

The decision maker was feel. I know that ranking is important - but I feel as though its not AS important after you gain a little experience. I am not looking to be a famous architect - not aiming TOO high. But to me, it felt like the feel of the school was more important than the rank. It may be silly, but my two visits went like this:
Sunny, southern hospitality, and warm at Clemson with a tour of the architecture school with an interested professor and a chat with a few current students.
Black cloud over Blacksburg waiting 30 minutes for a meeting and didn't really get to talk to anyone because they were either not there or were too busy to notice.

Now, I am not saying BY ANY MEANS that I didn't like VT. I did. I just got a better feeling at Clemson and felt like I would be happier there.

Oh, and judging by my login name, maybe you can tell I go to VT's rival - so that didn't help :).

But trust me - one of the hardest decisions I've had to make.

When I was in Grad School at Clemson I learned the following:

1. Alcohol is not sold on Sundays, so the bars close at midnight Saturday night.

2. What you want to do is buy a membership at a "private club" which many of the bars operate upstairs, or downstairs from the main establishment. These are open Sundays. When I was there a year membership cost $15-20 and let you bring 4 people in. This is very important to get.

3. The pin-up rooms at either end of the big grad studio space lock from the inside. You can take your GF in there late at night when she comes for a "conjugal visit."

4. The best bet for #3 is to be a TA your first year and seduce a (or number of) sophomore/junior, for use the following year. Also, there are a lot of New Jersey girls running around Clemson for some reason. Watch out for them. I'd suggest sampling the native SC talent.

"Anyway - my largest concern is that Clemson is not ranked and Virginia Tech is"

Not true. Clemson may not be top 5 or 10, but it is top 15 at the graduate level according to the Holy D.I. rankings.

Druf:

1. I don't drink.

2. I still don't drink.

3. I'm a girl.

4. With a boyfriend.


But thanks for the advice :)

when i was an RA at VT, the majority of the girls on my hall were from jersey - kind of cracked me up.

So are we saying that the D.I. grad rankings are actually based on the probability of Jersey-girl encounters per capita?

This changes everything...

Can anyone else provide input on Clemson?

Right now I am trying to decide between Clemson and Tulane. I've visited both, and right now I am leaning toward Clemson because of its ranking and it is MUCH cheaper than Tulane.

Any thoughts?