So you applied to schools without knowing anything about them???

poop, I don't know "much", I didn't say i don't know anything. And I do know that these are the only two schools in Canada where you apply after two years of uni, and that's why I applied. But thanks for your input.

I think U. Calgary and U. Manitoba also have that similar 2+2 program as well, but I might be wrong?

I was accepted to Dal and am now deciding between Arch at Dal and Planning/Fine Arts double-major at Waterloo. I kind of wish I had applied to UBC mostly out of the curiosity of seeing if I would have been accepted there as well, but oh well. I think BC may have been a little TOO far for my liking, Dal is far enough. For me the big kicker about Dal is being able to take my graduate electives at any university in Halifax; I plan on taking as many as possible at NSCAD and possibly even pursuing an MFA afterwards or even in conjunction if they allow it.

From what I've read/been told, Dal Arch is a very practical school.

What program are you coming from?

Oh, also, the co-op at Dal sounds great and about 1/3 of students do it abroad, which I am very excited about. No idea if BC has that or not.

at UM you apply after one year in regular uni...or at least that is how it was.

I don't believe there are any pluses or minuses for you as a student at one school or the other ( in terms of the skills you will learn ). dal is well known for being practical, BC more experimental. the co-op at dal is a good thing. bc has interesting eco-ambitions...

in the end the school will possibly matter most for you when looking for jobs, not so much for what you learn. though that is maybe counter-intuitive, it is the people that matter the most, the professors you can meet, the professionals you will contact during school, and the introductions that can be made. After a few years that will matter less, but the doors that open are what make the difference. The rest is more about what you are comfortable with, the kind of content you enjoy being immersed in.

best thing to do is go to each if you can and walk around and chat with students. quite a long time ago i had to choose between U of M and Dal(TUNS at the time). I was living in halifax at the time and loved the city, but was from manitoba. So was easy to check out both - walking through Dal studios convinced me i would not enjoy my time there, so I moved to UM and loved the program (which was very wild at the time - they are more conservative now). If I had chosen without looking would not have been as good a fit.

thanks for the info guys. BenC- I'm coming from UVic actually, I did two years there towards an Econ degree actually. Where are you coming from? Jump - it's funny you say the Dal studios turned you off of the Uni, when I visited there a few years ago it seemed really appealing. The Co-op at dal is a plus for me too, I'm wondering how hard it will be to find summer internships if I go to UBC.

yeah, it is funny, and remember this was years ago. just goes to show it is a personal thing and what others say is biased. me i hated the reality based approach of DAL and loved the anything is architecture if you want it to be atmosphere of UofM. co-op was even more a turn off.... funny, eh...

btw, i went with UM M.ARCH to work in london, then japan and now have own office here in tokyo. none of which had anything to do with my education except that i knew classmates in london and they helped me get sorted when i went there to find a job. former prof also got me introduction to University of Tokyo, where i earned PhD. The lasting legacy of my education has always been the contacts. On the practice side, it has been the offices i worked at that shaped me the most, not my education.

Thats great info to know, thanks Jump.

Like I said, Im doing the Planning (Urban Design Spec.) & Fine Arts (Studio Spec.) at UW. I guess I'm just weighing the apparent safety of planning with the fact that architecture is actually what I want to do.

I do find it kind of weird, however, that Dal's school is known to be so "practical" when it is located only 3 blocks from NSCAD, which is likely the best BFA program in the country, and in that sense as well, very avant-garde and forward thinking from what I have been told (out of 4 fine arts studio profs in my two years at UW, 3 graduated from NSCAD, plus one art history prof). Halifax seems to be very bohemian/artistic as well. Im just extremely interested in art + architecture together, however our urban design studio last semester exposed us to vernacular architecture which I also found very interesting.

Im visiting the Dal campus this week and I cant wait to see the studios. I found picture online and Im hoping that they were just badly taken or are very old, because they did not give the studio a flattering appearance by any means.

hi s-k,
i'm a recent UBC Environmental Design grad.
You can send me an email if you are still deciding between the two!

"Im visiting the Dal campus this week and I cant wait to see the studios. I found picture online and Im hoping that they were just badly taken or are very old, because they did not give the studio a flattering appearance by any means."

I visited Dalhousie and the studios were a downer for me, very cramped. Halifax is great city to live in for a cultural experience though.

Hey s-k, what did you end up deciding? I committed to Dalhousie Arch this morning, and Im very excited to go in September.

On a side note, if anyone knows of a place to rent please let me know!

Dal is known for it's co-op program... Both are good choices although Dal is I think the more direct route out of highschool, ubc acceeditted architecture program is a masters, similar to u of t, etc. so getting into encronmental design at ubc I don't think guarantees you a place in the m arch...