Dear all, This is my second post on Archinect, and I'm really hoping for a good response from all the wonderful people out here.
I'm from India, and I graduated in 2014 with B.Arch(with distinction) and now I want to pursue my masters and have been going through info online regarding that. I'm confused about few things and it would be great if anyone could clarify them for me. (I want to apply to GSD, MIT, Yale, Cornell, UCLA, GSAAP, CED Berkeley)
1) Can SoP be written before application process even starts? I mean, I read in few forums that a prompt or questions will be given and we have to answer that and yet, in few other discussions, I read that you just have to write about yourself, work and your reasons to go to the School you are applying to. So, how does this work?
2) Is there a common word limit for SoP? or is it only 'One page' or 'two page'. Since applications haven't started yet, I cant see any info on the university websites regarding this. So should I wait to write my SoP?
3) How important is the NAAB Accreditation to the degree? what is the difference between a professional masters degree and pre/post professional masters degree?
4)I have read about design language of the school and acceptance rate being more if applicants portfolio aligns with the school's work.But where do I find the School's work to study and understand what kind of work they do?
5) My GRE score is 159V / 160Q / 5AWA. 3.5 GPA in undergrad, though I cant find the legit method of converting my percentage into GPA . Could you please tell me if I need to retake GRE? and how to Convert my percentage into GPA
Thank you so much. All responses are welcome.
AstridCam
May 17, 16 2:01 pm
Hi, I myself went through this process last year so I would like to share with you a few things I wish I knew before :)
1) For the SoP: I applied to several different schools and found that while the prompts don't always change a lot among each other, some schools will ask for two essays instead of just one, or an additional brief one to apply for scholarship or how could you provide diversity to the school. Depends on the school, but one very useful thing you can do right now is start some pre-writing exercises. For me this was key, since I don't consider I excel at writing, I felt I needed to practice a lot until I came up with my final SoP. There are some excellent books on Amazon that can help you writing SoP's, give you examples, or just guide you through the pre-writing process (to get you to start to write on why architecture, your personal experience, your goals, etc)
2) The length varies among universities. It could be 500 characters max or it could be 1000 words, it depends. It's a good idea to start drafting the SoP and once you actually know the prompts, tailor it accordingly. I wouldn't wait, I would start now because the more time you have the better you can edit it or have it reviewed by other people such as professors or mentors.
3) Accreditation is only for licensing purposes. In order to get a license here in the U.S. you need to have a degree from an accredited institution. However if you say you have a B.Arch then you would not qualify for the first professional degree since it would be too redundant (you ARE already an architect!), so in that case you would have to go for the post-professional which tend to be shorter and in my opinion more specialized. If you know you'll stay in the U.S. and you want to be licensed, then you can have your B.Arch from your country reviewed by the accreditation board (though it is expensive) and once that is done you can start your IDP and take the AREs.
4)School's work you'll most likely find on their respective websites. Some websites are easier to navigate than others but if you dig enough you'll find student blogs, previous student work, their thesis, etc. I wouldn't say you tailor your portfolio to fit with a specific school's design, I would advice you to choose the school you will apply to based on you determining if they fit your design language. Don't just pick a school because of the name or prestige, you also have to make sure you'll feel comfortable there, you'll fit right in, your design "style" is aligned to theirs, etc. After all, you're going to be investing time and resources on this school, so you better choose the one that is right for you.
5) I personally think your Quant and Writing scores look good, but if you want to retake it (or have the time to, or you are sure you'll do much better this next time...) then do it for the Verbal score. It's not low, but I know other people that will be applying with you might have it higher than that. This is entirely up to you. GRE scores are important but it's not the ONLY part of your application. Focus also on the other parts.
For the GPA, check the WES website (world education service), since you are international if you are admitted they might even ask that you send a WES report of your degree (to figure out US equivalency).
I do hope this is very useful! And good luck with all your applications!
Apoorva91
May 17, 16 2:16 pm
Wow, that is a detailed and very insightful reply AstridCam !!
That kind of explained everything! Thank you, Thank you so much for it!!!
Dear all, This is my second post on Archinect, and I'm really hoping for a good response from all the wonderful people out here.
I'm from India, and I graduated in 2014 with B.Arch(with distinction) and now I want to pursue my masters and have been going through info online regarding that. I'm confused about few things and it would be great if anyone could clarify them for me. (I want to apply to GSD, MIT, Yale, Cornell, UCLA, GSAAP, CED Berkeley)
1) Can SoP be written before application process even starts? I mean, I read in few forums that a prompt or questions will be given and we have to answer that and yet, in few other discussions, I read that you just have to write about yourself, work and your reasons to go to the School you are applying to. So, how does this work?
2) Is there a common word limit for SoP? or is it only 'One page' or 'two page'. Since applications haven't started yet, I cant see any info on the university websites regarding this. So should I wait to write my SoP?
3) How important is the NAAB Accreditation to the degree? what is the difference between a professional masters degree and pre/post professional masters degree?
4)I have read about design language of the school and acceptance rate being more if applicants portfolio aligns with the school's work.But where do I find the School's work to study and understand what kind of work they do?
5) My GRE score is 159V / 160Q / 5AWA. 3.5 GPA in undergrad, though I cant find the legit method of converting my percentage into GPA . Could you please tell me if I need to retake GRE? and how to Convert my percentage into GPA
Thank you so much. All responses are welcome.
Hi, I myself went through this process last year so I would like to share with you a few things I wish I knew before :)
1) For the SoP: I applied to several different schools and found that while the prompts don't always change a lot among each other, some schools will ask for two essays instead of just one, or an additional brief one to apply for scholarship or how could you provide diversity to the school. Depends on the school, but one very useful thing you can do right now is start some pre-writing exercises. For me this was key, since I don't consider I excel at writing, I felt I needed to practice a lot until I came up with my final SoP. There are some excellent books on Amazon that can help you writing SoP's, give you examples, or just guide you through the pre-writing process (to get you to start to write on why architecture, your personal experience, your goals, etc)
2) The length varies among universities. It could be 500 characters max or it could be 1000 words, it depends. It's a good idea to start drafting the SoP and once you actually know the prompts, tailor it accordingly. I wouldn't wait, I would start now because the more time you have the better you can edit it or have it reviewed by other people such as professors or mentors.
3) Accreditation is only for licensing purposes. In order to get a license here in the U.S. you need to have a degree from an accredited institution. However if you say you have a B.Arch then you would not qualify for the first professional degree since it would be too redundant (you ARE already an architect!), so in that case you would have to go for the post-professional which tend to be shorter and in my opinion more specialized. If you know you'll stay in the U.S. and you want to be licensed, then you can have your B.Arch from your country reviewed by the accreditation board (though it is expensive) and once that is done you can start your IDP and take the AREs.
4)School's work you'll most likely find on their respective websites. Some websites are easier to navigate than others but if you dig enough you'll find student blogs, previous student work, their thesis, etc. I wouldn't say you tailor your portfolio to fit with a specific school's design, I would advice you to choose the school you will apply to based on you determining if they fit your design language. Don't just pick a school because of the name or prestige, you also have to make sure you'll feel comfortable there, you'll fit right in, your design "style" is aligned to theirs, etc. After all, you're going to be investing time and resources on this school, so you better choose the one that is right for you.
5) I personally think your Quant and Writing scores look good, but if you want to retake it (or have the time to, or you are sure you'll do much better this next time...) then do it for the Verbal score. It's not low, but I know other people that will be applying with you might have it higher than that. This is entirely up to you. GRE scores are important but it's not the ONLY part of your application. Focus also on the other parts.
For the GPA, check the WES website (world education service), since you are international if you are admitted they might even ask that you send a WES report of your degree (to figure out US equivalency).
I do hope this is very useful! And good luck with all your applications!
Wow, that is a detailed and very insightful reply AstridCam !!
That kind of explained everything! Thank you, Thank you so much for it!!!