I’m currently in the process of applying to grad schools for M.Arch 2 ( Applying to Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, UC Berkeley, and UCLA) and got an email from Columbia GSAPP this morning that said:
I am glad to see your interest in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. As you are considering your options for an advanced degree, I want to take a moment to share my perspective of the school with you. Based in Columbia University’s beautiful historic campus in the heart of New York City, GSAPP is best defined by its inspiring faculty and students who are committed to shaping a more equitable, sustainable, and creative world by engaging architecture and the built environment from a range of diverse and global perspectives.
Collectively, we bring together imagination, experimentation and critical thinking towards new forms of practice. As an urban condenser of ideas, the school drives innovation and change through the leadership of our faculty, the excellence of our academic programs, the expansion of our interdisciplinary opportunities and the richness of our events and initiatives. To be part of the energy at GSAPP is to actively shape the future of architecture and the built environment, as students and faculty work together in a spirit of willful optimism, intellectual generosity, and creative entrepreneurship to design their own form of engagement and modes of practice: never declaring what architecture is but always imagining together what it could be.
For the second consecutive year, Columbia GSAPP was ranked #2 among the country’s top architecture schools by DesignIntelligence. It is a recognition of our standing today as much as it is a reflection on our future, as we transform new opportunities for architects and for architecture into reality for all our students and graduates. This is an exciting time at GSAPP, and I look forward to seeing your application. Please be sure to reach out to our Admissions office at [email protected] with any questions you may have, and take advantage of joining a campus tour or watching one of our online Info Sessions.
With best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving,
Amale Andraos Dean
Did anyone else get this letter as well? I have no former affiliation with Columbia GSAPP and I haven’t finished my application yet. I’ve heard that Ivy leagues sometimes send these to people they intend to reject just to maintain their low admit rate.
Marc Miller
Nov 21, 18 1:06 pm
Another take- it's long winded way of saying "I see (not really me) you are in our application system, but your package is not complete. Let me remind you why you are applying.
Regardless, ask.
Volunteer
Nov 21, 18 1:38 pm
"I’ve heard that Ivy leagues sometimes send these to people they intend to reject just to maintain their low admit rate."
Yes they do. Yale Law School was caught red-handed a few years ago sending out cold-call letters inviting people to apply. Only an extremely small percentage of the "invites" who replied were ever admitted. In fairness I don't know about Columbia Architecture school.
If you do go through the letter and erase the buzz-words there is.........nothing left.
placebeyondthesplines_
Nov 21, 18 1:51 pm
you only received that email because you've started an online application. there's nothing to decode here.
Hi everyone,
I’m currently in the process of applying to grad schools for M.Arch 2 ( Applying to Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, UC Berkeley, and UCLA) and got an email from Columbia GSAPP this morning that said:
I am glad to see your interest in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. As you are considering your options for an advanced degree, I want to take a moment to share my perspective of the school with you. Based in Columbia University’s beautiful historic campus in the heart of New York City, GSAPP is best defined by its inspiring faculty and students who are committed to shaping a more equitable, sustainable, and creative world by engaging architecture and the built environment from a range of diverse and global perspectives.
Collectively, we bring together imagination, experimentation and critical thinking towards new forms of practice. As an urban condenser of ideas, the school drives innovation and change through the leadership of our faculty, the excellence of our academic programs, the expansion of our interdisciplinary opportunities and the richness of our events and initiatives. To be part of the energy at GSAPP is to actively shape the future of architecture and the built environment, as students and faculty work together in a spirit of willful optimism, intellectual generosity, and creative entrepreneurship to design their own form of engagement and modes of practice: never declaring what architecture is but always imagining together what it could be.
For the second consecutive year, Columbia GSAPP was ranked #2 among the country’s top architecture schools by DesignIntelligence. It is a recognition of our standing today as much as it is a reflection on our future, as we transform new opportunities for architects and for architecture into reality for all our students and graduates. This is an exciting time at GSAPP, and I look forward to seeing your application. Please be sure to reach out to our Admissions office at [email protected] with any questions you may have, and take advantage of joining a campus tour or watching one of our online Info Sessions.
With best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving,
Amale Andraos
Did anyone else get this letter as well? I have no former affiliation with Columbia GSAPP and I haven’t finished my application yet. I’ve heard that Ivy leagues sometimes send these to people they intend to reject just to maintain their low admit rate.Dean
Another take- it's long winded way of saying "I see (not really me) you are in our application system, but your package is not complete. Let me remind you why you are applying.
Regardless, ask.
"I’ve heard that Ivy leagues sometimes send these to people they intend to reject just to maintain their low admit rate."
Yes they do. Yale Law School was caught red-handed a few years ago sending out cold-call letters inviting people to apply. Only an extremely small percentage of the "invites" who replied were ever admitted. In fairness I don't know about Columbia Architecture school.
If you do go through the letter and erase the buzz-words there is.........nothing left.
you only received that email because you've started an online application. there's nothing to decode here.