<p>I'm a current industrial design freshman at UC- if any of you have any questions about the program or UC as a school, I'd be more than happy to answer (or find an answer) them! I know last year I had a bunch of questions about the school- so I'm assuming you will too (please don't ask me to chance you.... I have no idea hahahaha)</p>
<p>-Jon</p>
<p>Hi Ineo. I remember when you were posting on another forum. Congrats on both getting in and coming to DAAP. You must be in your fourth year already?</p>
<p>hahaha no- I’ve been posting on core77 for a while but I actually just finished my first quarter (straight A’s too hahaha)… it’s winter break and I have some free time (don’t have any in school…) so I figured I’d come back and help out anxious students- I know I would’ve wanted this when I was applying last year. And thanks for the congratulations- I really love it here!</p>
<p>Straight A’s? Didn’t think that was possible in freshmen foundation year.
Yeah, I knew that you would like it at DAAP. It is a VERY good school, although I don’t know what affect the budget cuts will have on programs.</p>
<p>From what I can tell, the main impact of the budget cut is on class size:
where last year studio sizes were 20-25 students per class (with two separate classes per teacher), this year they have combined the two classes at one time so that we are in two rooms. This may seem like a massive class, but it never feels terribly enormous, and as long as you ask for help and assistance, you will always get it.</p>
<p>It’s funny how you all seem familiar to me now. My son was accepted to DAAP ID! We are wondering about the Cincinnatus Scholarship competition. If he hasn’t received an invitation by now does that mean he most likely wasn’t invited?</p>
<p>We still haven’t visited the school. Ineo, how are you finding the social life and the surrounding area? Also what are the prospects of taking electives in the Fine Arts, ceramics for example.</p>
<p>drae27 - I’m sitting here wondering the same thing. D2 has not yet received any information about the Cincinnatus Scholarship either.
D2 was accepted to the architecture program and loved the campus when we visited in the summer. The surrounding area is not the greatest, but it is an urban campus, although the school is on a clearly identified campus of its own, as opposed to the Pitt campus.</p>
<p>Drae27/QuietType: the date of the competition was really long ago… I don’t quite remember when I got my notification. I would recommend calling the financial aid office:
[Student</a> Financial Aid, University of Cincinnati](<a href=“http://www.financialaid.uc.edu/email_phone.html]Student”>http://www.financialaid.uc.edu/email_phone.html)
Use the contact information under “New Student”. I think almost everyone in Design and Architecture (fine arts+planning… not so much) has a cincinnatus, so I would highly recommend calling. On a similar note, you should be getting honors acceptances soon too- I highly recommend signing up for Honors- you get to register for classes WAY earlier before any fill up and the system crashes and you get access to honors housing (I chose daniels anyways, but its nice to have the option), which is LEAPS AND BOUNDS nicer than daniels. Also, don’t believe its less social- It is much more social than my floor (I’m on the “daap overflow” floor, where all the students who requested the daap floor (the one that is really social) were put when there wasn’t enough space there. however there are also other majors so its kind of a weird mix). Also, for honors- you don’t have to graduate with honors (meaning you don’t have to complete all the experiences) to stay in the program to get the benefits- namely the ability to sign up for classes early (which is one AMAZING benefit, believe me).</p>
<p>In terms of the surrounding area- First, I’ll start off with safety- it isn’t the greatest place. This city about 2 blocks away is called “Over the Rhine”, which is considered to be one of the worst/most dangerous places to live. However Clifton (where UC is) is nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be; I’ve walked back alone from DAAP at 2 or 3 in the morning and have never felt unsafe- the campus is well lit, and as long as you don’t cut through parking garages, I think you’ll be fine (we get reports every time a violent crime occurs- we really don’t get that many… maybe 1 or 2 a month)</p>
<p>here’s an example (the last one I received)- previously, we got a message that the subway on campus was robbed:</p>
<p>November 25, 2009</p>
<p>To: UC Community</p>
<p>From: Gene Ferrara
Director of Public Safety
University of Cincinnati</p>
<p>The University of Cincinnati Police arrested two people last night in connection with the armed robbery of the Subway store on UC’s MainStreet on Sunday, Nov. 22.</p>
<p>An employee of the store conspired with a friend to plan and carry out this crime. The robber was a friend of an employee who provided information about the time and method for the robbery. The robber is a juvenile, 16 years of age, and the employee is 18 years of age. The two suspects in custody are the only people involved in the crime.</p>
<p>In terms of stuff to do in the surrounding area… well, I have found it not too great, probably mostly because I am from Los Angeles, where there is always something happening all over. However, it really isn’t too bad- in terms of music, there is Bogarts (which is literally across the street from UC) and Southgate house (Which is a $12 taxicab away… if split between 4 people, its cheaper than the bus)- we went to each to see Matisyahu and Ok Go respectively). There’s Newport on the Levee (Thats where southgate house is) which is a nice little place to shop/hang out/see movies/etc. in Kentucky (about 10 min drive away), there’s Ludlow, which is a pretty awesome street to hang out on about a 10 min walk away (its the street with Skyline and Graeter’s). Calhoun St (immediately off campus) has a ton of restaurants and some shops, which is a nice break from centercourt/stadiumview/marketpointe (the name of the three on campus cafeterias)… And finally, King’s Island is only a 15 min drive away- we went on Halloween and it was tons of fun… So in the end, there really is quite a bit to do, you just have to find it.</p>
<p>In terms of social life- the cool thing about DAAP is that you can be as social as you want. If you want to party a lot, there are usually quite a few parties (usually from thursday to Saturday, then again on wednesday… I don’t really understand the schedule…), but if you want to buckle down and get to work, there are ALWAYS students in the studio, and thats a great way to meet new people (that’s how I’ve met most of the people I know). If you are in design, I highly recommend working in studio over your dorm room- you will meet some really cool people, and at 2/3am its always fun. If you are in Architecture/Interior Design (SAID I think…) you have to be in studio as you do a lot of projects which require the wood shop. Architecture freshmen’s workload is at least 10 times the design one. I don’t even know how they get everything they do finished on time…</p>
<p>And finally, the campus- I personally love the campus. No 2 buildings look similar as each was designed by a different architect, and they were all built recently. The campus is also very small- since it is an urban campus, they couldn’t/can’t expand the size. So even though DAAP and the dorms are at opposite corners of the campus, it only takes a little over 10 minutes to get there. </p>
<p>Hope this helped! And congratulations on both of your children’s acceptances to DAAP! if you want me to elaborate on anything I said, please ask away!</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, ineo! When I went on the UC website a couple of days ago it noted that the “Details on the RSVP process and event will be in the invitation sent to each eligible scholar in late December.” It also noted that the competitions will be on either February 5th or 12th.</p>
<p>I was actually glad to hear that someone else was wondering if the invitations had gone out yet. I thought perhaps that D2 did not qualify for some reason.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your generous response! We are looking forward to visiting and the neighborhood guide will help. </p>
<p>I emailed the financial aid office about the Cincinnatus today but I have a feeling they are closed. I think I’ll call tomorrow. I’ll post any info I get here. Reading what ineo said about most design students getting it was reassuring.</p>
<p>Oh and yes…Congrats to your daughter QuietType!</p>
<p>Thanks, drae! Congratulations to your son as well. D2 never thought she would get into the architecture program in DAAP - now she’s getting nervous. </p>
<p>By the way - Graeter’s is a MUST stop for anyone visiting the campus. My wife had an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital (many years ago) just down the street from UC and it was strange wandering her old neighborhood in Clifton, but Graeter’s is still the same. Wow, has the UC campus changed!</p>
<p>ineo - your insight is very helpful</p>
<p>Thanks ineo42 for starting this thread. Much appreciated!</p>
<p>D received her admission to DAAP ID last week. She is excited but is awaiting responses from a few other schools.</p>
<p>I just called the financial aid office. The Cincinnatus competition invitations are likely to be in the mail today. We should expect a package in the mail later this week. Also learned that this year only a select group of students will be invited to the competition and will be assured a $3500 scholarship if they compete (for higher scholarship). The same group of invited students will also be invited to the honors program. </p>
<p>Based on the honors program website, it seems they invite some top 5% of the incoming class. Thus this combination suggests that UC is getting serious about yielding a higher number of their top students (with higher scholarship amounts; at least $3500 as opposed to $2000 in the years past).</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Tellall,</p>
<p>Thanks for the news. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.</p>
<p>I had no idea about the honors program or the Cincinnatus scholarship when I applied… I wonder if I will be receiving anything about them in the mail…</p>
<p>I may have said I didn’t need financial aid… that was dumb.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I’m attending, but do you think it’s a good idea to confirm admission now rather than wait to hear back from other schools?</p>
<p>The Cincinnatus is awared REGARDLESS of financial need. It is a merit based scholarship. I believe that it is available in addition to any other scholarships such as departmental scholarships etc.</p>
<p>Be advised that there are two requirements in order to keep the Cincinnatus.</p>
<p>The first, which is usual among scholarship requirements, is that you must have at least a an overall 3.20 GPA ( I think-- but maybe Ineo can correct this if I am in error).</p>
<p>The second requirements,which is very unusual, is that you must spend 30 hours per year ( although the precise requirements is 10 hours for each quarter that the student is taking courses at school) on community service. This means that if you are on coop during that quarter, the service requirement for that quarter is waived. </p>
<p>Some of you may not have received any notice of the Cincinnatus qualifying for the scholarship requires a complete applications, including all test scores, by December 1.</p>
<p>Benellis- I wouldn’t confirm admission until you are sure you want to go to UC. I waited quite a bit after the cincinnatus competition before I confirmed.</p>
<p>and Drae- I didn’t see the last part of your question about fine arts electives: the answer is yes, you can sign up for them. In fact (at least for industrial) you have to take a studio elective. I thought I would be wanting to take a bunch of fine arts classes too, but the foundations courses (and subsequent years) keep you so busy that I feel it would be really straining yourself to take a bunch of studios, especially since they are in addition to your major and general ed classes.</p>
<p>Ineo,
Would you fill us in on the practicalities of the co-op program. When will you go on your first co-op? I see that if my son attends he will have two years under the current quarterly system and then three years with the new semester system. How will this work with co-ops? I imagine he will go on one short one in his second year but then how many will he go on in the remaining years? And for how long? Does the cost of your education really only add up to 4 years of tuition since you are away so much? Do you think leaving for co-op will affect your social life? And lastly, have you heard that students are having a hard time finding co-ops?</p>
<p>wow thats a lot:</p>
<p>I’ll first start by saying that no one really knows how the semester system with co-ops is gonna work out. Currently, (from what I’ve heard) they are planning on doing something similar to what they have now: you switch every semester or two (I’ve heard it both ways). This means that you will either have a schedule where you go on co-op in the summer “semester” and are in school for Fall and Winter or you are in school in Fall, back on Co-op in winter, back in school in summer, on co-op in fall… etc. I have no idea which one it’s going to be. </p>
<p>Right now though, the co-op schedule works like this:
you pick in your second year how you want to co-op. This means you choose to either go on co-op in the final quarter of sophomore year or in the summer after sophomore year. I’m choosing to go on co-op on the summer/winter schedule simply because when I go to school, I want it to have a somewhat lively campus. If I was on Spring/Fall co-op, i would miss all the sports games (they are fun to go to… I never thought I would care when I was applying) and then be going to school in the summer… when no one is there. Hope that makes sense… The advantage to the other co-op schedule though is that you are competing with much fewer students (e.g. other schools are in session, so those students are not applying for paid internships).</p>
<p>In terms of tuition, right now, I’m pretty sure it adds up to only 3.5 years, not 4. I may be mistaken though. When we switch to semesters- once again, I have no idea.</p>
<p>for your son, he will probably have the choice of going on either a short co-op (final quarter of sophomore year) or a long one (first summer after sophomore year). Once again, I’m not quite sure how that would work out- you should probably ask when you go visit (I’m sure thats what most questions will be about…)</p>
<p>In terms of leaving for co-op affecting your social life- I wouldn’t worry about that at all. Everyone has facebook- its like going on winter break- you’d still keep in touch even if you don’t see everyone. That’s what I’d imagine at least (I still have a year and 2 quarters to go before I find out though. Maybe taxguy can tell you from his daughter’s experience)</p>
<p>And finally: Yes, students are having a hard time finding co-ops. I know quite a few who are not going on co-op next quarter, so they are instead staying next quarter to work on gen-eds or a minor. However, I think most students have found something- since I am still only a freshmen I cannot give a truly accurate opinion on a ratio or anything as I don’t interact with a majority of co-oping upperclassmen daily, if that makes sense. I might have a better idea as to how many students got a co-op when I go back for Winter quarter in a few days.</p>
<p>to sum up this post: the economy has had a big toll on co-ops and pretty much no one has a solid understanding as to how the semester system is going to work out in terms of both co-oping and attending classes (like how the material covered in 3 quarters will be done in two semesters).</p>
<p>I hope this helped a little, but really, I am not at all the best person to ask about the semester switch- I would ask the university in person when/if you visit or call them up. If you find out anything more specific, I would love to know!</p>
<p>ineo/taxguy - D just got accepted into DAAP Arch. We’re in-state for UMich.</p>
<p>1) D comes in with 7 AP courses (5 5’s and 2 in progress) and 2 UMich courses (Calc III & IV). Most of the colleges she’s applying (e.g. UMich) she’d start with about 45 credits. Even for UC trimesters, I figured she’d be in with about 60-70 quarter hours. How does this work with a) the DAAP Arch program b) the coop program & schedule and c) the trimester to semester switch? She does not want to lose any credits and this could be a deal breaker for her to pick UC.</p>
<p>2) In your opinion, how do you compare BS Arch to B.Arch? If one is committed to Arch, and got admitted into B.Arch at a decent school (e.g. ND), would it make sense to go to BS Arch even if it were a good school like UC?</p>
<p>Karkri, congratulations on your daughter’s acceptance!!</p>
<p>In terms of AP credits, here is where the UC AP key is:
[Undergraduate</a> Admissions, University of Cincinnati](<a href=“http://www.admissions.uc.edu/ap_key.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.admissions.uc.edu/ap_key.html)
I don’t know if they have updated it yet, but they don’t change it much, if at all, each year. You will be able to find out what classes you will get credits for from that.</p>
<p>The curriculums (for all majors too! so if you want to see architecture/interior design, go to “Curriculum sheets- SAID”, if you want ID/GD/FD/DD/etc. go to"school of design" etc.) are located at :
[DAAPSpace:</a> Search Results](<a href=“http://www.daapspace.daap.uc.edu/search?q=curriculum]DAAPSpace:”>http://www.daapspace.daap.uc.edu/search?q=curriculum)</p>
<p>you can match up what classes you get credits for from the AP key to the curriculum. Keep in mind, you won’t really be able to skip years no matter how many AP tests you take due to the fact that each year, studios build upon the previous year. In the end, i don’t think the actual number of credit hours really matters- I think its more important that the gen-ed classes that are required get taken or, even better, get out of with AP credits.</p>
<p>And in terms of architecture programs, I really have no idea. I think that the decision of where to attend is yours! If you feel that notre dame (who just stole our football coach >.>) is a better fit than UC, go there! UC is a top architectural program, so you can’t go wrong with it. I think in the end, your decision will be like deciding between harvard,yale, and princeton… you can’t go wrong no matter where you go. It’s just a personal preference.</p>
<p>I also don’t really know the difference in architectural degrees (I just know for one you have to go to grad school and the other you don’t), which may be a deciding factor.</p>