<p>As far as the different types of programs and what it takes to get registered, there is a lot of good information on the web. These websites contain pretty good information, and the NCARB website will give you a good picture of what you will face after graduation.</p>
<p>Gabbyrenee, of the schools you listed the ones I have experience with are UT and KU. Both good programs, right now UT is at the top of my list as far as the quality of graduates in this part of the country. As far as all the others, they are all solid schools. The educational and campus life is so different among the schools you listed that only you can judge which one will be the best fit. All I can say is that if you work hard and graduate near the top of your class at any of these schools you will do well in the profession. College is about a lot more than optimizing your career options, go find a place where you can thrive.</p>
<p>"All I can say is that if you work hard and graduate near the top of your class at any of these schools you will do well in the profession. College is about a lot more than optimizing your career options, go find a place where you can thrive."</p>
<p>Rick, these are words of wisdom. The school creates oppourtunity, it's up to the student to create success.</p>
<p>If you had a choice between Cal Poly and Cornell which would you chose? (all factors, academics, cost, weather, friendliness of people, prestige and perception in its field, reputation...)</p>
<p>i may be biased because i am at cornell but i would choose cornell over cal poly. I draw my conclusions from talking to students who transfer from other architecture schools into cornell so they know what it's like elsewhere. cornell architecture has one of the best alumni network out there in the arch profession (and the ivy name helps open doors elsewhere). the program has many talented (and very hard working) students (which is important for studio culture) as well as professors and visiting faculty. not to mention you're in an ivy league school so the courses here outside of architecture are pretty good.
cal poly is a lot more regional and their curriculum is more conservative (from what i hear). </p>
<p>the main reason why i would choose cal poly over cornell is if i could not afford to go to cornell or if I hated cold weather (but either way, you'll be in studio a lot so it's not that big of a deal). cornell's not perfect by any chance and neither is any other school out there but having been here for about two years, i'd say cornell excels in many aspects. either school you go to, be prepared to work very hard.</p>
<p>if you want to know some on the west coast there are both the cal polys, pmona, and slo, usc, cal college of the arts, so cal inst. of arch., univ. of oregon, berkeley. i applied to most of them.</p>
<p>check NAAB:</a> Home for more, it lists them state by state by whihc program you are interested in.</p>
<p>As a person who is not attending Cornell, although I did go to there summer program,- I would also choose Cornell over Cal Poly. I think that my first reason for doing this is that Cal Poly, traditionally, although they are starting to change, is a more practical school as opposed to one that is based in theory. Secondly I think that Cornell offers overall a better
"package" then Cal Poly and is possibly better respected relative to its region. There is a large debate about what is the better school in that area: USC, Cal Poly, or Sci -Arch. So I personally would chose Cornell, but this is not to say Cornell is better or Cal Poly is worse but that Cornell does have a lot to offer and that I think it would be hard to pass up such an offer.</p>
<p>i think its generally accepted that cal poly is in fact more practical but i have talked with architects in pretty big firms that prefer the more hands on learning to theory that you would learn at say berkeley...but if you have money or some good scholarships, i think usc is the better school over cal poly not sci-arch.</p>
<p>there are some great liberal arts programs in architecture, architecture major within a liberal arts college — for those students who really want the open curriculum and a lot of elective choices but a solid core of architecture related and art related courses for their major. A good option is Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY. But there are others around the country — just be sure that you read a lot about the program and make sure that there are actually architects on the faculty at the liberal arts college. A lot of liberal arts colleges have architecture majors without having a single actual architect on staff! they get by with art/architecture history faculty who don’t really know that much about the field of architecture or design or planning or landscape architecture and can’t help you prepare a really good portfolio so that you can get into a great graduate program in design.</p>
<p>im a 3rd year arch student at cornell if you have any questions about it :)</p>
<p>i also did a lot of research on arch. schools. there is a huge book with a lime green cover (forget what its called) that literally outlines every single architecture school in all 50 states. </p>
<p>anyway, good 5 year programs:
cornell, syracuse, rpi, vtech, cal poly, penn state</p>
<p>good 4 year programs:
umich, umd, uva, yale, washu (with joint 2 year MArch program), miami univ</p>
<p>keep in mind that if you REALLY want architecture and you REALLY want to go to an ivy, cornell is the best option. for grad school, harvard has the best MArch 1 program (they have our old dean now)</p>
<p>My daughter just finished her first quarter at Cal Poly as an Arch major (5-yr BA). All I can say to prospective arch students is to go in with your eyes open, ready to work. She participated in USC’s summer program so she had an idea of what the work load and intensity would be like. She is also a very hard worker and not afraid of late nights and long hours. She is thriving. She loves the program and studying architecture. She has already had all-nighters in studio and spends endless weekend and evening hours in there as well. She (and the other students in the program) are passionate about what they do.</p>
<p>We are extremely impressed with Cal Poly’s arch program. It is very “hands on” and the students are simply amazing. I cannot believe what she has accomplished in only her first quarter of arch school. They really set these students up to succeed.</p>
<p>Hey if it’s OK to ask it here, may i know what a moderately good portfolio would be like, if i want to try for each of the 4 and 5 year progams that laurstar07 listed? I know portfolio requirements vary a lot when it comes to each of the different Us but maybe someone who has been admitted before could describe what a decent portfolio might be?</p>
<p>This school in particular was looking for creativity in various visual forms, including the written form. For example, they want to see not only photographs, but how the photographs were creatively cropped and transformed with photo editing software. They stress repeatedly to include only your highest quality work. </p>
<p>It would not be a bad idea to visit the school(s) ahead of time and bring some of your work along to get ‘feedback’. Many departments offer pre-submission reviews to point you in the right direction.</p>