<p>I am about to be a freshman at WashU in St.Louis, majoring in architecture. It is a 4 year, unaccredited program ending with a Bachelors of Science in Architecture. I am seriously contemplating transferring for my sophomore year to a 5 year accredited program (Cornell/Rice/Syracuse). The 5 year programs seem to be a lot more structured and intensive, teaching you everything you need to know to prepare you for the profession. I am committed to architecture, and plan on succeeding, so I need the best preperation.
I have 2 paths ahead of me
1) 4 years at WashU (BS-Undergrad), ~2 years (Masters-Grad), ~2 years (Masters-Post-Grad)
2) 1 year at WashU {TRANSFER} 5 years at Cornell (BArch-Undergrad), ~1 year (Masters-Grad), ~2 years (Masters-Post-Grad)</p>
<p>Either way, I plan on ending with a Post-grad degree.
Money and time not an issue. Looking for the best preparation to put me ahead of the pack</p>
<p>If you’re going to be in school for ever and money is no object, one year won’t be an issue. DD1 is a rising Junior in a 4+2, intends to do the 4+2+4, and at that point 1 year is a non issue. As the joke goes, she might as well apply for the 3-year M.Arch at Harvard (the one without a BS Arch, even tho she will have one), supposedly easier to get in than their two year M.Arch program for people with a BS Arch… so it’s all kinds of variables in the mix. </p>
<p>The main bummer with the 4+2 is that one misses out on a bunch of great schools (for M.Arch) that don’t offer an M.Arch, period (Auburn…). We started preparing The List for grad school and as I mentioned in another post, it’s not all that big by the time you filter for location, cost, philosophy, focus, size, and so on. The main advantage of 4+2 is there are electives to keep the GPA high and offer some distraction from the daily grind. </p>
<p>The architect who designed our house went to WUSTL, cool guy.</p>
<p>Just reading your post gives me a headache! Architecture schools have made the endless variables too, too complicated. </p>
<p>I’m not sure why you don’t just stick with the WUSTL BS and worry later about where you’ll get your M.Arch. Or, if you’re feeling that you should have chosen a B.Arch instead, maybe you should take a gap year and reapply to B.Arch schools.</p>
<p>@turbo93
The grad school I plan on applying to have always been on the top of my list (eg. Columbia/Harvard/MIT), so I am not worried about missing out. I actually got accepted to Auburn for undergrad Arch, with a $14k scholarship, but wasn’t that interested. @momrath
I agree, waay too complicated
But the reason I am concerning myself now is what path I take will affect my level of preparation going into the professional field, and this point is the fork in the road, no turning back. @newjersey17
Sorry, CollegeConfidential won’t let me reply to PMs since I havent posted enough =P
-A “post-grad” degree is a non-professional Masters degree that gives you more extensive training and theory teaching in specific aspects of architecture, whether it is “urban planning” or even more comprehensive like Columbia’s “advanced architectural design.” It does not replace a prof degree like a BArch or an MArch, but it gives you more experience, and looks damn good on a resume.</p>
<p>@newjersey17
My stats: 3.6 GPA weighted, 3.4 unweighted. 2190 SAt (780 reading, 690 math). 720 Bio and Math SATII. 5 on AP Bio, 4 on AP Env Sci.
I went to Harvard-Westlake, a very prestigious and competitive school in LA.
I got accepted to Notre Dame, USC, Pratt, WUSTL, Syracuse, Auburn, Virg Tech, Iowa State, Michigan, and waitlisted/rejected from Cornell.
The main force in my application was my portfolio and extracurriculars. They want to see commitment and dedication more than diversity.
I practiced art both in and out of school since I was 7. I have my own private studio where I work almost every day. I have 4 different artist mentors and 2 architect mentors who helped me and wrote recs. I also shadowed/observed said architects for a year, and am learning AutoCad, Reivt, Rhino3D, and other programs as we speak. My only other extracurriculars was a year as a Red Cross volunteer, and 2 years scuba diving (open-water certified).
My portfolio had 20 pieces, only maybe 4-5 architectural models. The rest were still-lifes, life-drawings, illustrations, etc. They want to see creativity and artistic vision rather than technical/architectural plans.
-For Notre Dame, although they might allow modern arch study, their staff and curriculum is geared towards, and more skilled at traditional arch. If your daughter likes traditional, nothing is better than ND, but if she wants modern, I advise against it. Highly consider Cornell/Syracuse/USC/SciArc/WUSTL. They have more progressive and innovative styles that teach you more of the future needs and trends of architecture and theory. But make sure she is sure about this profession. I started an internship this summer, and from countless sources, this job is a lot of sleepless suffering and not much pay. But if she LOVES it, then it is bearable.</p>
<p>raiden, You had some excellent choices. You may be second guessing your decision, but I’m sure whatever lead to you choose WUSTL is still valid. It’s a excellent program.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t make any decision based on transfering to Cornell’s B.Arch program after a year at WUSTL. It can be done but it’s not so easy. </p>
<p>Kind of a long shot, but you might give Syracuse, Michigan and Auburn a call and ask them if their offers could be resuscicated.</p>
<p>
Curious to know what this refers to. My perception of Rice’s 4+2 B.Arch is that it’s a very strong program.</p>
<p>@momrath
My initial choice was Cornell, but after eventually getting turned down, I looked at ND. Then I found out that it’s program was mostly traditional. Then it was between WUSTL and Syracuse. But, my father didn’t like Syracuse, saying it wasn’t a big enough household name, and since he will be paying for my tuition, I had to concede.
I know it won’t be easy to transfer, juggling my application with college work, but I have to give it a shot if it would make my education better. And since I am already enrolled in WUSTL and registered for dorms and classes, it’s far too late to switch school now. But I will give Syracuse another look next year, and hopefully I can convince my folk to do the same.
And the info on Rice from newjersey17 was that they don’t teach you programs like AutoCad or Revit.</p>
<p>Depends on your definition of ‘teaching you AutoCAD and Revit’… DD1’s state flagship started 2nd year with 'here is Rhino (well, more like, spend $130 to get Rhino :(), draw this and that, and zero to no instruction how to use Rhino. Repeat for AutoCAD. They did have a Digital Something or Another class which supposedly taught Digital design using Rhino for 3 credits, but the Prof. turned it into another studio where Rhino instruction ended up being 10% of the class at best, the rest being studio-like with crits, models, pinups, and the like (I attended the reviews and it was quite nice actually)</p>
<p>Things got decidedly uglier in spring of 2nd year where they were expected to learn on their own packages like Indesign, Maxwell or V-Ray, and a couple of others. In the fall of Junior year they’ll start Revit. Supposedly TA’s with uber knowledge are available for questions but it’s DIY.</p>
<p>Regarding schools and household names … Be careful just going with those for architecture schools. Look at each program individually along with the school. The school you choose should be one that you love and would remain at even if you changed your major. Consider architecture school has a large percentage of students that went in very prepared and dead set on architecture that end up changing their major.
Another one that you may want to consider that is very strong is UT-Austin.
Good Luck</p>
<p>I guess I don’t understand what you are trying to accomplish. You have been accepted to a very good 4 year program, from which you stand a very good chance of getting into a top Ivy League graduate program. But after a year you want to transfer into the school that rejected you, so you can do an additional five years, then go to the same Ivy League school you could have been already been graduating from?</p>
<p>The degree that really matters is your last degree. It doesn’t much matter in the real world if you went to Oklahoma/Harvard or Cornel/Harvard, the quality of your Harvard portfolio is what matters. If you get an Ivy League MArch, why would you consider going back for a post-professional Master’s? That program is designed for people with a BArch. The next step would be a Phd if you want to be an academic.</p>
and offer some distraction from the daily grind. </p>