<p>Hey Brokn,
Thanks for the answers..
one thing I didnt get is what a march program is?
BTW, i am going to undergraduate school right now.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Types of architecture Programs:</p>
<p>Professional: B.arch program. 5 years to complete. Good for those interested in saving time/money and escaping irrelevant studies, though different programs will still vary with different focuses. </p>
<p>Non-professional: Various 4 year programs; will need you to take around 2.5 years of professional graduate studies (time will vary from school to school; also, some course work from the non-professional undergrad may be given credit) to have status of B.arch program graduates. Good for those with very broad interests.</p>
<p>Note: STILL, there may be NO undergraduate programs relevant to your other interests; in this case, there might be relevant GRADUATE programs, so take the 5 year professional, and you will save time and have access to many more graduate programs that might interest you. </p>
<p>After a professional program (either undergraduate or graduate), you will need 3 years of work experience to be eligible to take the ARE licensing exam. </p>
<hr>
<p>What the names mean IN GENERAL/what else to consider:
They can vary from school to school though</p>
<p>Architecture: Mostly related to design. Structural sciences will be supplement to design. There will be boring courses like history/criticism, blah blah.<br>
Industrial design: Very broad and varied, yet if you like design with function and technology and do not want architecture ID is also interesting.
Architectural engineering: deals with structure, acoustics, lighting, etc. Very little aesthetic design involved.
Civil engineering: deals with a variety of structures and bridges (not only residences)
Urban planning: pretty obvious, like planning communities, traffic, natural areas, etc. but it may touch new urbanism/sustainable design
Landscape architecture: designs gardens and outdoor natural spaces, but it may touch green architecture/sustainable design. </p>
<p>There are graduate programs in sustainable design, and some other post-professional graduate programs that allow you to sort of decide on what you want to study, so theres no need to go into Urban Planning or Landscape Arch just because you are crazy about sustainable architecture and the others. </p>
<p>i *think M.arch programs welcomes applicants from all disciplines (I've seen commerce), choose non-professional undergrads that are likely to get you credit, and one you think you can excel in to be admitted into a good grad school.</p>
<p>haha, i just found this thread today and read through your 66 pages of it... anyway some things i'd like to say and ask...</p>
<p>first of all, I live right next to U of Hawaii Manoa... some words of advice... Hawaii is not all it's cracked up to be... It's beautiful, but UH is a state university, and a rather underfunded one at that. The dorms are terrible, the food matches the dorms, the Arch school is pretty good though. You don't want to come here for the location. The main reasons would be for the 7 year PhD in Arch (you've got to be really dedicated) and if you want to study asian-pacific style Arch. If you don't want both, than I wouldn't recommended it. The cost of living here is insane! I'm not kidding, and going through school will put a nice hole in your pocket... haha, I'm looking to get away, so here's my delema...</p>
<p>I've applied for Fall 06 to 6 schools (from west to east):
U of Washington
Rice
IIT
Carnegie Mellon
RPI
Cornell</p>
<p>I've gotten into all but Rice and Cornell as those letters are comming soon (but I don't think I'll be getting in seeing as there were these terrible last min. problems with my SAT scores.) Financial aid is a concern, but I'm not going to worry about it for now. My real question is where would you go? IIT has gotten some great reviews here, and I have a friend going there who loves it. U of Washington is looking at grad work more I think, so I'm backing off. RPI is very tech related, and my friend who attended left after one semester because it was terrible. Carnegie Mellon seems like the best ranked program so far, but I think IIT is in contention.</p>
<p>If I got into Cornell or Rice, I'd probably drop the others but, talking realistically, where would you all recommend? I love Architecture. Enough said, you all know what I mean... thanks for the help, and any questions are welcomed!</p>
<p>hm it's really what you really want to study...</p>
<p>i don't know much about IIT, RPI, or u wash but personally, i like cornell and rice because they have a lot of reputation....reputation should not be your deciding factor but!</p>
<p>more reputation=more resources + attention + better visiting faculty</p>
<p>i've really looked into cornell and rice (since i got into both of them)...and CMU too but i figured..if i had to choose between cornell and CMU i'd choose cornell over CMU if i had to pay the same amount (they're tuition are about the same). Rice is also really good and you get a really good value for it and that's not a bad idea (10k less than cornell). I think cornell might have more reputation but rice is a top notch school for architecture. Cornell is very theoretical and they have a unique style of teaching their students. Rice i think is more culture/urban based but i'm not too sure. I chose cornell over rice because though cornell is more expensive, cornell has a lot more resources, larger class size, amazing curriculum (im sure rice does too) and has a lot of reputation (alumni networking, career opportunities etc)</p>
<p>but stop listening to me on reputation because it's really what you want to study and what environment would fit you best. Cornell and Rice students are very competitive (65 students at cornell/25 students at rice) so i don't know if that's a good thing or not. research more into the schools and see what's best for you. if you are offered great financial deals, put a lot of consideration into that because it will be very helpful to have little debt once you're out...as an architect</p>
<p>oh and don't worry too much about SATs. Sure they're important but it's not like arch professors require their cadidates to have perfect scores because aptitude in SAT tells very little of how good a designer you'll be. I hear cornell is revealing their decisions in less than 30 hrs...</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>yeah, I think they are suppost to come out with their letters real soon... I guess that's all I have to wait for... I personally would pick Cornell over Rice too... The alumni basis is much bigger and they're program is more suited for what I want to study. CMU is a really good program too, they're focused on the future more than the present. Cornell is probably the best design school out there (undergrad wise) but it really matters on what you want to study... Haha, after all the UHawaii bashing I did, I'm probably going to end up getting my PhD here because it's orriented to this area of the world and asia and I plan on living here later in life.</p>
<p>I really need someone to tell me what IIT is focused on. Money is going to be something I look at and IIT is cheaper. Like it's been said many times, the school is going to help you become a good architect, and the better the school/education, the more oppretunities you have, but I still think a great architect can come out of a mediocre school and it's the individual who will make the real difference in the end. So I'm looking at all my options, thanks for any help!</p>
<p>
<p>But now I have to go to UCSD with a brand new major. Do any of you guys have suggestions with majors somewhat related to architecture. This site has a list of the UCSD majors <a href="http://admissions.ucsd.edu/dev2/info/um.html%5B/url%5D">http://admissions.ucsd.edu/dev2/info/um.html</a>. I was thinking maybe Structural Engineering (but that's a lot of math) or Urban Studies and Planning (but that doesn't sound enticing since you write reports a lot). </p>
<p>Any suggestions? (BTW I won't go to a junior college) Also, if I go with a non-architecture bachelors, does it make any sense if I get a masters in architecture later on?
</p>
<p>How flexible is UCSD with their majors? because if you can design your own workload and you base it towards going to graduate school in architecture, that would work quite well. I think you need to look at some art classes, if not an art major. The structural stuff is important, and I find it to be really interesting, but it's not going to help you get into graduate school. The reason you probably missed for undergrad is with your portfolio and you just need to beef that up during your undergraduate college years to show you belong in a graduate architecture class...</p>
<p>Or, if you're not sure if architecture is the right thing for you, go into the school undeclared and decided what you want to do after 2 years of general eduacation...</p>
<p>rejected from cornell... i think the scores did screw me over cuz the interview went great and she said my portfolio was the best out of all the applicants she saw... why am i making excuses? lol, i just wanted to go to ithica... haha, but anyway, back to the same delema, CMU v IIT, let me know!</p>
<p>hawaiii, cmu is a GREAT schoool, lots of my friends love it ther. it has a very intensive program similar to cornell's. if u love arch, you'll love it ther</p>
<p>guys, please help me out. i posted earlier about 4v5 yr. i recieved a full ride to washu and just got into cornell. what do i do? i love washu and really want to go. but i also love cornell's program. i plan to go to grad school, which wud help me in the long run? washu 4 yr is still awesome. wut to do?</p>
<p>I'd look at money and they type of program you want to go into... If you want to study "green arch" then washU is there, but Cornell is the most intensive design program and that's that... Also think if you want to be in the country or the city. Ummm otherwise, I think Cornell will push you harder than washU, a good thing if you're up for the challenge, and anyone in the field must be i think... Money is an issue, like I said, but lookint to grad school, a good GPA out of Cornell will help you out a ton... But then again, a good portfolio and some good recs will get you into anywhere... haha, it's really up to you, I hate decitions... especially ones where there's no definitive answer...</p>
<p>if you want to look at student life and food and stuff, look at <a href="http://www.campusdirt.com%5B/url%5D">www.campusdirt.com</a> you need to register but it's full of student quotes from the schools and it'll tell you from the students point of view what the school is like... cornell's food is unbeatable though ;-)</p>
<p>First, huge congratulations. Well done. </p>
<p>That's a tough decision, and really no one can help. My daughter faced a really similiar one last year, choosing between Cornell and another school. Hers were all 5-yr B.Arch programs though. First, you have to decide B.A. or B.Arch. </p>
<p>Have you visited both schools? Where are you from? </p>
<p>Whatever you decide, don't fret. You really can't go wrong with either one of those choices. You have many interesting times ahead.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot!
I have visited both and I actually spent 6 weeks at Cornell. I didn't really get a feel for the whole campus and community though.... it's so big.... I'm from NJ and I want a nice campus in the suburbs. I really love WashU but I'm afraid I won't have as many opportunities. I'd really like an intensive program too, which I know Cornell Arch is known for. </p>
<p>I just don't know...</p>
<p>By the way, where did your daughter end up attending? Does she love it there?</p>
<p>My daughter does love where she is. She made absolutely the right choice for her. I sent you a private message re particulars.</p>
<p>Good luck. Don't worry, you'll make a great choice.</p>
<p>hi,
1.)
is there any job in an architecture related field someone can do with a BA with Major in Architecture...or is the only thing to do to go to graduate school and get the M.arch and then work for the licence.....
2.)
Does someone know how the architecture prograams in the UK compare to those in the US?
3.)
I got accepted into the architecture program at UCL, Edinburgh and Sheffield in the UK, and in the US I got accepted at Smith College and waitlisted at Barnard.....Smith is a top LAC and I think a LA education can be helpful when planning to become an architect, but when I read through the course catalog at smith it looks kind of weak(if I compare it to the schools in the UK)....At the moment I really don't know what to do, because I love Smith as a College, and the LA education, and there are several alumni who studied architecture at one of the top gaduate schools...but at the same time I think...I got into some great architecture programs, and thats what I want to do in my life...and it's not a good idea to sacrifice a good architecture program for the perfect college surrounding...
What do you think....Is it worth to take the Chance at Smith(I got a great financial aid package) or pay for the a school in the UK?</p>
<p>ok, I know that Rice is ranked as a better program than at CMU, but can anyone tell me anything more? I need to decided between the two programs. Right now, I'm not looking forward to Texas... Can anyone shed some light onto why to pick one over the other?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>hey y'all,
alright first... hawaiiarch i am shocked and amazed you read 67 pages. wow. my head hurts after catching up on three. you crazy hawaiian! great stuff!!! second its awesome youre from hawaii, just thought i'd mention.</p>
<p>ok i forgot who i was directing this at...but when i was interviewing with rice the professor told me a very interesting thing... y'see rice has a 5 year except it's really 6 because one year is an internship that they set you up with. so between the rice degree and the work experience any rice arch. grad is all set getting a great job right out. but still a ton of people go to grad school for 3 reasons: 1) the cosmopolitan group in the arch program wants 2 more years to experience a different place and style of arch, whether here is the us. or abroad. 2) you basically have to have a masters to teach, so people want that option down the road 3) most people who study arch end up with a person/style/firm they really admire and, for example, if that person you admire teaches at yale grad school, you might want to go there to work with him. </p>
<p>and lets see, oh ok - to hawaiiarch again
[disclaimer: this is a view of mine full of generalizations. its is not meant to be offensive. if everyone give their personal experiences, you add 'em all up and get a balanced view. so heres mine...]
pittsburg and troy/albany are both really gross and therefore quality of life is slightly higher than living in a trash can. my friends brother goes to cmu and he likes it cause he made a couple good friends and he likes what he studies. hes a good guy but the biggest dork on the face of the planet.</p>
<p>i almost applied to IIT; chicago is really awesome. but to have a reasonable social life at IIT you have to be really outgoing because a lot of people there would rather play video games for the entire weekend than go out on the town or something, and i like it better when the university makes it realllly easy for you to make friends :) like with the residential college system.
plus keep in mind IIT and RPI are about 3/4 men... (and im cool with that cause im a girl...) but not everyone likes that.</p>
<p>and for me applying for cornell made all the sense in the world, but for some reason i just had a bias against it, im not really sure where it came from. i guess part of it is just im from the northeast and i want to get out! im definitly not a cold weather person. im the one you see walking around in shorts and sandals in the snow.</p>
<p>which brings me to my next point, which is that i applied to uh manoa architecture and im really glad you said that, hawaiiarch, about the asia-pacific studies and phD program cause thats exactly why applied and it was so cool EXCEPT me and UH arent friends anymore cause they still havent told me whether i'm in or not! me and my friend both applied there and i sent it in early december and he sent it early february and he found out he got in the first week of march and i dont know yet! were pretty much the same student with similar extracurriculars and grades and stuff, the only thing was i applied to arch and he just applied to the regular school.
but, i guess it doesnt matter anyway since i already sent my deposit to rice but i just wanted to know anyway...</p>
<p>so on that topic hawaiiarch let me tell you a little about texas. [disclaimer: remember, i am going to rice. i am completely biased and i wont pretend im not. but i will say i wanted to go to u.miami my whole life, in late february i was 98% sure i was going to miami, but visiting rice for one weekend (the "owl weekend back in march") changed my whole decision]... </p>
<p>so texas. as compared to cmu. let's start with cities... houston isn't great, i'll admit it. being a cityplanning/newurbanism-type architect it's a little ironic to be attending somewhere situated in the 2nd worst sprawl case in the country. i was skeptical because rice is situated between the richest area in houston, river oaks, full of hundreds of 10 million dollar homes, and the texas medical center area, the poorest past of houston. theoretically its really unattractive to live in "the buffer zone" but when i was there on campus i completely forgot i was in a city. that and miami are the most beautiful campuses ive ever been to - and ive been to quite a lot, seeing as how ive been a "college enthusiast" all through high school. [i just like colleges ok, dont judge :) ] for me its the perfect situation cause there's soo much to do on campus; you could never leave in all your years and never be bored. but theres also a lot to do in houston so you can go off whenever and get the best of both worlds [and by the way, going to rice gets you free transportation for the year on the light rail and bus system in houston - so its real easy to get around, plus free annd discounted tickets to concerts, shows, operas, a bunch of stuff around the city.] compare that to pittsburg, buried in 3 feet of snow for october-march no lie but its not the pretty snow, oh no, it's the gross dirty snow that gets all dirty in the street and gets shoveled aside by the plows. </p>
<p>then theres the residential college system. it makes a huge difference in social life... for those who havent heard of it, its like the harry potter system. you're put in a "college" to live in for all of your years at the school. each college has its own common room, cafeteria, leisure room, laundry facilities, courtyard, etc so you live and eat and play with all those people. they purposely mix up everyone from different places, majors, religions, everything. so you automatically make friends with a ton of people from your college and then a bunch of people from your major and then the network goes through the whole school and people really have an identity with their "college" its really a unique experience and having talked to friends in colleges that have and dont have it, you cant imagine anything better or different if youre in one. it also helps organizing intramural sports and student govt and etc. so as a sidetrack, here is a complete list of all the US colleges that use the residential system (theres tons in other countries as well, since its based on oxford... you can find them all on collegiateway.org )</p>
<p>THE LIST OF SCHOOLS WITH RESIDENTIAL COLLEGES:
Binghamton U
Harvard U
Lehigh U
Messiah College
Michigan State
Middlebury College
Murray State
Northwestern U
Princeton U
Rice U
Truman State
Tulane U
UC San Diego
UC Santa Cruz
U Central Arkansas
U Georgia
U Miami
U Michigan
U Missouri
UPenn
U South Carolina
U Virginia
U Wisconsin
Vanderbilt U
Washington U
Yale U</p>
<p>and finally - coming from massachusetts most people from my school are like "gasp! you're going to texas! a RED state!" but the truth is, houston is really purple. if you're lost right now, you need to read up on politics. but at rice anyone can be comfortable. i met tons of different types of people with different views and beliefs and i wasnt uncomfortable at all with my outlandish and vocal fiscal-conservative/social-liberal/green-independent classification. if anything, rice and houston in general are a little apathetic politically. but maybe im just used to massachusetts, state of the kennedy cult following. but ANYWAY shut it no more politics jcro!</p>
<p>hope this wasnt overly opinionated, boring, or useless. good luck hawaiiarch! no pressure or anything but sounds like it would be real cool to hang out with you at rice! and everyone else good luck for it is decision day!!!
~~jcro</p>
<p>hawaiiarch, one more thing. i was just reading over your last thing about rank (which personally i try not to pay attention to because how the hell do they judge that... everyplace is so different) but it is true that in the architecture world, names like uc berkely, calpoly, notre dame, rice, cornell, yale, u.virginia are what are immediately recognized by architecture firms no matter where in the country. then for example, if you were planning on living in the area where you studied, it wouldnt be an issue because any arch program is well known in its own area. the only thing is, if you really want to go to a prestigious grad school, it's a double edged sword. like firms, grad schools like the ivies and berkely and famous ones in england also recognize those names (above) right away, BUT in those colleges the coursework is so challenging and "plentiful" that it's hard to keep up a competitive GPA. when i visited rice, the "arkies" were practically worshipped by the rest of the student body because everyone acknowledges how hard they work... but they also have the lowest GPAs in the school because (well 1. theyre sleep-deprived, and also alot of them dont care about a high GPA because once they graduate they can go straight into the field and it wont matter) and by the way, dont take the sleep-deprived part too seriously. it comes with architecture in general... i can guarantee that wherever you go. but at least at rice they all get together and make the study sessions fun. and even though they should be stressed out, no really ever is. its not even that they dont care, everyone really does. its kinda weird but so awesome.</p>
<p>Haha, I know all about the "sleep deprived-ness" of any arch program... My frind goes to IIT and he said in his first semester he pulled an all nighter every week, plus he stayed up 72 hours to finish his final project... yikes! haha, I say yikes, but it all sounds so exciting... What could be better than working in the wee hours of the morning on architecture? Ok, well Rice Rice Rice... what can I say... I know the social seen is MUCH better than CMU's, but, as I also hear, archies don't get much in the social seen anyway (with the work load and stuff.) Still, I like the benefits of having fun people around... See, I'm right in the middle, I can play games, and program computers, but I love art and politics... I mean architecture is about EVERYTHING, and I'm definatly there... Haha, yeah, Hawaii is a MAJOR blue state too, that was one of my concerns. I'm also half Japanese, how's Rice's diversity? I mean, seriously, my biggest concern is that it's TX... and whatever I think, it's still TX... I don't know...</p>
<p>Thanks for the GREAT update Jcro, I'm still really not sure... I've been in the snow a few times, went snowboarding and such and LOVED it... I really think I could do without more 24/7 sun... My heart is going toward CMU even though my brain says that Rice is the better school in every aspect... hmmm, ok, well I have a bit to decide, any replies help! thanks!</p>
<p>Oh and on the UH program... It's a 7 year PhD, but by no means does that mean you have to go to UH for all 7 years. Actually, my plan is to come back after my first 5, or 6, years of getting my BArch and then get my PhD here and work here. I had a local interview with a Cornell Arch grad here, and she works for a firm and said she'd take graduates from UH over anywhere else, no matter where because of UH's specific program to this area. (ahh Cornell, I got screwed because they didn't see my SAT scores on the app, my first scores were used, crappy in the 1800s insted of my second scores, decent in the 2200s... oh well, I was looking away from Cornell anyway...) So if you still want to go to UH, just come after you get your BArch. Like it was said earlier, the jobs here are a little slim, but I think your resume gets MUCH stronger with a BArch from out of state.</p>
<p>hawaiiarch,
its wicked cool you asked about diversity. one fine afternoon, being my cuirous self, I decided it would be a fun idea to go to the census bureau website and look up demographic statistics for my town. The only problem was I then became physically sickened at the discovery that my town's population is 93% white. I guess I shouldve known since ive lived here for like 13 years, but probably i just didn't want to believe it. That said, i guess you can imagine why the top 3 schools on my list were miami, rice, and hawaii.
basically i was really impressed with the diversity at rice. like i said i stayed there in the dorms for a weekend. my "host" (who was an architecture student) was from hong kong. of her three roomates one was white, one was asian american and one was from the bahamas. of her closest friends she hung out with while i was there 3 were white, 2 were asian american, one was black and one was middle eastern- or indian- american. it was so cool. not that i feel like you have to meet every racial requirement friend-ship wise to have a good group of friends, but ive definitly visited colleges where they had healthy racial percentages... and different ethnic groups didnt interact whatsoever.
another thing that really struck me was the socio-economic diversity... (because that, to me is even more important than racial diversity, and at miami, for example, they have a great mix of races but probably 80 to 90% of the student body is upper middle class.) i was talking to one kid from the residential college where i stayed, and he was supossedly the big man on campus, like the most popular guy around. in my town popularity means youre good-looking, stuck up, and your clique dominates all others. in most cases it means everyone knows you but no one really likes you. so i was shocked when this popular kid came up and introduced himself, talked to me like i was a person and (when he was talking about his convertable) made a comment like "no wait, i dont want you to get the wrong idea... i bought it when it was complete crap and worked on it" so the moral about that story is that my favorite thing about rice is that its ivy-league quality without the stuck up attitude.
and one more thing... the snowboarding. im a big snowboarder and i will definitly be missing it next year. but not to worry, i'm all over that. i checked it out and theres a few resorts in new mexico, within 12 hours. sounds good to me! hahaha.</p>
<p>hey am i the 1000th comment? YAY!!!
~~jcro</p>