Chance/Match me: TX resident, 3.85 GPA, 30 ACT, top 35% rank, for Cornell ED & top architecture universities, <$25k

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: TX
  • Type of high school: Small Public Charter School (Title 1 & Underfunded)
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
  • Other special factors: Middle Class 90-150k income (but extenuating circumstances) Moved schools from Illinois (Freshman year; Massive Public School with Grade Deflation) to Texas

**Intended Major(s): Architecture, Urban Planning, Art History with a concentration in ARCH

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.85 (Freshman year was bad but I have an extreme upward trend)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.28
  • Class Rank: top 35%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 30 ACT (It will most likely increase as my practice tests have been averaging 33 recently; Cornell Architecture is Test Blind)

Coursework
8 APs (my school offers about 11) & 12 Dual Enrollment classes (almost all my school offers)

Awards

  • International Climate Science Olympiad Semi-Finalist (ongoing so I have a shot at finalist; this is a relatively new Olympiad so I’m worried AOs haven’t heard of it or it isn’t credible as much as the well established ones)
  • $1000 Scholarship at/for local well-regarded state school (t20 for my major) awarded for creativity/merit during an Architectural project
    -Adobe Photoshop Professional IBC Certification (Highest Score in class & first to receive it; nationally recognized by graphic design professionals in the field)
  • 1st Place in a statewide public school district infographic ad campaign contest (Small money prize; 60+ TX schools had students participating)
  • Local Regional Science Fair Qualification, Third Place in my school’s science fair (they took like 500 students from like 5000+ that participated in their school’s sci fairs, I had technical difficulties with my project which is why I didn’t go very far with it)

Extracurriculars

  • Biomed Engineering project for a local well-known hospital, did a project for paraplegic children. I did the design and leadership for the project and got like 80+ volunteer hours from the hospital.
  • Did Home Repair and Caregiving for my family; major family commitment and my most time heavy EC. I did major home repairs for my family my entire time in HS to save money and it helped me gain experience in my field. Also took care of my chronically ill siblings, parents and grandparent.
  • MMA, Boxing, Karate: Did this for like 6 years, since before I moved. Before I moved I racked up like 20+ sparring wins and a couple wins for my junior weight class. I got the third highest belt class in the karate discipline I did (this karate discipline tends to be more intense than others. Commit time to this EC for hours every single day. Massive Time Commitment
  • Shadowed Architects and contract construction workers for a modernization home gut renovation. They were working on the design and construction of a house’s renovation. I learned a lot about the process and then I professionally did a good chunk of design and drawing for the bathrooms and bedrooms. My contributions alone increased the house’s value by about $60k. About $185 of an increase by sqft.
  • Got admitted to a prestigious summer program for the same local t20 architecture public university near me. They took 20 people for the architecture program and they had about 400+ applicants. I designed an actual conceptual structure & art installation for campus; learned a CAD modeling system in 2 days, presented to 300+ experts in an auditorium and this project won me a $1000 scholarship.
  • Worked for 6-7 months at a retail store in my local mall to give my family financial support after very prominent medical bills. I did a lot of interior design for the store, did sales and made connections, sold about $15k+ worth of items (500+ units) in my months there, I worked like 18 hours per week on top of the stress and work of junior year.
  • Did a fellowship with a well known environmental non-profit (my spike or specific field in architecture is environmental/sustainable design), I did a lot of graphic design and researching existing information to create infographics and reports. I once also presented all my content in a webinar for the fellowship to 100+ viewers and I presented it in person to 50+ local middle schoolers.
  • Did a content creation internship with a national (but small) environmental NPO, I piloted a successful instagram series for them; consistently posted it as well. Idk how many followers they gained in my time there but they have like 1000 followers. Even though their social media count is small, it is a reputable organization as they work with like 100+ schools in the US & work with law-makers and state representatives.
  • Student Leader for my school: I was a Leader/Chairman (we don’t do roles like president/vice) in our student council for 2 years. I was also the president of NHS at my school for 3 years + was a secretary for a value based club at my school. With these roles I organized food drives, blood drives, money fundraising. Most notably, my involvement in these clubs got my school a statewide recognition award.
  • I posted some tiktok videos in a niche music sector of the app. It got more than average engagement from that specific niche. I got 100k views and 37k likes overall. I also created a “micro-trend” that a lot of people in the niche did. It inspired me to create DAW music and be a producer (the main EC is the tiktok in this though)

Essays/LORs/Other
Essays are solid but cliche sometimes (very rarely), but display a personal voice (8.5-9/10 essays)
PS is solid IMO
LORs:
Spanish Teacher: 9/10 She has really good things to say about my personal values and character in the classroom
Physics Teacher: 8/10 It is good and shows my values and how I overcame a struggle with one of my ECs once, just is a little cliche sometimes
Mentor: 8/10 Architecture Mentor, she basically just verified the ECs I did with her and spoke about a few that are impressive but I didn’t list as an EC, not too heavy on personal values but still conveys them

Cost Constraints / Budget
I don’t know this for sure, it is about like 25k as of now but my parents are willing to change. I’m mostly looking for good need based and merit scholarships. Probably can’t apply to schools where I have to take any loans.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)
I don’t have a lot of schools rn. I hope to ED to Cornell for AAP Architecture.

  • Cornell ED
  • Rice RD? (Idk if I should apply as my test score isn’t that good)
  • UT Austin (not top 6% though :frowning: ) RD
  • Texas A&M RD
  • WashU (very reachy) ED2 if Cornell doesn’t work out
  • Can you guys match me to more schools? Also chance me for t20s overall as I am considering applying to some

My portfolio is also considered heavily. I have never taken any art classes before but I feel like I have an inherent nature for design. My portfolio can impress the average joe easily but might be a little harder without any explanation for someone established in my field. My pieces show my creativity and it reflects skills needed for Architecture. If anyone has a background in Arch or Art, it would be great if you could review it privately somehow!

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For architecture, are you looking for a (5-year) BArch program with NAAB accreditation, or a 4-year non-NAAB architectural studies major that may reduce the time needed for some MArch programs (that normally take 3 years)?

With top 35% rank, UT Austin and Texas A&M are reaches.

All of the private schools on your list are reaches.

University of Houston has an NAAB accredited BArch program. It would be automatic admission to the campus for you based on Freshman Admissions Process - University of Houston . However, this does not guarantee admission to the BArch program where applicants are encouraged to submit a portfolio, as described at First-Time Freshman - University of Houston .

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Due to the fact that I have some extenuating circumstances and issues from moving, my rank isn’t final right now. My counselor told me to select “unranked” on college apps because of those issues and my new rank (which is most definitely way higher as my GPA is increasing a lot and my peers seem to be dropping a little bit) will be ready on my mid-year report. As of now though, I am unranked technically, does that make any difference?
Also, I don’t mind either a BArch or a 4+2/3 program!

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Rank is the biggest factor in admission to Texas public universities. If a rank is not provided, the campus will assign a rank based on other academic stats, but it is not transparent how each campus does so. I.e. you do not know whether your actual rank or the assigned-by-the-campus rank will be better for each campus.

A BA/BS + MArch does require more years of school and is likely to be more expensive than a 5 year BArch.

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Unfortunately no to everything. If you like Cornell, check Syracuse.

Also Minnesota, UTK and Va Tech as well as Houston and Texas Tech

Good luck.

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@anonraptorial unfortunately I see no way you’d get into UTAustin, A&M or Rice. Architecture at all 3 very selective. You don’t have the scores or rank.

Agree to look at UH and Tech.

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Agree, you list is very reachy. You may end up with no schools. What is your safety?
I do not think you have high probability to get to top 20 unless you have connection/hooks at summer program you mentioned. Why top 20? How about top 50-100?
You need affordable safety in TX.

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As the portfolio is such an important component of an architecture application, it’s extremely difficult to chance you. The schools you listed are certainly all reaches, but because of the portfolio portion, perhaps not out of reach. You definitely don’t have any sure things or good bets on your list, though.

Some schools where your odds of acceptance are greater and the costs will probably fall within budget include:

U. of Arkansas - Offers a B. Arch and it’s a popular choice among Texas students who don’t get into UT or A&M because of class rank. Coming from Texas with a GPA above a 3.8 means that you would get 90% off the out-of-state fee bringing costs to just over $25k/year for tuition, room & board. The Fayetteville area has lots of natural beauty as well.

You will want to get cracking on this app, as priority to the architecture program is for students who are ADMITTED to the U. Arkansas by November 15 and indicate architecture as their #1 choice: Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design < University of Arkansas

The school also offers a B.S. in Architectural studies if you don’t want to do a B. Arch.

You should also take a good look at the options in Louisiana. Your odds for acceptance to LSU are pretty high though, again, the architecture program may be more selective. Louisiana Tech and U. of Louisiana-Lafayette both have B.S. architecture programs and then offer an M. Arch. They are both quite generous with merit aid as well. You may also want to run the Net Price Calculator at Tulane, which offers both the B. Arch and M. Arch. That’s a school that likes to see a lot of demonstrated interest, but it’s not academically out-of-reach either.

Within Texas, I’d also take a look at these programs (and you are quite lucky that there are so many NAAB-accredited public schools in Texas):

  • Prairie View A&M (HBCU with an M. Arch)
  • Texas Tech (M. Arch)
  • U. of Houston (B. Arch & M. Arch)
  • U. of Texas - Arlington (M. Arch)
  • U. of Texas - San Antonio (M. Arch)

On the other side of Texas, U. of New Mexico offers an M. Arch and significant merit aid, too. Oklahoma State offers a B. Arch and U. of Oklahoma offers both a B. Arch & M. Arch. I’d check them out, too.

I would assume that nearly any school that only offers an M. Arch also offers a B.S. in Architecture or similar, and many of them have accelerated programs for their graduates. (I believe ULL and Louisiana Tech do.)

Perhaps @momrath or @bgbg4us might have some insight?

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Carnegie Mellon would be another big reach, but their acceptance rate for Architecture is higher than for a lot of other majors (34% according to one source) and the portfolio figures in strongly, so it could be worth a try if the NPC numbers indicate that it would be affordable. Also, CMU recomputes your GPA without freshman grades, and it sounds as if that would give you a boost. CMU might end up being a better ED2 than WashU, depending on your priorities.

U of Miami is another BArch program that meets need (again, check NPC to see what that would mean for you) and that might work out if your portfolio is strong.

Hobart & William Smith in upstate NY (about an hour’s drive from Cornell) has a particularly strong pre-professional arch studies program. You’d be a strong applicant there, with a solid chance at getting your full need met via a combination of need-based aid and merit. (But you’d still be on the hook for the cost of two years of grad school after an undergrad arch studies degree.)

U of Utah has a strong pre-professional architecture program. You’d be over budget for the first year but could take the path to residency and be back in budget for years 2-4. If you wanted a stronger urban planning emphasis, this would be a great place to pick up that piece. (But, if you’d want to do an MArch at a Texas public, retaining your TX residency might be preferable… although Utah has a good MArch program too.)

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Here’s the list of NAAB accredited programs:

If you are sure that you want to be an architect, a BArch program saves time and money.

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Look into Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

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It will not come under 25K with scholarships…

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OP is eligible for need-based aid. Not the same as needing to get to price point on merit alone.

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The OP has indicated eligibility for need-based financial assistance. I don’t believe we have enough information to estimate how he would fare financially at HWS.

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You seem like a reasonable candidate for any architecture program, including the most selective. BArchs are notorious for high drop out rates and schools like applicants who have had prior exposure to the industry. Your ethnicity and life experience may help too. The objective in any application list is balance.

The first thing you need to do is a deep dive with your parents on financing your education. Run the net price calculators, review the merit possibilities etc. You don’t need to mire your parents in impossible debt to become an architect!

Even though the BS+MArch route may take longer than the BArch it is not necessarily more costly. It really depends on the amount of funding you can get for the first 4or 5 years.

Many BA/BS holders will work a couple of years before getting their MArch. And many BArch holders end up getting an MArch down the road.

Also, you don’t necessarily need to go to the same school for your undergraduate and MArch. The highest rated MArch programs admit applicants with a widely diverse range of educational and life experience.

For those schools that require a portfolio, you will need an excellent portfolio. It’s unclear why you haven’t taken any art classes, but surely you produced some work at the “prestigious summer program” you attended. Don’t over think the content. Follow the school’s instructions, include what YOU consider your best work and only your best work (not necessarily architecture driven).

If the application allows supplemental non-academic recommendations, I would draw on the the instructors from that program plus the architects you shadowed.

If the school requires —or offers —an interview be prepared to talk about why you want to be an architect. If your interviewer is an architect be prepared to talk about his/her firm’s work. Listen to the the interviewer’s questions and don’t feel you have to mention every single accomplishment.

Don’t get bogged down in prestige. If you do well in your studios, hold serious summer internships and network with professors, critics and visiting instructors you will have a successful career.

Architecture is a slow, cumulative profession, a marathon not a sprint.

Some other schools to look at (many already mentioned in this thread)
Texas Tech
U of Kansas
U of Cincinnati
Auburn
U of Miami
Tulane
Roger Williams
Kean U
Clemson
Penn State

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i think there are many good ideas here; i’d maybe chose one of your reaches in your list, then focus on matches.

I do think a BArch is probably the least expensive way to go, if you can find one in-state. my kiddo applied to midwest colleges; i dont think when she applied any portfolios were asked for. They were for grad schools though.

schools we are familiar with in the midwest include iowa state, arkansas, kansas, kansas state (its been highly ranked over the years) and nebraska-lincoln. they are all good. I think texas tech would be good too.

if you go the undergrand then masters route, there are lots of degrees that blend well to architecture. However, if its not an actual architecture program, be prepared to take 3 years for your masters in grad school.

my kiddo did an undergrad in architecture design state school (cheap!); and then a Masters on the east coast (not cheap!). she just started a job in denver and loves it. She’s not making a ton though… . . something to keep in mind if you’ll need loans.

start your spreadsheet and research… … good luck!

(ps, my kid’s grad school had so many different undergrads coming in. environmental science, graphic arts, art history, urban planning, even a teacher. I do think @momrath’s son was a marketing major, who went to a top grad school after working a few years). So many paths. I’d only only only suggest BArch if YOU ARE SURE!

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