<p>I've got to chop my acceptance list down from nine to one, and very soon. </p>
<p>My plan is to ax one per day.</p>
<p>Berkeley
Cal Poly
Carnegie Mellon
Rhode Island School of Design
Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute
Roger Williams University
Savannah College of Arts and Design
Syracuse University
Wentworth Institute of Technology</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>Tonight the first to get cut is SCAD. They sent me a t-shirt, but I didn't really fit into Georgia.</p>
<p>Berkeley
Cal Poly
Carnegie Mellon
Rhode Island School of Design
Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute
Roger Williams University
Syracuse University
Wentworth Institute of Technology</p>
<p>Stay tuned for round two tomorrow!
-sara</p>
<p>Good first cut. Tomorrow I recommend cutting RPI, RWU, or WIT.</p>
<p>Leave Carnegie Mellon, RISD and Syracuse for the last round.</p>
<p>i agree with the above. cut berkeley though. </p>
<p>but leave poly too. ;)</p>
<p>I'll be going to RISD next year for architecture. Didn't apply to a lot of architecture programs though; I'm turning down NYU (Gallatin), University of Rochester, Vassar, Notre Dame, and chose not to go after a waitlist at Tufts. For now at least - Gallatin is pretty tempting, even if it's not architecture.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision archkid, I'm sure you'll do well wherever you end up. You've got some great 5-year options - I'd personally be deliberating between RISD and Syracuse, although CPSLO is a nice option of your instate for the tuition. I think the CMU social scene is a bit of an acquired taste, but nevertheless I wish you the best in your decision. Hit up those open houses.</p>
<p>Bit of a thread hijack, but the open houses reminded me of it, but it probably applies to this thread: what are some questions current students/architects recommend asking of architecture faculty/students while visiting? Anything that you would deem as very important? Job placement, grad school statistics, etc?</p>
<p>RyanMac, I'm not a fan of open houses, nor weekends or nice sunny days for college visits. Nothing like a cold rainy Tuesday morning to get a real feel of a place.</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>And tonights cut.... </p>
<p>UC Berkeley</p>
<p>Two major reasons;
I want a 5yr BArch
I'm not telling reason #2</p>
<p>Tune in tomorrow for the next slash.</p>
<p>Cal Poly
Carnegie Mellon
Rhode Island School of Design
Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute
Roger Williams University
Syracuse University
Wentworth Institute of Technology</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>
[quote]
RyanMac, I'm not a fan of open houses, nor weekends or nice sunny days for college visits. Nothing like a cold rainy Tuesday morning to get a real feel of a place.</p>
<p>-sara
[/quote]
</p>
<p>this is amazing. ha!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm not telling reason #2
[/quote]
</p>
<p>does it rhyme with shmiberal?</p>
<p>What's the song with the line, "another one bites the dust"?
Some may cringe at my cut tonight, RISD, but it's not the place for me. </p>
<p>Another cut tomorrow.
Same BatTime.
Same BatChannel.</p>
<p>Cal Poly
Carnegie Mellon
Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute
Roger Williams University
Syracuse University
Wentworth Institute of Technology</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>If you can handle the winter (your other choices make me think you can) - check out Iowa State University. Their architecture program right now is VERY strong. It's also pretty competitive.</p>
<p>I'm find with a winter environment. As you can see most of the schools I applied to are in the northeast.</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>Still not sure on tonights cut. I'll post in a while.</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>Tonights cut was actually easy. Pretty town, cute campus on the waterfront, very nice architecture department building and facilities couldn't outweigh a program with a focus on things I don't. Goodbye RWU.</p>
<p>Cal Poly
Carnegie Mellon
Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute
Syracuse University
Wentworth Institute of Technology</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>Wow, RISD is gone?</p>
<p>yeah RPI!!!
word</p>
<p>I don't know how you're doing it Sara - I would need a spreadsheet full of plusses and minuses (sp?) to decide between that variety.</p>
<p>I've started my spreadsheet for my daughter (junior looking at interior design) but I don't think she's going to look at it. The tuition column seems to dominate over the rest (DI rank, distance, size, crew, etc.)</p>
<p>Looking forward to your ultimate decision and what factor(s) make you pick the winner. Best of luck.</p>
<p>come on, keep the cuts coming!</p>
<p>To those that are following my mission here, sorry about my absence. It was prom weekend, which was a blast, and I decided to take a break from list slashing. </p>
<p>Standby, I should have another elimination later this evening.</p>
<p>flalaw-
Since you asked, a spreadsheet is in my head and has been there all winter/spring. </p>
<p>Some breakdown;</p>
<p>Tuitions plus rm&brd, travel, arch supplies etc. vary from 23K to 56K, but merit aid reduced that, at least in my case. All of my choices are now 16-28K per yr COA after merit scholarships, mostly 21-23K making cost difference somewhat less a consideration. By the way, the most expensive choice would have been U of Oregon- I got accepted to the university, but forgot to mail my portfolio to the arch dept :( My COA there is $32K! So it's not being considered for two reasons, cost and no BArch.</p>
<p>Distance from home is not a real issue as much as ease of travel is. Public transport directly from school to a major airport is the ideal, a longer flight just means a longer nap, more complex transportation is a pain. The closest two schools to my home have no flights and would require a car, gas, insurance, maintenance, parking permit, and the "hey, you have a car, can you give us a ride?" & the "why don't you drive home next weekend for a visit?" syndromes, probably exceeding the cost of two r/t air tickets from the most distant school.</p>
<p>The combined "feel" of the town/city, campus, department, program, classes, studios, professors and students is way, way more important, and the most difficult for me to rank. Over the winter I constantly compared what I felt each school could offer to what I felt my needs are, rather than to each other. I think this may be what lots of people here call their gut choice. I'm glad I visited the schools and would really like a second look at some of them, but that's out of the budget. I'll have to decide on what I know. Although it may appear that the decisions I've revealed on this thread are glib, rest assured they have all come after substantial and deliberate consideration. </p>
<p>To me, most important of all is the arch program and what I can do during my tenure. I've looked at them all hard. I realize rep, rank and prestige can carry significant weight in the real world, however I'm way more interested in what I feel I can personally get out of each program. Perhaps I'm a bit naive when I say I'll deal with the real world later. Plenty of time to eat crow then.</p>
<p>-sara</p>
<p>Down to four;</p>
<p>Cal Poly
Carnegie Mellon
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Wentworth Institute of Technology</p>
<p>-sara</p>