<p>Hi-</p>
<p>Can anyone compare the architecture program in Rice and Syracuse University? I have applied to both and haven't received back from neither of them yet but I would like to know which one is stronger in what.</p>
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<li>Thanks</li>
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<p>@archiarchi: Hi, I applied to both of these schools, and I haven’t receive anything back yet too. When did you submit all your stuff? I submitted my stuff pretty close to the deadline so I guess I’ll get my reply later. But I already received e-mails saying that they received by portfolios.
They’re both really good architecture schools. On the D.I. Architecture Ranking Syracuse is 2nd and Rice is 3rd.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter if you’ve applied close to the deadline or not, you’ll hear from them April 1st so don’t worry:)
Syracuse has always been ranked really high but as a university it is not considered very good. And Rice got to be in the top 3 this year, so it has been recently improving i guess. I can’t really decide between those two. Which one do you want more?</p>
<p>@archiarchi: well, I’ll be really happy if I get into either one of them. But I’m leaning more towards Rice because I have an aunt living at Houston so I can stay at her place when I need to leave the during during school breaks. To some people, the weather is also a factor in deciding where to go. I heard Syracuse gets really really cold during winter.</p>
<p>I have very little experience with Syracuse, though they have a good reputation. My wife went to Rice so I am pretty familiar with the school. </p>
<p>It is as nice a campus as you could create in the city of Houston. It is an oasis of calm amid the commercial crassness that is Houston. They have a residential college system which the students seem to love and where they form really strong friendships.</p>
<p>The architecture school is very small and they are focused on their students. It is the opposite of the ‘let’s accept 300 and graduate 50’ philosophy. It is a six year BArch program with the 5th year spent on a preceptorship in some of the best practices in the world. The students are very good and when I was at KPF most of the preceptors got offers for a permanent position after graduation. The same is true at Renzo Piano’s office.</p>
<p>The portfolios tend to be very solid and thoughtful, but not spectacular. Many of the firms in town are led by Rice graduates, but not many of the lead designers came from Rice. It is probably too small a sample from which to draw significant conclusions. When my daughter was looking at architecture schools it was the one I was hoping she would pick.</p>
<p>rick</p>
<p>@rick12: Yeah. I heard Rice only accepts about 30 students into their architecture program. That’s why I’m kinda worried because I have a pretty good portfolio but my grades and SAT are not so good. Haha.</p>