<p>Hello. I am a high school senior who will be attending B. Arch. program, and I am having a hard time deciding which college I want to go. So far, I got accepted to Syracuse, Carnegie Mellon, and USC. I really like Syracuse and USC's curriculum (especially Syracuse's study abroad program), and many people around me are recommending CMU. I want to hear opinions from people here.</p>
<p>It will be a great help if you can post your opinions for me. Thank you so much in advance!</p>
<p>i would attend syracuse. syracuse is very structured and they have a brand new building (the insides were renovated). also, i am not overly art orientated (I like to design buildings, but am no where near an art major) and i think that CM is more of an arts school than syracuse (if you know what i mean). syracuse is ranked in the top 3 for architecture schools and their faculty is really nice and accommodating. When i visited they were very friendly.</p>
<p>Wow, I had no idea that CMU is more of an arts school that Syracuse! I actually expected the opposite… Thank you for telling me! I am planning to visit Syracuse during the Spring break. Hopefully it will help me with my decision :)</p>
<p>the best advice that i can give you is to get the curriculum/required classes at both schools, and sit down and compare the two. see which you like better and go from there. of course, visiting both schools is a great idea and try to talk with the architecture department. I went as a prospective student and go a one on one talk with an admissions person in architecture so as an admitted student you should have no problem getting a lot of info.</p>
<p>I know visiting is the best way to get to know a school, but I can’t visit USC… It’s too far (I live in NY). Do you think there is a way to get in touch with current students or graduates?</p>
<p>hey can anyone compare RPI to Syracuse…</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>
In what way? </p>
<p>Compare the schools or the arch programs? The dorms, the food, weather, fellow classmates or professors?
Seriously now, I’m not trying to jerk you around.</p>
<p>All the schools mentioned in this thread have great arch programs. I think most students end up loving whatever arch program they choose to attend provided they maintain their commitment to architecture. Now, the schools, food, weather, classmates, professors etc. might be a different story…</p>
<p>as this is an architecture thread (<em>cough</em>) i was mainly trying to ascertain how much different the Syracuse arch department (and experience/b.arch program) was from the Rensselaer equivalent. I am sorry for the obvious confusion this may have caused any readers of this thread, in the future i will write my questions in full concise thoughts in an attempt to prevent any further wasted moments of anyone’s fully respected time. </p>
<p>thank you again for taking the time to read my dreadful questions</p>
<p>
Ya, ya I know… sorry :o I was bustin your chops because that’s such an oft asked question and rarely gets an answer. How many people have attended two different arch programs long enough to be qualified to speak of them both? </p>
<p>OK, I’ll tell you what I do know. I had a day at both Syracuse and RPI arch departments. Half of each looking over my son’s shoulder and half wandering around alone poking in opened rooms and asking questions of anyone who would talk to a scruffy old guy. My report to you is that both programs had happy engaged students and kind, considerate, thoughtful professors… But you see, I know nothing about architecture and am easy to impress… I know, not very helpful to you. -But by both of us posting twice now on this thread it may attract the attention of someone who could be helpful, eh?</p>
<p>I bet you’ve already looked at the programs rankings. </p>
<p>Can you visit these schools in April? If so, go over their curriculum before hand and identify some classes that you’re interested in and get permission to sit in on them. I think that would really give you the answers you want. </p>
<p>If you can’t visit, try e-mailing questions about those classes. I know my son had lengthy e-mail exchanges with arch admissions, current students and professors, some of them elevated to phone call exchanges, from all the private schools he was accepted to, and I know it greatly influenced his choice.</p>
<p>Good luck to you Elistuy!</p>
<p>i completely agree with 4trees. when if visited both, i was able to get a tour of each facility and actually sat down with an admission’s officer in architecture at Syracuse. I received a large package of information, etc. I would also go and get the required courses at each and sit down and highlight the number of classes you like. then add them up and that should give you an idea of what curriculum you like better and by how much. then you can evaluate the financial situation, campus, etc. </p>
<p>definitely visit and get the required curriculum</p>
<p>hey thank you very much 4trees,</p>
<p>your response was actually helpful- i am going up to RPI tomorrow for the accepted students day so i will find out more about the school. I am sorry for being so arrogant in my previous response- just i hate when threads go in circles. </p>
<p>I am happy that you found both programs engaging. RPI has a very low official rating from di- I suspect however that those ratings are worth less than the paper its printed on (very expensive book btw -100pgs for $50). </p>
<p>thank you again!
elistuy</p>
<p>
Excellent Elistuy!
Enjoy yourself, but do some serious looking. Don’t let the balloons and free food distract you from your mission to determine if it’s the right place for you :D</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>And… be sure to give a full report when you return, ok?</p>
<p>And about this;
RPI does not ‘rank’ that low in DI if you consider there are over a hundred accredited arch programs that DI ranks below it. Not that you should give much weight to those rankings anyway. Did you read how DI determines rank?</p>
<p>well it determine it through surveys issued to architecture firms- the firms rate the schools by the experience they have had with previous students.</p>
<p>[The</a> Cramer Report: America?s World-Class Schools of Architecture :: DesignIntelligence](<a href=“http://www.di.net/articles/archive/2948/]The”>http://www.di.net/articles/archive/2948/)</p>
<p>this is another interesting arch rating done through di that holistically rates the schools
it includes both grad and undergrad programs in the same score list.</p>
<p>-I will report soon</p>
<p>Hi, I just stumbled upon this thread. I was hoping you guys could help me out as well.
I have applied to USC, Carnegie Mellon, and UT’s architecture program, and have been accepted to all of them. </p>
<p>USC is giving me 50,000 a year in scholarships and finaid (tuition is 53,000ish) while Carnegie’s is still processing as well as UT’s (I know they’re really slow -__-). I think Carnegie will give me about the same as USC as they both have a big endowment (I’m hoping haha). UT is my back up school as it is in-state and closer to home. However if I go to UT I could save my mom a lot of money. </p>
<p>Next to that I really don’t know which school to choose. I need to make a decision by May 1st! Any suggestions? and Why?</p>
<p>I think that USC will provide the best college experience and if it is only 3,000 a year, then it would be worth any debt you may encounter. </p>
<p>I just think that the offer USC has made would entice me. they have a great environment and campus and college life.</p>
<p>mt914: Wow that is a huge scholarship! If I were in your situation, Id pick USC. Their architecture school is well known and its programs are good too. </p>
<p>I really think you should go with USC. Even going to a state school may be more expensive than if you used your scholarship.</p>
<p>hmmm haha thanks for your input guys. I’ll take that into consideration :D</p>
<p>I am not quite sure where the idea of CMU being artsy is coming from. Their BArch curriculum is comprised of:
-4 fundamental university courses (Calculus for Architecture, Critical Histories of the Arts, Interpretation and Argument, and Computing @ Carnegie Mellon)
-10 integrated design studios,
-4 history courses
-5 drawing and media courses
-5 courses in technology: building, materials, structures
-4 courses in technology: environment/sustainability
-5 courses in professional practice, ethics, management
-6 school electives
-7 university electives</p>
<p>I am not saying that being artsy is a bad thing, I’m just not getting that vibe from them. hawkswim09, did you see something that made CMU stand out as the more artsy school when you visited?</p>
<p>i had never visited, because I had crossed them off the list before. by the view-books that they gave me and from some people at my school, they seem arts concentrated. They had sent general letters and from them and the prospective books, i got an artsy vibe. i do not mean that they ignored everything else, but it seemed that they had a lot of artsy people there. It is important to remember that all BArch programs are well rounded because in order to be certified, you have to cover things like technology, structure, drawing, history/theory, etc. </p>
<p>Looking back, I probably should have kept them on the list, but I don’t think it would change my final decision.</p>