What are my chances at a top architecture school?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Dear Reader,

My name is Leslie, and I am a Junior in high school. I am heavily devoted to architecture and would like to pursue it in college. I am wondering, based off of my stats and accomplishments, how I would fare in the admissions process for top architecture schools (such as Cornell, Rice, Syracuse, ect.). Your comments could help me in working to improve my application.
In terms of my portfolio, I have a multitude of paintings, drawings, photos, digital drawings, models, sculptures, and coded art. Needless to say, I am not worried about my portfolio component, since I have already had teachers, professors, and students review it and approve of its submission to top colleges.

Thank you for your time, and best regards,

Leslie

*Gender: Female
*Ethnicity: Latinx (Peruvian) and Romanian
*GPA (unweighted): 93.8, 4.0 on my school’s scale (Mar 2019)
*SAT: 1310 (630/680) 5/4/2019
*ACT: 28 (31 for the STEM component) 4/13/2019
*AP Classes:
Sophomore year
-World History (4 on exam, B+ average)
Junior year
-US History
-Computer Science
-Lang
Senior year
-Calculus AB
-Statistics
-SUPA English 12 Honors (a college class offered by Syracuse that is hosted in my high school)
-Art
*Pre-college classes:
Summer 2018
-Architecture (CSFF 130), Maryland Institute College of Art, 2 credits, final grade A+
Summer 2019
-Architecture program, Syracuse University, 3 credits
*Rowing accomplishments:
SRAA National Championships

  • 2019 JV 4x : 1st place
    -2017 Freshman 4x : 1st place
    -2018 JV8+ :14th place
    NYS Championships
    -Gold Medal (2019 women’s JV quad)
    -Silver Medal (2019 2V8+, 2018 JV8+)
    -Bronze Medal (2017 Freshman 4x)
    Stotesbury Regatta (biggest high school regatta in the world)
    -Silver Medal (2019 Girls junior quad)
    -Bronze Medal (2017 Freshman 4x)
    Head of the Charles participant
    -2016 women’s 2V 8+
  • 2017 women’s youth coxed quad
    *Other:
    -published book (together with B. Hakulin) “Journey of the Atlantic Salmon”, ISBN 978-1-61468-463-3
    -2018 Olympics for the Visual Arts, Architecture track, bronze medal
    -elected treasurer of National Arts Honors Society (September 2018)
    -founder and elected President of my HS Architecture Club
    -volunteer with the Inner City Ministry
2

Do you expect to be recruited to row at the intercollegiate level? As you probably know, Cornell has strong tradition of rowing. If you are in the mix to be recruited, that might have an impact on your chances there (though I suspect that you would still need to raise your SAT/ACT scores, even given your URM status).

For Syracuse, your current test scores are solidly within the mid-50%. Given your prior connections with Syracuse, I’d say that your chances look solid there.

Since women’s crew is club sport at Rice, potential recruitment considerations would not come into play there. You would definitely need to improve your test scores in order to have a solid chance.

3

Thank you!

4

As a suggestion, take a look at Hobart and William Smith before you finish up with your list, @LeslieFairuz.

5

I work in the architecture industry and I’d suggest a few other top architecture programs for you to consider, which I feel your scores would qualify you for - consider Virginia Tech, Auburn, Clemson (has a rowing team). Looks for an architecture program that is a professional degree, usually a 5 year program, which allows you to begin your training for the licensing exam upon graduation. Some programs are only 4 years and you have to go to grad school another 2 years which is an extra cost you really don’t need to do if you go to a 5 year professional program.

6

I’d suggest reviewing this website if you haven’t already. How the industry views programs in architecture can be very different from the usual top school rankings.
https://di-rankings.com/architecture-schools.html