louieville123

I just found out I was accepted by UIUC, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me how their program is. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks a lot!

momoftwins

It's a larger program than most. When my daughter started there were about 175 freshmen in the program. Faculty is good, some TA's have been excellent. The study abroad program is outstanding. She's in the Versailles program this year with 45 UIUC arch students and having an incredible experience. I read somewhere that it's the #1 Study Abroad program for U.S. architecture students, but can't track down the evidence. Students are from all over the U.S.

For job placement, they have a 2-day job fair each year with representatives from around the country. Here's a link to the info on the career fair. CareerExpo 2008 There is a link on the page to a list of participating firms. Great networking opportunities as there are so many alumni. She was able to have meaningful internships with arch firms after both her freshman and sophomore year.

msheft

My son is a junior and plans on going to architecture school. We are in the Chicago area. The main reason he is not interested in UIUC is that it is a 4+2 program. He prefers a 5 year program. Besides USC, Penn State, Syracuse, Cincinnati, he is considering Kansas. The cost of Kansas as an out of state student is only $5,000 more than UIUC as an in state student.

louieville123

Alright, thank you guys so much!

momoftwins: I am really interested in the Study Abroad program at UIUC and I was wondering if you could please tell me how hard it is to get into it and what are the requirements. Thanks!

The Popinjay

I can help you answer that too, if you'd like:

I am in the UIUC arch program right now as a sophomore, and I am planning to study abroad next year in Versailles. As far as being accepted into the program, from what I could gather from upperclassmen, in the past they have not had as many applicants as spaces in the program, so virtually everyone (without academic encumbrances) was accepted.

This year, I know there were more applicants than spaces, but not many- I think about five students were placed on wait lists. Of course the program is more expensive than staying on campus, so a few of those who were accepted dropped from the list for financial reasons, and then a few of the alternates were added. And I think, but am not positive, that the rest who were on the wait list then dropped after that.

The eligibility requirements aren't exactly strict- you just have to not have been on academic probation, be getting decent grades (a 3.0 or higher, I think), and have finished your gen ed requirements by the time you leave. They require that you take Arch 210 (Introduction to Architectural History) and at least one 400-level arch history (after having taking 210) before leaving as well. If you follow the normal course progression you should have no problem.

Then of course, after you are accepted, they require you take FR 199 (French Undergraduate Open Seminar, French for Architects), which is a half-semester introductory crash course in French language, the spring semester before you go. I know too that if you have proficiency in French language, you can opt out of FR 199 as long as you get permission from the school and agree to enroll in an alternative, higher level French course (any course conducted in French offered by the French department, basically) during the same semester.

I think anyone who had a 3.1 or higher was accepted.

Hope this helps!

louieville123

The Popinjay: Thank you so much!! Your post is a log of help to me. So do you really like UIUC? would you highly reccomend their arch program?

msheft

The Popinjay: What is your opinion of the UIUC architecture program? Why did you choose UIUC? What are the pluses and minuses?

momoftwins

First, I agree with Popinjay's description of the Versailles application process. My daughter is a pretty good student and has said that the Versailles program is extremely intense. You will complete the same amount of work in less time than you would have in Champaign. The European schools have more breaks which the U.S. students use to travel. Sketching trips are build into the curriculum. As an example, our daughter is leaving tomorrow morning for Athens for 2 weeks of specialized lectures and sketching.

A leading European architect taught a 1-week intense seminar on modern European architecture. Another week was dedicated to a team project with French arch students. It's a great opportunity to actually work with individuals from another country to meet language and cultural challenges and still complete a successful project.

Travels have included Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, England, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, and several Scandinavian countries next month.

The value of the Euro has made the trip a bit more expensive than we anticipated. The school asks parents to guarantee $600 spending money / month. This would not be enough if you'd like to travel more than on the school trips. And you will. I'd estimate our extra expenses at just over $1,000 / month. If you're looking for bells and whistles to add, some of this year's Versailles students are going directly to China for the summer study abroad program.

Housing varies. You could have a room in somebody's home or be in an apartment. My daughter is within walking distance of the Palace while some of her friends need to take public transportation. UIUC pays for the transportation if it's necessary. People have been very nice.

King Louis' former stables have been converted into the arch studio which is shared with a leading French arch school.

In terms of the overall arch program at UIUC, she feels prepared for both internships and grad school. Because of AP credits she was able to take many extra classes in areas besides architecture. This almost made the experience more like a liberal arts program. She said that it's been both a good foundation and a good value. Because of the size of the school and alumni population, she has had an internship each summer. The practical experience has been invaluable.

Hope this helps.

The Popinjay

louieville123 and msheft:

Sorry this is a late reply, I don't visit CC too often, and I just found your questions today!


I chose UIUC's program basically because it was the best program available to me, in my opinion, in the state, for the best tuition value. IIT is rather expensive, and a 5 year program (that doesn't require a masters for sitting through exams) and UIC, though it has a very good and respectable program, was just too close to where I actually live for the experience I was looking for in college. I was looking for affordable tuition (UIUC is a steal) and a highly ranked school in general (8 public, 38 overall). Not to mention, I was certain I wanted to study abroad (and really wanted to study in France), and the Versailles program is so widely recognized as the best study abroad program in the United States (I believe according to the NAAB report from 2003) that I just couldn't pass up that opportunity.

Continuing, when I applied to the architecture school I wasn't convinced that I wasn't going to try other programs or switch majors, and I knew that overall UIUC is an exceptionally strong school with excellent programs in related fields (engineering and business especially) and I didn't want to limit my opportunities.

Furthermore, I had earned quite a bit of AP credit, and unlike other schools like Northwestern and Notre Dame, and some others, UIUC didn't limit how much AP credit you could claim, and this allowed me to take many many non-arch courses besides my gen eds, both in civil engineering (mostly foundational math courses) and french language (my minor).

That being said, my opinions on the undergraduate arch programs are mixed, but overall positive. First of all, your first year you will do very little course work actually related to architecture. You take an introductory arch class called arch 101 which is a breeze, and the rest of they stated curriculum has you completing gen eds (history, writing) and foundational math and science courses (calculus 1 and 2, and/or non-calc physics - mechanics and heat). You don't have studios until your 2nd year, which is disappointing, but at least you have a year to get acquainted with college and actually have an active social life, something which ends- or changes substantially, whatever way you choose to look at it, the next year.

The program is undergoing some massive administrative and curriculum-related changes, and my class (2010) are the "guinea pigs" of these changes. For example, my class was the last to have to take the European history classes (hist 141/142), whereas future classes can opt to take whatever classes they want to fulfill their western civilization credits. They've also played around with our course sequences, making us take 4 studios our sophomore year instead of 3 (moving one of the senior ones to sophomore year, and adding a new design studio senior year) which has in my opinion strengthened the curriculum. The sophomore year is really the weed out year though, and the restructuring of the courses makes second semester sophomore year extraordinarily difficult and time consuming.

We also were among the first in the school to not have formal AutoCad training, as Revit Architecture is slowly becoming the new industry standard. Revit is an extraordinarily better tool for drafting than AutoCad, although some of us have found it more difficult to attain internships only because firms who haven't made the switch yet want interns with AutoCad experience. I purposely taught myself AutoCad and took an intro course my Freshman year, however, in anticipation of this problem.

Compared to other programs that I've researched, I really appreciate the balance that the UIUC program offers; we learn a great amount unilaterally across the different disciplines within architecture. Whereas other schools really drive design, or focus a lot of energy on history or structures, UofI's program I believe very successfully incorporates all of these factors into one program. I've also talked to students from other schools, and the UIUC program seems to be somewhat more rigorous, only in terms of the amount of work demanded, from its students- though that claim is somewhat unsubstantiated, since of course I've never personally experienced other programs.

As you will find anywhere you go, the School's administration is rather unorganized, and it's frequently difficult to receive concrete and justified solutions for questions or situations you encounter- especially those which involve adding to or changing the course work in ways which aren't common to the established architecture course sequence. For example, I originally wanted to double major in Civil Engineering and Architecture, only to find out that neither school knows ANYTHING about each other, that all the class times conflict, and that the course work is absolutely unmanageable. Then I finally figured out a way to pursue a French minor- but let me tell you first hand- fitting in any non-introductory, non-arch classes into your schedule is extremely difficult, and pushes the boundaries of what kind of work load and conditions you can physically handle.

The school is undergoing changes in its facilities, we just acquired a very old building a couple of years ago from the art and design department which houses the sophomore studios. It's a salvaged maintenance garage/ag. engineering building that was gutted and revamped into studios. We were disappointed at first, but by the end of the year we REALLY fell in love with it. It has an absolutely wonderful atmosphere for creativity, and the friends and experiences that we made there were incredible. They improve the building every year- last year they built all new desks and improved wireless networking/an updated computer lab, and this year they added a full woodshop and laser cutters for the undergraduate school. The Juniors and Seniors still have studios in the old architecture building, and Grad Students have the nice studios they show you on tours in the new architecture building (Temple Buell Hall). The Grad student labs might be newer and look much much nicer, but the building they're in has some major heating and ventilation problems, so those studios turn into ovens during the summer. And like I said, I think our facilities are more than adequate, and in many ways, very charming for the work we do.

So, to summarize:

+'s:

Updated facilities, good work spaces, restructuring curriculum, VERY VERY strong study abroad program, very good reputation with employers, very good deal on tuition if you live in state.

-'s:

Poor administrative organization, poor communication between arch disciplines, difficult to add to curriculum

Overall, however, I love the school, I adore the friends I've made here, and I would recommend the school to anyone looking for a well rounded architectural education and education in general. The MArch is the important degree and the Illinois program does a good job preparing you for that. Don't forget though that your undergraduate education ideally should extend beyond architecture (as in, you should learn a lot about math, science, English, history, languages... whatever else you're interested in, while you still have that opportunity).

And last- I guess I should do a plug for APX, the arch and related arts coed fraternity. I myself am not a member because I became interested a little bit too late (with planning for Versailles and such), but I can say my closest friends are all members and are among the best people I have ever met. If you do choose Illinois, don't forget to check them out!

Hope this helps. I know it's a lot to read through, but if you have more questions, feel free to ask!

Warbourne

Hi, I'm planning on transferring to UIUC after a couple of years of community college and I was wondering how best to get into the school of architecture.

Two questions:

1.) If I do succeed in transferring, will the study abroad option be a no-go?

2.) How difficult is it to transfer into the school itself?

The Popinjay

Warbourne: To answer your questions:

1.) As long as you transfer in for your Junior year (i.e, take two years of college, then transfer to UofI for the third/fourth) you can still apply for study abroad. This year there are two students I know of who are coming out of community college straight into the Versailles program. I guess your acceptance is probably contingent on how many current UofI students want to go and are accepted- but I know students from at least 2 years who have done what you propose and not had any problems.

2.) Transferring to the school is not difficult, provided you are a decent student. The specific conditions are on the UIUC arch homepage, at the following link: Transfer Student Information and if you need more information you can call or email the office at the provided contact info. The main qualifications are making sure you've taken classes that transfer as the sophomore curriculum, completed or almost completed gen. eds. and have at least a 3.2 GPA...

Hope this helps!

Warbourne

Excellent. I'll consider this a great option when I start the transfer process in '09. Do you know if they're really strict on pre-reqs?