Hi, I’m an international student who wants to major in architecture.
I think my stats are pretty good but I know that many public/private schools in US do not offer financial aid
to international students… I did apply to several schools but if I don’t get enough financial aid, I’m thinking of
going to CC and then transferring to top schools like Cornell and Cooper Union.
But according to some people, many community colleges do not offer appropriate design classes so
even if I get into good school, I might have to take the whole 5 year curriculum… Which is total waste of time and money…
Is this true??
I heard that Cuesta college in SLO, CA has good architecture program and that many students from the college get into Cal Poly SLO…Which is known for technical program rather than design:( However, I’m more interested in design so I think that schools like Cooper Union or SCI-Arc would fit me more… Do any of you know good cc to get into schools like these?
Location really does not matter to me and I really need your help!
SAT1 : 730 / 800 / 710
SAT2 : M2:800 PH:800
TOEFL : 115/120
GPA : UW 3.78/4.0
current portfolio without any professional works : 8-9/10(according to studio instructors)
extra curricular activities : not that great… president in few clubs etc…
Unless you can get transfer credit for architecture studio classes, you are correct, that the full 5 years will likely be required. At my university, Illinois Tech, the transfer guidelines for architecture state
Thank you!
So I guess portfolio will really decide… if my portfolio can show appropriate level of studying, I would be able to skip some studio classes, right?
I don’t think they’re saying that you can skip courses based on your portfolio. They will decide whether to accept transfer credits of architecture courses you’ve taken elsewhere if your portfolio supports it. This means that you would need to have taken architecture courses equivalent to what their first year arch majors take to be admitted as a second year student. Very few community colleges offer those (ie arch studio). Most likely you would need to start as a first year student, so the only advantage of going to a cc for a year would be to get some gen eds out of the way so you could focus on the arch courses.
I read on your other thread that Cuesta CC has a special relationship with CP SLO. This seems like a good admissions strategy, but I’m not sure that it will save you much money. You should ask Cuesta how many years their transfers typically have to put in at CP SLO to complete their BArchs and do the math.
If your objective is to minimize the cost of an architecture degree, perhaps you should look at it another way.
U.S. colleges – both private and public – do give financial aid to internationals, but circumstances vary widely from student to student and school to school. If you are eligible for need-based aid, you will have more options, than if you are dependent on merit aid.
You should also be looking at architecture schools that offer co-op programs to defray costs.
Your chance of getting aid is better as a first year than as a transfer, so other than CP SLO, you might be better off going directly into a 5.0 year BArch at a school that will fund internationals.
You should also evaluate the cost of getting a 4.0 year BA or BS + an MArch. This route may turn out to be less expensive than the BArch as there are more BA/BS schools than BArch schools, thus you have a greater chance of getting undergraduate financial aid.
If you don’t get sufficient funding from the schools you’ve already applied to this year, you may have to sit out a year and reapply after you’ve done more research. But if you do that, be careful with community college credits as you want to apply as a first year, not a transfer.
