<p>How important are college visits for the admission process. We won’t be able to take my D to do college visits until January, if we take her. Would it work against her?
Also, could you give me an idea about what arch programs my D would have a chance to get accepted? D prefers 5 yr programs. I’m concerned about her sat scores, which are low. SAT 1580 (out of 2400), Her uwgpa B+ , very good EC.
D is interested in Syracuse, Rice, WIT, SLO, Pomona, U or Oregon, Cooper, Pratt, Penn
State, Resensler, IIT.
Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>If you can’t go until January, the admission process is practically almost over. I’d wait until you find out where she gets accepted then. So at least you wont waste money going to a school that she might not end up getting accepted to. This is what my family did.</p>
<p>With her SAT scores, I can see that some schools are a reach like Rice. But since there is a portfolio it might possibly balance out. The portfolio is really really important for Cooper. </p>
<p>I got accepted to Pratt but my stats were a little higher so I think it would come down to her portfolio.</p>
<p>Most school understand that not all applicants – especially those who live far away – are able to visit before acceptances are mailed out, so I wouldn’t worry about it. But if she has the opportunity to express her interest in the school in other ways, she should do so. For instance, Rice does a traveling roadshow in various cities and Pratt representatives attend some NPD reviews.</p>
<p>Her low SAT scores and relatively low GPA will hurt her at the most selective schools like Rice and Penn State. Her best chances are probably at Cal Poly - Pomona (if you are in-state), WIT, Pratt, and possibly UO where her stats fit in better with those of admitted students. A great portfolio can really help her at schools that put more emphasis on that aspect of the admissions decision; those include Pratt, UO, and Cooper Union.</p>
<p>Different colleges weigh expressed interest differently, but most colleges understand that you may not be able to afford to visit them. My son (not applying in architecture) didn’t get accepted to any of the colleges he’d visited before applying. He did go to the accepted student functions after he was accepted and found them very helpful.</p>
<p>It’s hard to parse out just how undergrad architecture schools weigh SAT compared to the rest of the undergrad institution they are embedded in. One of the few colleges that explicitly breaks out the scores is Carnegie Mellon. [url=<a href=“Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University”>Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University]Admission</a> Statistics<a href=“CFA%20is%20the%20School%20of%20Fine%20Arts%20and%20includes%20the%20architecture%20school.”>/url</a> You can see that both scores and grades are lower than the other school within CMU. I’d guess though that the architecture school might weight the math score a little more than the other fine artists would. I’d also guess that schools that require a portfolio, might weight the scores a little less. That’s just a guess, no data.</p>
<p>I did grad school admissions for Columbia’s architecture school many, many years ago. There was no particular cut off. We read the whole application and then made a gut overall evaluation. (Scored something like 1 to 5 with each application read and scored by three people who did not see the other scores.) There were no minimum scores, no minimum GPA, no particular standards for portfolios (which varied widely - some applicants had no architecture courses while others had undergrad majors). Other schools may look at applications differently of course.</p>
<p>Let each school know, and the arch departments, that she will be visiting after her app is in, they will probably make a note in her file. Between now and the visits have her keep up a flow of communication, ask lots of questions and follow-up questions, many schools track interest by saving all communications from prospies. I feel interest is important to many of the schools on her list, they don’t like “stealth” applications for arch. Even at the big state schools the arch depts are small enough that they can and do look beyond a student’s stats. A BArch is a huge commitment and anything that helps a department understand the strength of your daughter’s intent to get in and get through the five years will be in her favor. </p>
<p>Visiting early also helps a student determine if a school “fits”. My son scratched schools off his list after visits, others rocketed to the top, that saved some dollars and time on apps. January visits are still mostly before the adcoms make their decisions, except for the early programs -like at RPI, UofO, PS, WIT. Visiting after acceptances puts the applicant in the drivers seat.</p>
<p>The Cal Poly’s recalculate the gpa, and add SAT to rank you with an “ei” eligibility index, then works the list from the top down. Check CSMentor or the Cal Poly forum here for more details on your D’s chances. *note apply early to Cal Poly…and UofO, actually all of them…</p>
<p>Check out Roger Williams in Rhode Island. Beautiful arch facilities. My son loved it and they liked him enough to offer him merit money, but he chose life in a big city instead.</p>
<p>Another possible match is Montana in Bozeman.</p>
<p>aliastoo, I agree with everything 4trees wrote. College visits are important and not just to indicate one’s interest in the school, although they’re very important for that reason, too. Each of my children eliminated one of their top choices (which looked perfect on paper) after they visited and ended up not applying to them. Your D should have a good sense if a college is right for her after her visit. Be sure to allot time to visit studios and chat with architecture students to get a real feel for each college. Good luck!</p>
<p>nerd855, worried_mom,mathmom, 4trees, momof2, thanks a lot for your replies. I feel better now that you shared your experiences with me. I think we’ll have to postpone the college visits until we know where she is accepted. And, hopefully, my D can keep a line of communication open to the arch programs that she wants to apply.
At this point, i’m more concerned about her low sat score. D will be taking it again, but only a couple of schools will be accepting the December sat.
D has been working on her portfolio for the last couple of months, and according to her instructor from her architecture class, D has a talent and is an outstanding student in the arch class. Based on the history of D’s HS, most students going to arch apply and get accepted to Cornell (my D doesn’t have the stats for it). My D’s arch instructor has high hopes for her based on her portfolio. So, I’m hoping her portfolio will help her, but i’m not sure if a great portfolio will be sufficient to overcome a low sat score?
Meanwhile, we’re trying to figure out which arch programs would be safeties for her? should we based everything on uwgpa and sat scores? thanks in advance!</p>
<p>A a good portfolio and a letter of rec. from an arch instructor that knows your daughter and her work can go a looong way to overcome lower stats. The schools all say they look at all three parts of the SAT scores, yet it seems like they really are only using math and verbal, and most superscore, so perhaps she should focus on improving the m and v.</p>
<p>Best wishes to her…</p>
<p>4trees, thanks for your helpful tips. I’m glad I found this forum.</p>