international m arch1 student?

alyssa10
Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:25:17 +0000

hey all, im a 2nd year interior design student in toronto, and i am planning to continue and get a masters degree in architecture once graduation. i love the architectural aspect of my program, so getting a degree in this field would be great. i have always dreamed of getting a masters education in the USA, so im here to ask a few very-early questions about everything related, and i say this only because im still in my 2nd year. working on a portfolio must be important, as well as testing, so to ask questions at this early stage would only benefit me.
arch has always been a big dream for me, but interior design has always captured my mind as well. the gap between the both isnt too much away from each other, so obtaining a degree in interior design then another degree in architecture didnt seem too much of a big deal for me at the time. i am among the top in my design studio classes, with this being my top marks overall, with some works chosen for CIDA (council for int. design association) presentation in fall '10.
another thing about my background, im filipino-canadian, graduated in a toronto high school with an a average and many extra curriculars. my parents provide the income but with only less than 60 000 coming in a year. this really discourages me as i have bigger dreams to be in top arch schools with tuition and more averaging about 4 times the costs in toronto schools alone. plus i am an international student.
what i really would like to know is mostly of financial aid (im looking more for grants and scholarships and such) for international students in great-to-top schools in the usa.
also, i plan to work in the north east coast, mainly in nyc, but even working in toronto would be a good idea since the economy is looking quite well and the amount of buildings being created is on a rise. is it better to go to school on a masters level where you plan to go to work?
also , my program doesn’t provide any physics course or anything like that, would this decrease my chances? but i am positive that my portfolio would be less than mediocre, and i am already offered letters of recommendation from arch teachers in my program.
i am looking into
columbia- ivy, top school,
u cinn- co op program, lengthy but worth it?,
cornell- ivy league,
pratt- nyc based, arts liberated,
rice- best in south,
u miami- rome program, not too sure about its ranks and i feel iffy when looking at student work
iit- chicago based, dont know too much about the program though

are there any other schools i should look into as well? i mainly plan to focus on sustainability, and more design based schools, rather a great deal of theory and mathematics.

i would like to know anything about the m arch 1 program in any top schools, or even just regular universities. ANYTHING i have been reading into sites like this for quite some time. the arch teachers in my program dont know too much about the schools in usa, as most of them went to school in europe or even in canada.

thanks in advance all.