first gen, completing an architectural design program, low socioeconomic class
Cost Constraints / Budget
not too worried about budget right now until i get a good list of where would be attainable for me
Intended Major(s)
Architecture
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
UW GPA: 3.538
W GPA: 4.438
(ap boost is 0.05, honors boost is 0.025, cap at 4.95)
class rank: top 30%
ACT: taken once and got 25 composite but gonna retake until i can score 30 composite
List your HS coursework
9 AP classes
AP World History (3)
AP Psychology (4)
AP Seminar (4)
AP Research (3)
AP Lang (4)
currently taking
AP Physics C: Mechanics
AP Calculus AB
AP US Gov & Pol
AP Lit
10 honors classes, all core courses except PLTW civil engineering H and spanish 2 H
English: English 9H, English 10H, AP Lang, AP Lit
Math: Algebra 1, Geometry H, Algebra 2 H, AP Calculus AB
History and social studies: AP World History, U.S. History H, AP US Gov & Pol
Language other than English: Spanish 1, Spanish 2 H
Visual or performing arts: Music appreciation, drafting and design, architectural design 1, 2, and 3, architectural design 2 and 3 lab, ap research, ap seminar, PLTW engineering program (intro to engineering, principles of engineering, civil engineering, engineering design and development)
Awards
AP Scholar with Distinction
AP Capstone Completion
Architecture student of the month (?)
FBLA state champion for several events
Extracurriculars
president of an interest club
historian of a service club
FBLA member
DECA member
key club member
hispanic student union member
compete in many architecture design competitions, no local/regional/state/national recognition
summer internship at a highly renowned global architecture firm
Essays/LORs/Other
pretty strong, 8/10?
school in a blue state is a requirement, and preferably on the west coast but im open to any suggestions, thank you all!
Budget is most students’ primary constraint on what colleges will be attainable. You and your parents will want to run the net price calculator on each college of interest to see whether it will be affordable after financial aid.
If you are concerned about state laws and policies, Movement Advancement Project | Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State can be helpful. Note that it allows you to look specifically at sexual orientation (most relevant to LGB) or gender identity (most relevant to T), as well as specific types of laws and policies.
For architecture, are you looking for a 5-year BArch program (you can search for them at School Search - NAAB Website ) or a BA/BS program which may shorten the length of time needed for an MArch degree afterward?
Budget is critical. Will you have a portfolio to submit? Requirements for this vary by school - some require them, some don’t.
Some colleges I have looked at for my student that are probably targets or likelies for you (especially if you improve ACT), but again budget is critical:
BArch:
U Oregon
cal poly Pomona, depending on your csu weighted capped gpa - latest class admitted needed this at 4.02
Cal poly slo is probably a reach but more holistic than CPP so maybe worth a try?
SciArc
BA or BS majoring in Arch:
U San Francisco
U San Diego
CU Boulder (b. Environmental design)
Portland state is probably a likely/safety but you have to apply to progress to the major after 2nd year
Washington State, but I’d note a friend of my D19 who went there says they call it “west Idaho” (in terms of Pullman being conservative) so I’m not sure of how lgbtq friendly the environment is.
Some of these may not be affordable/provide need based aid.
A 5-year BArch program is the fastest way to get to a first professional degree in architecture. The other options are:
BA/BS in anything, followed by a 3-year MArch degree.
BA/BS in architecture-related major, followed by MArch degree that may take fewer than 3 years depending on the program.
In theory, the 5-year BArch program should be less expensive than BA/BS + MArch, but the limited number of BArch programs may make it difficult to find an affordable one if you have tight cost constraints (there are only about 9 in the west coast states with generally favorable laws on LGBT issues).
@ucbalumnus gave you the link for the NAAB listing above. There’s only about 50 B.Arch programs in the country. While it’s semi-limiting, it helps you narrow down your options really quickly once you put in budget, geographic preference, school size, etc etc etc…
While it might not be the case for every school on the list, expect that for many of them the BArch program is likely far more competitive to get into than the broader school numbers might suggest.
You’ll want to look at the admissions criteria for your narrowed down list to understand if a portfolio is required (and what the criteria of the portfolio for that school is - they will differ from school to school). Not all schools require a portfolio and for some it’s optional. For the optional they’ll mostly tell you “it can only help”.
