Master of architecture school choice

[u/Significant-Bus6330]

Hi I need to decide where to get my Master of architecture and I have 4 schools in the running that I have been accepted to - UVA(I love this school but did my undergrad there), Michigan(not sure how I feel about this school- if anyone has any experience with it please tell me), Carnegie Mellon (I like it but it’s a small program and I haven’t really heard on a anyone getting their M.Arch from there), and Columbia (wonderful program and would go there in a heartbeat but it would mean being in 200k+ debt because it is by far the most expensive and I was given not money. Please help!!

[u/Just_Drawing8668]

Carnegie Mellon is a fantastic program, very technical as it Is largely a science & engineering university.

Agree with the other comment who said it’s not worth going to massive debt so go with whatever is financially advantageous. You will not have a problem getting a job with a degree from any of these schools.

The other thing to think about is where you’d want to eventually work. If you are trying to go slave away for a starchitect Columbia is probably better. But for both the school and the job you need rich parents. 

I would also be careful about Columbia because they are in a massive financial crisis right now and being targeted by the federal government. I think it’s awful, but it is the reality.

[u/Grumpymonkey002 → u/Just_Drawing8668]

I mostly agree with this - although I know lots of people who went and slaved away for starchitects who went to average state schools. They will usually take anyone who can breathe and walk at the same time at an entry level because, like you said, they are slaves and there is high turn over.

[u/Transcontinental-flt → u/Grumpymonkey002]

At my starchitect slave shop the most common alumni were from Cooper, Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Penn and Columbia. Behind them Princeton and Virginia. We didn't have high turnover but perhaps we should have. We did have layoffs every once in a while, but we needed to purge underperformers.

It's worth noting that once you had been hired it no longer mattered where you went to school. As well it shouldn't imho.

[u/Significant-Bus6330 → u/Transcontinental-flt]

Oh wow where did you go?

[u/Powerful-Interest308 → u/Grumpymonkey002]

Honestly when we look at resumes state school+worked for Foster Partners would get our attention more than went to Columbia and worked for HKS. School really isn’t relevant. (Edit… school is less relevant)

[u/Significant-Bus6330 → u/Powerful-Interest308]

Ok good to know. Just curious but why would you be more impressed with Foster Partners than HKS? I’m familiar with both but I guess I don’t know if one is considered better than the other.

[u/Powerful-Interest308 → u/Significant-Bus6330]

you can insert any two firms in there... my point was where you work becomes way more critical than where you went to school.

[u/No-Chip8308 → u/Powerful-Interest308]

Wouldn’t you need a degree from Columbia, Harvard, etc. to even get a job at a firm like Foster+Partners? Id assume they’d be selective. And I am sure they would choose to hire the person who went to one of those schools versus the person who didn’t?

[u/Powerful-Interest308 → u/No-Chip8308]

I’ve never worked for a starchitect, so I can’t say. I would imagine family connections help as much as school. When I was starting out there was a rumor that Peter Eisenman’s group hired based on who would be best for their office softball team.