MArch Decision - Round Two

Last year I had emailed you for some help regarding majoring in architecture and your guidance was very much appreciated. And as per your suggestion I read your book which was also very helpful. I was wondering  if I could get your opinion on some universities that I got accepted into

1) Southern California Institute of Architecture

2) USC

3) Pratt Institute

4)Cal Poly, Pomona

And I think I ll probably go to either SCI-ARC or USC. I am going to visit them in the coming weeks which I am hoping helps me decide. I was wondering about the Design Intelligence Rankings as well and whether I can use that as one of the factors in my decision. Your opinion about these universities would be greatly appreciated.

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You may certainly use the DI rankings as one of your factors/criteria in making your decision, but be sure to understand their methodology for ranking programs.  As I understand it, DI surveys firms on the quality of architecture programs.

http://archrecord.construction.com/features/Americas_Best_Architecture_Schools/2012/schools-1.asp
"For the 2012 edition, 360 firms in the four professional fields participated. Each respondent has direct responsibility for hiring and/or supervising recent graduate new hires in one or more of those fields surveyed. Practitioners selected to participate were drawn from a DesignIntelligence database of leading firms defined by both revenue and reputation."

Aside from the rankings, I would suggest you strongly consider other more important factors such as location, reputation, faculty, curriculum, facilities, etc.

In my opinion, the DI rankings are a popularity contest and do not take into account your personal interests.

Best