My friends and countrymen,
I have been accepted into two graduate architecture programs: UBC and Manitoba. Manitoba's only sent me an email to let me know instead of the official package, but it's pretty much a sure thing. The past week or so has been a heady blur of rumors, gossip and subterfuge as my far-flung architecture friends and I weaseled out who was in, who was maybe in, whose friend of a friend was in and how we were getting in nowhere, and how we'd rather not even think about who was getting in or not, yet how we couldn't stop emailing each other and discussing these things.
So. I still have to hear back from Toronto, but I'm happy to have two choices. For the past month I've been a blissful slacker (well, except for some overtime at work, beginning training for a 10 k run, and a bit more yoga than normal), and thoroughly enjoyed it, though now I'm beginning to think, couldn't I have at least thought about school a bit more? Like at all? Like somehow numbered the choices from one through three as I had a full month to do such a thing?
As it stands, I have until March 30th to respond to UBC. I can do the research on the actual programs myself, poll my friends, troll archinet and other school type websites, and look into scholarships, as well as actually see what package the U. of M is offering me. Your task is to offer up superficial reasons to choose one place - Vancouver or Winnipeg - over another. Anything is fair game. Try me.
Go.
(Also, I totally stole the post title off of Death By Architecture.)
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7 comments:
winnipeg has ME!! and the other girls! (some of them)
vancouver has Ryan
in winnipeg you could live with ME!!
in van you already have a pretty apartment
winnipeg is CHEAPER!!
van is prettier/nicer weather
tough call honey. do you want to be closer to your family, or further away?
ps
i'm
excited
about
you
blogging
.
how
do
you
feel
about
my
paragraph
breaks
?
rebekah,
Those are not paragraph breaks. You, madam, are transforming simple words into beautiful poetry through the art of the return key. you could pretty much add extra spaces to any set of words (not paragraphs) and it could be ok by me.
"you're beautiful to me" - james blunt
blargh.
"you're beautiful
to me"
sigh! poetic!
I like the rationales too. I'm thinking about those very things right now.
Winnipeg has ME!!!
Oh hooray that I can comment!
Congrats on getting accepted to both schools!!! As for picking which one to accept, there's definitely a lot to think about, but I'm sure it will all fall into place. Bekah has some pretty good points. Being in Vancouver would make you (and others) appreciate your time in Winnipeg more, since if you're always in Winnipeg, then there's "always the next time we get together" to see you. Then again, some people don't quite get the fact that you're only in town for 72 hours, and that you planning to spend even 2 hours with them is a big deal, especially since your family and super closest friends really want to see you too. It can get frustrating, and I might be retaining some bitterness towards those who don't read this blog as far as I know, but I digress...
Vancouver is beautiful and warm. Winnipeg may be cheap, but it's pretty much the only place in Canada that is, so why not stay somewhere that's more expensive and get used to living that way, and then if you end up taking a job say in Toronto at some point, it's not a big change, or if you take a job in Winnipeg you can feel like a millionaire. Vancouver also has way better sushi :)
Winnipeg would mean a long distance relationship, which can cancel out Winnipeg's cheapness factor, and while it can really really suck, the distance can make your relationship really strong too.
What are the students in each of the programs like? In physics at UofM, I found there wasn't a whole lot of social activity, since everyone was from Wpg and had their own friends and things to do outside of school. Here though, no one is a local, so we hang out together a lot more since we're all kind of stuck here.
Ok, so I'm kind of biased towards UBC. It gives me a reason to visit you in Vancouver, hopefully! :) That's the other nice thing about school, you can try living somewhere new, before you have to start worrying about things like "settling" somewhere with a "real job". I don't think I could take a job in say Australia, and be far away from my family for a much longer time, but a 2 year residency there would be pretty cool with me...:)
ok, longest comment ever, my apologies!
And I apologize that the paragraphs appear to run into each other in my previous post, thus guaranteeing you shall never read it. I will remember to double space the breaks next time.
Like so.
Hello Laryssa! Thanks for the thoughts. Such is my affection for you that I managed to read the entire paragraph without exhausting my retinas. Seriously, unless your name is "Gordon Sinclair Jr." I will probably read whatever it is you write. Even if it WAS actually G.S.J I would probably still read it to fuel my exaggerated hatred.
Anyway, I am indeed leaning towards UBC for many of the options you listed. I do feel like I know Vancouver pretty well by now and I have fully experienced the "distant family and friends" phenomenon, so I know what that's all about. It isn't awful, and visiting/visits are really quite fun. The major downside is money (not enough visits on either side) and not being there to experience family events etc. That said, I'm willing to live with that.
As you said, the benefits of living in a larger urban centre are pretty great. Vancouver is a great city, not without its problems, and that would also be interesting to study in an academic context. I feel I've delved into Winnipeg and its urban problems for three years of my previous degree - a change would perhaps be beneficial.
Additionally, most people recommend NOT taking your degree from the same place as your undergrad. Diversity of experience can be important.
Interestingly, you can get into UBC with a non-architecture degree, meaning I would be potentially studying among poets, artists, actuaries (yeah right! who would leave that high-paying job?) botanists, etc. This could be great, or frustrating - obviously these people are smart but it will probably take them a year to learn how to draft drawings properly.
That's all for now.
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