my friends dragged me to the event - i only had a day to prepare!!! haha, i thought i was just going for moral support - but i guess they liked me in the interview. I would like to think that im still working on mine - but, i have a crazy semester and chances are what ive got now - is it... im trying to keep a 95 average. if any of you went to the open house: how did you think the art compared to your work? more or less the same level? better? worse?

based on a glance of what I just read.
We have a great community of asians, super friendly
you yell out 'T&T' on one end of the studio, all of them
would run towards you and gather,
then begin a discussion how much they miss asian food.

For the ones who did not get an interview,
if you are serious about it, try next year again!
We have a good few people who are in and this is not the first time they tried.
(The highest record in the history is 4 times as I recall)

Bring your sketchbook if you have one,
it will show a lot about you, and will be a very strong piece.

I printed all my pieces out on 8.5 by 11 photo paper
and PLUS brought the pieces that are physically reasonable to bring,
which includes, 3 small-scale but fragile sculptures,
one 1.5m by 1.5m painting, 2 photo framed small paintings.
I would not suggest photo framing, since it involves glass
and could get really messy.
The large painting I brought was quite painful to move
and it was just left in a corner of the interview room, since it
wont fit on the table, and I assume they did not look at it since
they focused on the table. The sculptures they love seeing it
and they kept touching them. But then again, those were small sculptures
each a bit bigger than a microwave.
I also showed a stop-motion video, and brought my own laptop
because the laptops they provide might not work.
(happened to one of my friend but he got in anyways)

During my wait for my interview, one of my sculpture broke off.
I was fortunate enough to be offered by one of the first years there
to let me use her glue gun in the studio.

Bring your SKETCHBOOK I cannot stress that more.
But only if you do keep one.
I have to say the sketchbook was probably one of the few
items that they kept on looking at, flipping through
and whispering to each other about it (which was scary).

I cannot tell you much about the Precis
because I basically went it knowing nothing about it
and I still don't really know what I did.
You are provided with an essay, on a particular subject matter,
and you have to summarize it without adding your own opinion.
Remember DON'T WRITE TOO MUCH.
The one I got was about Society Class in the UK.
Honestly, I am not good in English, so I can't really help you on that.

I was the LAST one they interviewed that day
And I got 2 professors and 2 master students in my panel.
They first greet you, with your aif printout infront of them
so they can start a conversation with you or just jump right
in to looking at your portfolio.
for me, they spent a few minutes watching my video, looking through
my stuff and they were silent during that.
Then they just start asking you questions.
It is not exactly like a conventional interview,
more like a conversation with sometimes difficult questions
that make you THINK.

They will ask you generic questions like
'who's your favourite architect, why this school/program'
then they will ask some more 'interesting' questions
that will PROMPT you to think A LOT.

Honestly, when I got out of the interview,
I know I am not going to get in and I thought
to myself that I will try next year.
But then I got an offer.

I was told a few weeks ago,
when I went printing and saw
one of the master student who interviewed me.
He told me that another guy in my class and I were
the only two go got an offer on that day with their panel.

AGREED.

Thank you for all the information AndreaBing! I hope I put it to good use :P.

@lorilori

Think about it like this: could it hurt your application?

haha nah, im not panicking :D
thanks for all the information! i really appreciate it :)
i think i will bring in a sketch book,

can you tell us some of the questions they asked you during the interview, and how hard the precis test was?

thanks again,

the passage for the precis changes every day and is usually a piece of ridiculously difficult literature or an academic paper but that being said it isn't impossible! they aren't looking for a "pass" they're looking for "the best of the worst" because in reality only a few of us in first year passed itxD (i think the number was three...LOL /fail)

the only advice i can give is to go online and first search up exactly what it is to write a precis because it is NOT a summary. it's more like what you'd do for an article that you have to redo in 30% of the words but keep ALL the information. That being said one of the best ways you can prepare for this is by taking old essays you've written and rewriting them till you reach 1/3 of the original word count but keep all the original content (reverse of what you do to write them:P /writes800wordessayandfillsinthelast200wordswithadjectivesandotheruselesspaddingxD)
OH and READ READ READ!!!



i dont believe there are any real "default questions" that they ask. Each panel is different, there is no list of questions that they fire at you. if you've been to the open houses we (1st year volunteers) stressed the fact that the interview is more of a conversation and less of a Q&A. depending on which panel you get and what you present some REALLY bizarre things may be thrown at you.

on a random note, and feel free to ignore this if its confusing, but Don, one of the teachers on the panel said something interesting, he said that the interview could very well be substituted with a game of chess since he could get the same insight on YOU as a person with either method.


Good luck to the both of you:D



ps: HIIII ANDREA:DDDD

Im in the totally same situation as you. I got the invitation, but suddenly I just thought I am not an artistic kind person. so did you get offer from waterloo civil?

LOL! Thats so funny, I wouldn't mind playig chess, aha! just wondering - who are some of your favorite architects? i wouldnt worry too much over the other questions guys - just be yourself cuz this interview could go anywhere! plus you're discussing your art also. soooo, there'll be a ton of stuff to talk about! you wont know what their thinking til we get there.