FAQ – METU MUD

After the official application completed via the online application program of the METU Registrar’s Office, the student is invited to the interview held with the selection committee of the program. In accordance with the assessment of the committee, the student is informed to be selected as the prospective student to enroll. The major selection criteria in the application are the quality of the portfolio in which the previous design works of the applicant are involved, the English language exam score, and the undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of the student.

The graduate education at METU Master of Urban Design (MUD) program consists of one-year full-time intensive studio course and the research period for graduation thesis. Following the first two semesters in which the design studio and supplementary courses are offered, the students are expected to work on their master’s thesis under the supervision of research advisor. Depending on the performance of the student, the period of writing the dissertation and defining against the thesis jury ideally takes one and a half year in total.

The statement of purpose submitted in the application to the program should include the brief information about the personal background of the student, the major interests in the context of physical planning and design, and the expectations from his/her future carrier along with those from the graduate education applied. The statements in the letter should involve the main motivation factors for the graduate education on urban design.

The portfolio is the showcase of the selected design works made by the student within his/her previous education. It may involve personal and group works; the studio, workshop and/or competition projects as well as the design drawings demonstrating the individual skills and abilities of the student. It is recommended to involve some brief notes on the content and aim of the projects presented in the portfolio accordingly.

Though there is no official rule to restrain students from having a professional occupation outside the university, especially for the first year studio course, it is highly recommended to have a full-time attendance to the studio works for students. Since the studio works mostly rely on group-woks within an intensive schedule including the supplementary (elective) courses, taking the course without any extra work-load potentially increases the average performance of the student following the program.

Scientific preparation program is suggested to the students who do not hold a degree on spatial planning at the undergrad level. The courses to be taken by the student in the first year of the program are determined by the program advisor from the catalog of the courses given in METU Faculty of Architecture.