<p>Hey, I’m a rising senior who is interested in majoring in either architecture or interior design. Right now my top choice schools are Auburn, Alabama, and Clemson. Auburn is the only school that offers a major in both areas (and their progams are ranked much higher than the other two), but when I was looking on the Arch website I noticed it’s a five year program at AU. Can anyone explain why this is? At Clemson it’s only four. Is there anyway to take summer classes and finish in four? Also on a random note I’d appreciate it if you could tell me your favorite thing about Auburn/why I should choose it. (:</p>
<p>I would be more than happy to comment and pass on information that we found when our child was going through the college application process with an interest in majoring in architecture.<br>
There are different paths you can go through in order to become an architect:
*4 year undergrad degree in arch. - which would then require you to go to a 2 years masters program in order to sit for your license - often called a 4+2 program
*5 year underad degree in arch - allows you to sit for your license after an internship
These are generally the ones which you will see in rankings since a 4 year program is not a NAAB acredited program.
or
*any 4 year undergrad degree - 3 year masters program.
Which way you go just depends on what you want. Here is a link to the NAAB info on the programs which explains it in detail. [NAAB:</a> News (Interested in a career in architecture?)](<a href=“http://www.naab.org/news/view.aspx?newsID=10]NAAB:”>http://www.naab.org/news/view.aspx?newsID=10)
Our child will be attending Auburn for Architecture and will be in the Foundation unit of their program. After being admitted for Pre-Architecture she was sent another application by Architecture based on her GPA/SAT scores. The applications are reviewed and they select 30 for Foundation Unit. The other admits will be in Summer Design after their Freshman year if they complete specific courses and maintain a certain GPA. Of the Summer Design students (generally 100) 30 are selected to continue in the program in their Soph. year.
Feel free to ask any additional questions. Also, go to the Auburn Arch. site and read about their programs and admissions.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the clarification! It sounds like it would be best to do a five year program then. Do you mind my asking what your child’s gpa/test scores where to be admitted into the Foundations program? I currently have a 4.5 GPA, 1280 SAT (but I’m retaking it), and I took the ACT but haven’t gotten my scores back yet.</p>
<p>Sent you a private message - they are her stats so I do not share them publically. Not sure I included that she has also chosen to do the Honors College which appears to be challenging in working the classes into her scheduled architecture classes - studio time is a lot MWF 9 AM - 1PM and two other architecture claases at odd times. She got what she needed - just looks exhausting to me.</p>