<p>I'm having a bit of trouble trying to decide which school I want to go to...and was just wondering what people thought of the following architecture programs at:
Mount Holyoke College
Smith College
Umass Amherst (Environmental Design)
Pratt Institute
Northeastern
Carnegie Mellon
and
RISD</p>
<p>There are a number of factors that I have to consider in making my final decision such as environment, campus, amount of finaid, how prominent the architecture program is, and the school's overall fit. I was waitlisted at Northeastern and Carnegie, so I'm still waiting! Can anybody give me their opinions??</p>
<p>I think first you need to decide if you wish to earn a BArch or a BA/BS degree. You have some of each on your list. That is a major difference right there.</p>
<p>The prestige won’t matter as much if you are going to pursue a BSArch because you will have to get a master’s afterwards (assuming you want to be eligible for licensure). In that case, it’s almost better to save as much money during undergrad by picking the cheapest school, in order to leave your options open for graduate studies. One major caveat to this plan is that certain undergrad programs seem to be a lot more attractive to certain grad programs; that is, they act as “feeder schools.”</p>
<p>Of the schools you mentioned, the ones I’ve heard of for their architecture programs are Pratt, RISD and CMU. I also know that Northeastern has a strong co-op program, and that is always a plus in my eyes.</p>
<p>I would definitely say RISD… I did my pre-college in architecture there and loved my classes. RISD is ranked pretty high for the best architecture schools in the country and is more artistic than other schools, focusing a lot on drawing as opposed to software, which I believe is always good…
anyhow, from the schools you listed I’d either choose RISD or Carnegie Mellon… they were amongst my top three choices when applying, but I got accepted into Cornell architecture early so I forfeited my rights to knowing if I got into the other schools.<br>
Good luck on your decision making!</p>
<p>What exactly is it that you want to do after college? Because the schools on your lists have very different programs, and some of them may not be suited to your needs if you want to be a licensed architect without spending 7 or 8 years in school.</p>
<p>The architectural “programs” at Mt. Holyoke, Smith, and UMass are not NAAB-accredited so they do not provide you with a professional degree. If you attend any one of these schools, you will need to add on 2 - 3 more years of graduate school in order to earn a M.Arch. degree before you can qualify to take the licensing exam.</p>
<p>Pratt, RISD, and CMU offer a 5-year B.Arch. that is accredited by the NAAB and is considered the first professional degree. (Pratt and RISD also offer NAAB-accredited M.Arch. programs.) Northeastern offers only a M.Arch. degree (which is accredited.)</p>
<p>Pratt, RISD, and CMU are all top-rated architecture schools. Northeastern is definitely a notch below them and the others are not even considered architecture schools. That is not to say that they aren’t good schools or that you won’t learn some things relevant to architecture, but you can not be a practicing architect after you graduate from them - unless you go on to graduate school.</p>
<p>i would narrow list to RISD, CMU, and Pratt. All are more arts orientated, and I would probably choose either RISD or CMU.</p>