<p>Hey guys, So i've decided to become an architect and am currently looking for a good undergrad architecture program. My first choice is McGill (montreal, canada) and I am aware it is a very good program but if I don't get in I need some safeties.....
....I look on the "National Architectural Accrediting Board" and found some schools I liked like</p>
<p>-Carnegie Mellon
-Cornell
-Princeton
-Syracuse
-UC Berkeley
-Maryland
-UPenn
-Wash U. St Louis
-Yale</p>
<p>I have been looking around the discussion boards and found that there are a few liberal arts colleges that offer a major in architecture. If anyone knows of any please tell me.</p>
<p>I wouldn't call many of the schools that you noted above "safeties." However, you should add University of Cincinnati. They not only are top ranked above some of the schools that you noted, but they are the only ones that provide 1.5 years of paid coop as part of the program. You will get both a strong resume and possible job offers from the coop that you may not get from attending other schools. Just something to think about and check out.</p>
<p>Also, Cincinnati, being top ranked, isn't a saftety either.</p>
<p>Rank depends on where you want to work when you graduate.</p>
<p>For example, if you want to work in New York City, these are the top five (first equals) in my opinion:</p>
<p>Cornell 5 year BArch
Cooper 5 year B Arch
Anywhere BArch + HYP,Columbia,UPenn MArch
SCIARC 5 year BArch
Anywhere BArch + Berkely MArch</p>
<p>Rice would be in the top five in Texas and Louisiana but not on either coast--unless paired with a prestigious MArch from those coasts.</p>
<p>This is NOT to say that you can't get a great job in NYC with a unadorned Rice degree but breaking into one of the top offices in a design (vs a technical or administrative) position will be much much tougher if you don't have one of the above combinations. My opinion only however. Not the gospel.</p>
<p>here is the top ten:
Harvard
Cal poly san luis obispo
university of cincinnati
Cornell University
Yale university
University of texas Austin
Kansas state university
University of Michigan
Upenn
Rice</p>
<p>Oy...quit trying to 'rate' schools of architecture. I doesn't work. There are a few that suck (many of the random state schools) but most are quite good. If you want 'progressive' or 'theory-based', 'engineering-based' limits the list further. "Best" has little meaning, but if you want prestige (not all that useful since your portfolio speaks for you, but it might mean the school has more famous critics), the above list might be useful.</p>
<p>Also, it does totally depend on where you want to work. The northeast would be Cornell, Cooper; Chicago is IIT; LA is SciArc or USC; the south would be Rice. However, even at a less-known school you can stand out and work anywhere you want.</p>
<p>Does Harvard even have a BArch program? None of those schools on that list could be considered safties, you'll need a killer portfolio to get into any of them.</p>
<p>Such lists as in the first post show a lack of exploring the various architecture degrees and paths. The list in the first post has schools like Harvard, Yale, Penn and Princeton which are BA degrees (and in Harvard's case, it is not even a degree in Architecture) and other schools like Syracuse, CMU, Cornell, and Wash U, which are BArch degree programs. Those are two completely different paths. Some of the later posts with rankings need to discern if you are talking BArch programs or MArch programs. For instance, Harvard, Yale and Penn are MArch and Cornell is a BArch, or maybe you are referring to their MArch, so you are ranking different degree programs. The poster was inquiring about undergrad anyway.</p>