Cal Poly SLO vs Syracuse vs Pratt vs Tulane

Hi all,
I have been accepted to the 4 colleges mentioned above to study architecture. I am having trouble choosing which college is the most fitting for me as all of them sound very nice. Although their programs may place emphasis on different faucets of the field i.e. technology, design, I am still hesitant about making a choice as I dont really know what I find most important. I am also not sure which school’s culture is right for me. As for cost and tuition, I have received the following scholarships:

Cal Poly SLO - none
Syracuse- 10000 USD/ year
Pratt - 18000USD/ year
Tulane - 20000 USD/ year

Thank you in advance for all inputs!

Please elaborate on what kind of culture you think is right for you. Please also tell us where you want to work after graduation.

Pratt tends to offer an arts-oriented architecture program; Syracuse and Tulane offer more conventional approaches to the field. As an exercise, if you were to pick your favorite from Syracuse and Tulane and then compare it to Pratt, you might gain a sense of what type of program you would prefer.

@ronpatana All are well respected schools of architecture. Have you been able to visit all four? CalPoly is is a tech school, Pratt is an art school and Tulane and Syracuse are design schools. BArch core curriculums are regulated and more or less the same, but their emphasis will be different as will be the make up of the student body.

Other points of differentiation would be thesis and summer study requirements and joint degree, travel and actual build opportunities.

All of these programs graduate successful architects and enable summer internships and industry networking. Geographically Syracuse and Pratt have close ties to New York, CalPoly to California. I’m not sure about Tulane. Among the four I would say that CalPoly has the greatest international name recognition, with Syracuse close behind.

You might ask where their students have held internships and ended up after graduation.

Are the scholarships offered for the full 5 years? Any GPA restriction? It seems to me that it would be very difficult to turn down that kind of funding, but it really depends on your family’s financial situation. Entry level architecture positions are notoriously underpaid so you don’t want to incur a mountain of debt. Bear in mind that most architects at big name firms now hold MArch degrees, even with BArchs. MArchs can be expensive.

Lastly, the BArch has a high drop out rate. You might also think about alternatives at each school in case architecture doesn’t work out for you.

Are you in-state in CA? Listing scholarship amounts doesn’t make completely clear how your out-of-pocket would differ. What would be your total cost for each school? (Including variations in the overall length of the program, if that differs.) Congrats on four great options!