<p>I am a senior in high school and am having some difficulty deciding which school would be the best for me. Right now, I am looking at USC, University of Texas, Syracuse, Cornell, Auburn and Tulane. I think USC would be my top choice as of right now, but I would like to know if you have any other opinions about other good architecture programs.</p>
<p>Those are all good programs. LA and New Orleans are very interesting cities to live in when you are studying architecture.</p>
<p>Write to the deans and ask them if they track the professional careers of their female graduates. Ask them how many of their female graduates are registered, practicing architects. Ask them how many of their female architects own their own firms. Ask them if they can tell you the names of female graduates who are the lead designers in firms doing large scale work.</p>
<p>Think about where you want to practice when you get out. Some of the schools have a regional prominence --Syracuse and USC for example.</p>
<p>Cooper Union- check it out.</p>
<p>Of the schools you mentioned I will tell you my experiences;</p>
<p>Tulane, I have not been impressed with the program recently, I know their Dean moved to UT Arlington, it had been a good program in the past.</p>
<p>Cornell I know because of my daughter's application, great reputation, though when the other schools were selling against Cornell they mentioned that it was going through some big changes.</p>
<p>UT, I am really impressed with this program, it has dramatically improved over the last ten years. Some of the brightest kids I have hired in the last four years have come from this school. The kids who I tried to recruit and lost all went to places like SOM, KPF, Pelli, and Polshek.</p>
<p>USC and Auburn have good reputations, but I have not seen graduates from there in the last few years. </p>
<p>The other two schools that I was very impressed with are UVA and Rice. My D had Virginia at the top of her architecture school list above Cornell and Rice.</p>
<p>Deans generally stay at a school for 2-four year terms and programs can go through big changes. Ten years is a lifetime for a school, so talk to people with recent experiences. </p>
<p>rick</p>