Looking for colleges with architecture programs

College Search & Selection
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I am looking for some ideas for meets full need colleges that might do a good job preparing my rising junior daughter to apply to architecture schools for a masters in architecture. Bonus for colleges that also offer a bachelors degree in architecture, but I really doubt that my daughter will want to commit to a pre-professional path as an undergraduate so it is definitely not necessary for the college to have an undergraduate major in architecture.

At the moment, she thinks that she would like to become an architect, but she still has a very wide range of interests. I think that she would prefer to attend a college that would allow her to explore those interests and then decide on a major and career interest a bit later. She is open to colleges on either coast, the midwest or mid-atlantic. She is open to considering HBCUs, but other than those, she is unlikely to be interested in a southern college or university. She hasn’t expressed any preference for city vs. rural yet, but I am sure that she would want a school that leans progressive and lgbt+ friendly.

We are not yet at the stage of considering matches or safeties/targets/reaches. She is just a rising junior and I know her school will help craft the final list. For now, I am just trying to explore colleges that would be a good fit for her academic interests --admittedly those interests are all over the place. Other than architecture, she has loved her courses so far in English, math, visual arts, languages (both spoken and classical), chemistry, history, physics, and music, (probably in that order). Actually, she has seemed to like all of her 9th and 10th grade courses except Biology. So she is really all over the place. I personally think she would be quite good at computer science, but she refuses to even try any courses in it. Sigh. So from a parental view, double bonus if the school has a gen ed requirement that includes computer science, but that is me talking not her!

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Look at the list of schools that meet 100% of need but run the NPC of schools to ensure you have need need or they’d meet what u deem is affordable. U of Miami comes to mind. Rice. WUSTL. Cornell. Most colleges that meet need will be reaches for almost all. You may look to an in state flagship with income program or OOS public with huge merit.

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Tagging architecture and Williams expert @momrath whose son went to Williams, which doesn’t have an architecture major, and is now an architect IIRC.

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Thanks, to clarify, perhaps I put the emphasis (italics) on the wrong part of my post. I am looking for advice about colleges that will prepare my daughter well to apply to architecture graduate schools…

Having navigated the financial aid process with my older kid this year, I do understand it fairly well. I just brought up my interest in meets need schools to steer people away from automatically suggesting of schools that I know in advance will be unaffordable for us. I ran a NPC on a lot of schools for her older sister just ten months ago, and my finances haven’t changed much since then. So I have a good sense of which schools are affordable without merit and which are not as well as the remarkable range of results between schools that all claim that they meet need. What I don’t know is which schools would be a good match to her interests.

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Kind of pricey but USC offers a 4 week summer program for high school students called “Exploration of Architecture.”

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In terms of a specific suggestion, your daughter may want to look into William Smith.

For a general discussion, especially with respect to options at colleges without pre-defined architecture majors, this CC topic may be of interest: Undergrad major for architecture.

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M.Arch degrees are considered professional programs, and don’t offer much aide; very different than fully funded masters programs.

if she’s not sure about architecture, and gets a BS or BA degree . . she’ll most likely be looking at 3 years for her masters; so keep that in mind. Kids can get a M.Arch from all sorts of backgrounds; and it makes sense to keep prices down on the undergrad degree for sure.

more specific degrees - like a bachelor of science in arch design - will most likely help get a kid into a 2-yr program than something like urban studies or art history, so look closely at what programs are offered at the schools. But, again, if you dont pay much for undergrad, you might be more inclined to be OK with a 3 yr program for grad school.

Here is a list my daughter poured over. DesignIntelligence - Most Admired Schools Architecture some might be full-needs schools. hope that helps . . .

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Not all “architectural studies” type majors are created equal. Some have a significant studio design component, and others are much more just art/arch history and such. As mentioned above, Hobart & William Smith has one of the more design-ish programs for an LAC arch studies degree; they don’t meet full need but might well fill the need-gap with merit for a well-qualified student. Connecticut College is another that has some nice studio classes, and they do meet need. Middlebury is another that has a studio component.

At the Claremont Colleges, there’s a track within the Environmental Analysis major called “Sustainability and the Built Environment,” that is designed as a pre-architecture curriculum, but with a lot of flexibility to customize to one’s interests. Pomona, Pitzer, Scripps, and CMC students can all access this major. All of the 5C’s meet full need, although their formulae will vary.

Boston University has an arch studies major and meets need, but their program is more along the art/arch history lines - not much architecture-specific studio work available.

If you happen to live in Colorado, the College of Environmental Design at CU Boulder is a wonderful option; but it’s probably not workable financially for an OOS student who requires need-based aid.

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Tuskegee is an HBCU that offers both a B. Arch as well as a B.A. in Design and it offers very generous merit aid.

You said you’re not interested in southern schools outside of HBCUs, but if you change your mind, take a look at Louisiana Tech and U. of Louisiana-Lafayette as they both offer a B.S. in Architecture (and M. Arch degrees) and also have very generous merit aid available.

If looking for meets-needs schools, I’d look for universities that offer an M. Arch but no B. Arch, as I would suspect they might have a good major option for students interested in continuing on for their M. Arch. This list, however, is very reachy.

Yale
Harvard
MIT
Northeastern
Washington U.
Columbia (it is a candidate for M. Arch accredidation)
U. of Pennsylvania

These HBCUs don’t meet full need, but Hampton, Prairie View A&M, Morgan State all HBCUs offer an M. Arch. Howard & Florida A&M offer a B. Arch, but perhaps they also offer a B.S. or B.A. of some kind as well?

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@Alqbamine32 2, Architecture is a broad and varied field and the road to becoming an architect is equally broad and varied.

Basically there are three routes to becoming a licensed architect:
A Bachelor OF Architecture (BArch)
A Bachelor of Science or Arts IN Architecture + a Master of Architecture (BS/BA architecture +MArch)
A Bachelor of Science or Arts IN any other discipline + a Master of Architecture (BS/BA in anything else + MArch)
The licensing process, which is usually employer sponsored, can take from 1 to 3 years (or more) depending on the individual’s motivation.

I would agree that if your daughter is not 100% convinced that a career in architecture is for her, then the BArch is not a good choice.
The BS or BA IN architecture or architectural studies (titles vary) at a university that hosts a school of architecture is probably the most direct route to an MArch.

BArch and MArch curriculums are standardized by the architecture board, but BS/BA programs are not. Consequently there’s a good deal of variation from program to program. Some, but not all, require portfolios with application. Some are more art driven, some more tech or structures driven. It’s important to note that the completion of a BS/BA in architecture doesn’t automatically lead to acceptance to the same university’s MArch program.

Many, many MArch students, even at the most prestigious and selective MArch programs, hold degrees in other disciplines, often art studio, art history or environmental design, but also ANY of the humanities, sciences and social sciences.

The major difference between an MArch with a BS/BA in architecture and an MArch with a BS/BA in anything else is that the latter combination often takes longer and therefore may cost more. There are infinite cost and time variables so you really have to research carefully. Funding for an MArch, while available, is usually not need based and therefore not easy to predict.

MArch programs strive to matriculate a diverse class, not only in the usual diversity areas like race and economic status, but also in age, undergraduate education, life and work experience. Many BS/BA holders will work in architecture for a year or two before applying to graduate school.

The requirements for application to an MArch program are generally an art portfolio, a personal statement and/or interview, academic and/or professional recommendations, and GRE results. At most schools of architecture, the portfolio is the most important element. It doesn’t need to include architectural drawing, but it does need to demonstrate a facility with various media, especially drawing, and a talent for design and presentation.

MArch programs also expect the applicant to have taken some art history (especially architectural history) and some art studio (architecture is good, but not strictly required). Some programs require 1 or 2 terms of physics and calculus, some one but not the other, some neither. Comfort level with computer aided design programs, especially building information modelling, while not a requirement is extremely helpful.

I hesitate to give specific recommendations, but for initial research I would start with the following:
BS Architecture: UMichigan, WUSTL, UVA, Cincinnati, Northeastern
BA with some architectural drawing classes + good art history: Middlebury, Brown, Conn College, Williams, Vassar

As mentioned above, my son got a BA in art studio + art history at Williams. He was undecided between architecture and museum work and all of his undergraduate summer internships were at museums. He attended a summer architecture career exploration program at Columbia. After graduating he worked for a couple of years in the marketing department of a design-focused architecture firm, then got an MArch at Cornell. The MArch was 3.5 years.

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so much good info here! my D went into this all sort of blindly. 1 more year! :tada: (she did 5 yrs undergrad with transfer; BS arch design at a midwest state school; now she’s at RISD with one year left!)

keep reading through @momrath 's post; excellent and succinct. And @AustenNut has a good idea about looking at MArch universities, and see what is offered as undergrad. and you can go the opposite way, see if a meets need college offers a MArch degree; if not I’d expect that whatever they offer for undergrad will mean 3+ years in grad school.

we know a BArch kid - 5 years total - who just graduated from his state school and is getting many offers of employment. sort of wish my D had gone that way - would have saved so much! but she likes school and is getting a thorough education.

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Thank you everyone! These responses are incredibly helpful in explaining the process for a student who thinks she might want to pursue architecture as well as giving some ideas about specific schools and programs. I think trying to find an exploratory summer program for next summer is also a great idea.

It also sounds like she will need an art portfolio no matter what her college major ends up being so even if the college does not have an undergraduate major in architecture, she will likely need to take some visual arts and design courses and mentorship to help develop a portfolio.

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If she changes her mind about location and is willing to consider Houston, Rice has a great program and meets need.

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Visit this site to see what schools offer accredited programs. Because there may also be some B. Arch schools that offer a B.S. in Architecture or something similar as well and meet full-need or there are a number of other schools who may provide sufficient merit and financial aid to meet your price point: https://www.naab.org/accredited-programs/accredited-programs/

USC, U. of Miami, U. of Notre Dame, Tulane (meets 96% of need), Syracuse (meets 97% of need), Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and Rice all offer B. Arch and meet (nearly) all financial need, as they calculate it.

Also, I forgot that UVA meets full financial need of domestic students, and it has an M. Arch program only.

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