Suggestions for BA/BS programs in Arch

College Majors Architecture Major
1

<p>My daughter has a great deal of interest in obtaining a BArch and has done a ton of research and started to narrow down the list of schools she is likely to apply to including Cornell, Penn State, Syracuse and Notre Dame. </p>

<p>In support of my conviction that a liberal arts degree is a highly worthwhile endeveor as well as making sure she has options in the event she is not accepted to a BArch (all the programs seem to be highly competive), I was hoping to create a list of good BA/BS programs for her to research as well. So far I've identified the following schools as having such a degree but don't know anything about the quality of the programs. Looking for other schools to add to the list and was hoping the knowlegible posters here could be of assistance.</p>

<p>Middlebury
UVA
UMass
UWashington
UPenn
UPitt
Connecticut College (though I have my doubts about this program as they appear to meet in the school cafeteria)
Amherst College</p>

<p>I am sure there a tons more but a google search is surprisingly unhelpful.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for any suggestions</p>

2

<p>In terms of architecture schools, i had syracuse and ND on my list (i thought about Cornell, but did not like it all that much when I visited - ivy league schools are ultra-competitive), and Penn State was too big for me. </p>

<p>I was accepted to both Syracuse and ND which are both great architecture schools. I would have loved going to either, but I chose ND because it was the right fit for me. At ND they stress community and not competitiveness. ND has an amazing campus and student life as well as a great alumni network (alumni networks are more common in architecture and engineering especially where I live. At any company, you will see a majority of the employees went to the same company) ND also stresses classical/traditional architecture, as demonstrated by their 3rd year in Rome. </p>

<p>Just some more hints:</p>

<p>cornell and syracuse accept you directly into architecture school
ND accepts you to the university (you don’t apply to particular school - though they may ask you to give an idea). this helps your application because if you submit an arch. portfolio, it is seen as being more unique and can help you get accepted. </p>

<p>i would highly recommend a BArch program if your daughter gets into one. </p>

<p>some other BA/BS:</p>

<p>MIT
Roger Williams
Philadelphia University
Wentworth </p>

<p>some BArch Programs
RPI</p>

<p>if you keep ND on your list, i urge you to visit ND at least once. spend at least a day, maybe two (and sleep over if you can). If ND is for your daughter, then she will know it when she steps onto the campus. </p>

<p>if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to either reply or private message</p>

3

<p>My daughter, who is now in an MArch program at MIT, chose to only apply to BA schools for undergrad (Architectural Studies types of degrees) and if it helps, here is the list she applied to (she attended Brown, which by the way, allows students to take courses at RISD which has a BArch program):</p>

<p>Yale
Princeton
Brown
University of Pennsylvania
Tufts
Smith
Conn College
Lehigh</p>

4

<p>“Connecticut College (though I have my doubts about this program as they appear to meet in the school cafeteria)”</p>

<p>huh? Its based out of the fine arts building!</p>

5

<p>We visited Conn College and met with the department head and it seems like a really fine program and there is a building for the courses, not the cafeteria!</p>

6

<p>My daughter is going the BArch route, but some other BA/BS programs with a pre-professional major in architecture include:</p>

<p>Washington Univ. in St. Louis
Ohio State
University of Illinois
University of Cincinnati (a co-op program)
Northeastern (a co-op program)</p>

<p>A good website to check is <a href=“- NAAB Website”>http://www.naab.org/architecture_programs/&lt;/a&gt;. This is the National Architectural Accrediting Board. They list every accredited program, and whether it is a 5-year BArch, or a 4-yr.+ 2-yr. BA/MArch or BS/MArch, or a 3-yr. Masters after a bachelor’s degree in any other major.</p>

<p>Whatever school you look at, find out whether it is accredited. Otherwise your son/daughter may have no other route to a professional degree except a 3-year masters.</p>

7

<p>Thank you for all of your responses. This is a great list and really helps. I am on board with her getting a BArch but I also want to make sure she develops a balanced list of schools to apply to. She is a very good student (high honor roll, high community service, excellent athletics) but even so there are no garuantees that she would get accepted to any BArch. </p>

<p>Sorry about the confusion with Conn College - I must have read something on their website incorrectly.</p>

<p>Hawkswim - Congratulations on acceptance to ND. I have no doubt my daughter would love that program. She loves the idea of the year in Italy - that sold her instantly on ND plus I think the focus on the classics/tradition really jazzed her up. I think she would love the Catholic tradition too. Her 6 uncles and aunts that are BC alumni would never speak to her again if she went there but what are you going to do.</p>

8

<p>You might want to look at University of Maryland College Park, BSArch program: </p>

<p>[School</a> of Architecture, Planning & Preservation at the University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.arch.umd.edu/]School”>http://www.arch.umd.edu/) </p>

<p>Also, when looking at schools, consider if they are a four year program (normally 4 years for a BS, then 2 for a Masters) or a 5 year program (5 years for certification, still need 1 year for Masters probably, may need 2). Maryland is a 2+2 program…2 years of core classes and liberal arts (time to explore other things) then 2 years of intense studio time. If you can visit, I recommend it, it was very eye-opening for my S who has always wanted to be an architect. PM me if you want his stats…he was accepted and will attend next year.</p>

9

<p>Archmom- you wrote</p>

<p>A good website to check is <a href=“- NAAB Website”>http://www.naab.org/architecture_programs/&lt;/a&gt;. This is the National Architectural Accrediting Board. They list every accredited program, and whether it is a 5-year BArch, or a 4-yr.+ 2-yr. BA/MArch or BS/MArch, or a 3-yr. Masters after a bachelor’s degree in any other major.</p>

<p>I am familiar with that list, it has helped enormously to identify the BArch programs but can you help me identify the schools with the BA/MArch? How is that identified on the list? I see MArch specified so I assumed that was a strictly graduate program, but perhaps not based on your post. TIA</p>

10

<p>i applied and got accepted into Rice, Washington University in St Louis, Upenn, and uc berkeley. Rice has an amazing BArch program, including a guaranteed year of internship in a nationally or internationally known firm. Washu and upenn have BA/BSPrograms, and i chose to go to washu. Washu has a great undergrar program, and more, it has a flexibility that allows the student to pursue other majirs or areas of interest. It was that plus its focus on architecture that made me choose washu. Penn is an amazing school as well, but im not very clear about its program. If you have any questions about washu, dont hesitate to pm me!!</p>

11

<p>Bennie:</p>

<p>This is a long answer Bennie. There may be an easier way to do this, but this is the way I’ve done it. If you go to the NAAB site, click on “Find an NAAB Accredited Program”, and then click on “Masters of Architecture”, it gives you a list of schools. You will need to click on the individual school, and it then tells you what degrees they offer. If the school offers a Masters with “pre-professional degree + 60 graduate credit hours”, for example, then you know can deduce that it’s a “4+2” program…i.e. an accredited 4-year pre-professional bachelor’s degree with a major in architecture plus two years of graduate school gets you a master’s in architecture. (You take about 15-18 credit hrs. per semester, so 60 hours is 4 semesters or so.)</p>

<p>If they don’t require a “pre-professional degree”, and if they require more than 60 or so graduate hours, then it’s going to be a 2-1/2-year or more graduate program. For example, here is what the Washington Univ. info says…</p>

<p>"Washington University in St. Louis School of Architecture
[Sam</a> Fox School | Sam Fox School](<a href=“http://www.arch.wustl.edu%5DSam”>http://www.arch.wustl.edu)</p>

<p>Washington University in St. Louis
School of Architecture
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130</p>

<p>314.935.6200 (tel)
314.935.7656 (fax)</p>

<p>Contact Information
Bruce Lindsey, AIA
Dean</p>

<p>Accreditation Information
Degree 2. Master of Architecture
Track M. Arch. (Pre-professional degree + 60 graduate credit hours)
Next Visit 2012
History Accredited since 1968/69.</p>

<p>Track M. Arch. (Undergraduate degree + 75 graduate credit hours)
Next Visit 2012
History Accredited since 1968/69.</p>

<p>Track M. Arch. (Undergraduate degree + 105 graduate credit hours)
Next Visit 2012
History Accredited since 1968/69."</p>

<p>So Wash Univ. offers three different Master’s tracks…one is a 4 yr. pre-professional bachelor’s +2 grad yrs., one a 4 yr. non-pre-professional bachelor’s +2-1/2 grad years (not quite sure what this is) and one a 4yr. non-pre-professional + 3 grad years. You’d have to go to the Wash. U. site to find out exactly what the requirements are for entry into each program.</p>

<p>The key to the “4+2” option is the accredited pre-professional bachelor’s degree, and not every university offers this.</p>

<p>The NAAB used to have a much easier-to-read chart on their site, but it doesn’t seem to be there any more.</p>

12

<p>Archmom - thank you for taking the time to explain all of that. It is truly helpful. I will pass this info along to my daughter and let her complete the research. I did not understand before this that there was such a thing as an accredited pre-professional degree that leads to the MArch. I assumed all non BArch undergraduate degrees were unaccredited. Thank you for clarifying. The 4+2 shorthand makes much more sense to me now.</p>

13

<p>What also helped my son was the ACSA Guide to Architecture Schools. My son will be going to USC (applied and got accepted also to Penn St, Syracuse, and U of Cincinnati).</p>