I am currently at Tulane and I’m thinking about studying architecture, but the only thing that concerns me is the program’s rankings. I know that rankings aren’t everything, but Tulane ranks #53 while Iowa State (the best college for architecture/design in my home state) ranks #7 for their architecture program. Does this difference in rankings make transferring worth considering? I would receive in-state tuition at ISU, making it about the same for what I pay to attend Tulane currently.
That’s an interesting situation. As you probably know, I am very firmly against rankings, especially for undergrad. But you have several factors to consider regardless of the rankings, and your situation may be particularly complicated depending on certain factors.
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You are clearly on a substantial scholarship at Tulane, and that scholarship is good for 8 semesters only, 10 if you are going the the MArch degree. Did you start out in the architecture track or are you going to “lose” a semester in the timing involved in getting an architecture degree, either a BArch or the MArch? Getting an MArch saves you time and money in the future because you are already accredited, I believe. I think that most students that come out with a BArch then end up taking 2 more years to fulfill the requirements to get accredited. But you would have to double check that. Does ISU offer the MArch option similar to Tulane’s? The point of all that is (mostly) that depending on your degree goal and the specifics of what that means for how long it would take at either Tulane or ISU to finish your ultimate degree point, not just the BArch, you have to sit down and figure the total cost for each path, approximately.
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Is your goal to settle in Iowa when you are finished? If so, then attending the more local program is almost always a better idea, unless you have a chance to attend the school that is top one or two for your field. For example, let’s say you were talking about law school. If you were for sure going to practice in Iowa, I would say attend law school in Iowa unless you had a chance to go to Harvard or Yale, (cost not considered). But if you are thinking more nationally, then I think it makes far less difference if you choose ISU or Tulane.
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Are you happy so far at Tulane and in NOLA? If so and the cost calculations turn out to be close, I would say stay. There cannot be more starkly different settings than Ames, Iowa and New Orleans, Louisiana.
@fallenchemist I did not start out this semester taking any architecture courses, but I can make up for it by taking them next semester and still be on track to get a BArch. I don’t necessarily want to stay in Iowa after graduation, but it would make things slightly easier on other fronts to go to ISU (transportation, spending time with family, etc). I do enjoy Tulane and I really love New Orleans, and I know I will more likely than not be happy here for four years. I am not a huge fan of Ames (or Iowa in general for that matter).
Well, I am out of my knowledge area at this point but I would talk to someone within Architecture about the MArch and how that affects your entire path. Because I do know that whatever scholarship you are on it would extend to a 5th year for the MArch, and in the end that may save you a lot of money. Because if you are enjoying Tulane and NOLA, that is a big plus for staying as compared to getting to Ames and finding out that saving on those other items, plus the time with family, doesn’t compensate for not liking the overall experience as much. Plus, and you will just have to take my word for this, most students find that the amount of time they spend at home decreases as school goes on and other opportunities increase. I know transportation from NOLA to Iowa sucks, but that is only a few days a year of putting up with some hassle.
Let’s talk ranking first. Where did you find that ranking from?
Take a look at this. It says Iowa state was ranked 18th in 2010 and 9th in 2012 and 2013. http://architecture-schools.startclass.com/l/26/Iowa-State-University-College-of-Design
Per DI total rankings as of 2015 both Tulane and Iowa aren’t listed as the top 20 for UG or Grad school but they both have been at one time or another. However they both are currently listed in the top regional DI rankings. These rankings are basically done by votes so it constantly moves which is normal.
More importantly, I have been told Architecture is regional at best. Someone said they graduated from Columbia Architecture and she moved to California to follow her husband and the West coast never heard of it. Funny right?! So she had a very hard time finding a job. They say you should attend Architecture school wherever you’d like to live and work.
Also if you are very happy being part of Tulane why leave? Tulane is ranked one of the top schools in the country. Ranked in the 40’s right?! That’s awesome. Congrats for getting in and for getting a nice scholarship too. :).
There is a huge difference between a state school and Tulane… You are part of a family at Tulane vs a rat race. The state schools have large classes and are taught usually by TAs. The list is endless. The point is if you are happy stick it out and finish. You could get your masters elsewhere if you’d like. In my opinion, FIT is the most important thing in college. If you are happy you’ll be successful!
Why don’t you ask the past senior architects or your advisors where they are getting jobs? Or if they are getting masters elsewhere? Or do they stay and get it at Tulane? If so what is their success rate in finding jobs? I think you’ll be surprised. 
My recommendation is finish your undegrad at Tulane and decide if you want to pursue a career in the region. If so, then stay and finish your undergraduate five year MArch or get a two year Masters in Architecture degree. If you want to live elsewhere then you could get your masters there wherever that is.
Transferring for UG school is a pain and I don’t think you’ll gain much by transferring to Iowa. Iowa may not even take all your credits either! Just my two cents.
@Fergus3, You may have your own reasons for wishing to leave Tulane and transfer to Iowa State, but I don’t think that rankings should be the driving force. (And even if they were, where are you getting these rankings? Neither school makes an appearance on Design Intelligence’s 2015 Top BArch list.)
There are other factors that may influence your decision such as location and social environment.
New Orleans and Ames Iowa couldn’t be more different. You may prefer one over the other. Iowa is a big public university with 36,000 students in a midwestern college town. Tulane is a medium sized private university with 13,000 students located in a southern urban center.
Also you should think about where you might want to live and practice after you graduate. I would say that Tulane architecture has somewhat greater national name recognition than Iowa, but if you intend to settle in Iowa or a nearby state then it makes sense to study there.
So, in short, do you have any other motivation than these mysterious rankings?
I merged the thread from the Architecture Major forum into this thread because the site rules are that there is only one thread per topic. However, there is a redirect notation on that other forum so people that want to comment will know to come here.
Does any potential employer pull out the DI rankings when deciding who to interview or hire? I really doubt it. They are both good programs, pick the university where you want to study.
rick
I agree with you @rick12. I have never heard those in this field refer to the rankings but instead look at experience if a senior hire and tend to hire from regional schools when doing new hires. That doesn’t mean a Tulane grad won’t get interviews at firms in New York, St. Louis, Dallas or San Francisco. It just means they might have to really do a great job convincing those firms as to why Tulane is different and perhaps gives a bit of an edge. I think Tulane potentially does offer such an opportunity due to the greater hands-on experiences now available. I don’t hear of most other schools doing that to the same extent as Tulane has been since Katrina.
I will add that the idea that employers look at rankings for any field of study at the undergraduate level is probably ludicrous. Frankly, no grad school that I know of does either. They look at your grades, your test scores, and if you made an effort to do some extra work (usually research) in your major, which ties into recommendations. To some degree it is the same for employers. They are looking to see something that separates you from the 300 other applications for that job.
Well I happen to be an ISU alum and know a bit about both Tulane and Iowa State. My D was actually considering architecture when she was picking a college and she came to the conclusion, when deciding between those same two schools, that if she did choose arch, she would go to ISU. They do have a great program at ISU.
That said, she chose to study math instead, and picked Tulane because she liked the idea of NOLA. We live in LA and when she visited ISU, it was February and snowing. Haha The city of Ames has far more to offer than most people probably realize, it is consistently on lists of top college towns. Sure it’s not NOLA, but it is a great place to go to college.
She found she was not happy at Tulane for a variety of reasons and really did want a larger university with more options so she transferred to ISU this fall as a junior and absolutely loves it there. She has not encountered problems often associated with larger universities such as TA’s teaching and her math professors don’t seem to have foreign accents that are hard to understand. I am sure it helps that she already had the calc classes that are generally huge while she was at Tulane where they were much smaller. She also feels much more comfortable about finding a job when she graduates at ISU as they have incredible job fairs/job placement services - something that seemed lacking at Tulane in comparison.
All that said, since you are already at Tulane and net costs would be about the same, I would suggest not transferring unless you are unhappy at Tulane. While you might be just as happy or happier at ISU, you might not, and it wouldn’t be worth taking a chance on if you are happy where you are unless there are significant other factors such as money.
Good luck on your decision!