Undergrad major for architecture

College Majors Architecture Major
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Northeastern’s BS Architecture program is 5 years versus the common 4 year BS offered at WUSTL and most other undergraduate BS architecture majors. Northeastern makes up for it by offering their BS grads a 1 year MArch. The study-abroad curriculum is baked into the program’s structure so that everything is accomplished.

If a BS Architecture grad decides to move to another school of architecture for the MArch, then they may be looking at a two year MArch. There’s a lot of variation from school to school.

If your daughter likes the co-op concept she might also look at U of Cincinnati’s program. They fit their BS Architecture + co-op into 4 years by the addition of two summer semesters. Their MArch program is two years, so the total time investment comes out the same as Northeastern’s.

Conversely, if your daughter decides on a BA/BS or BArch without a co-op component, she would still have the option of summer internships in architecture. Despite everything, architecture jobs – including paid internships – are healthy right now, and most schools of architecture will help with placement.

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and @mainha - This is correct. Northeastern’s BS Arch is five years which includes 4 semesters of classes and two 6-month coop periods. It flows into a one years masters (MARCH) degree for those who stay there on additional year as the curriculum leading up to this last year is comprehensive or as mentioned, if you go elsewhere for a masters, it is very likely two years going in with just a BS.

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My experience with the quarter class scheduling system at SCAD.

I attended SCAD in the early 2000’s studying architecture in the Master of Architecture program. Since I was a student with an undergraduate degree in a related discipline, I needed to go for 3 years to meet the requirements. For anyone considering to go to SCAD I can provide some first hand experience that can help anyone make their own decisions of where to go to college. I am going to list the major things that someone should consider before going to SCAD.

  1. SCAD has the quarter scheduling system. A quarter system class scheduling system is a lot different than a semester system class schedule. A quarter system academic year is three quarters: fall, winter, spring. A full time class schedule is 3 classes. This sounds reasonable but each class is 2.5 hours long. Studio classes are 5.5 hours long. If you schedule a studio class and a regular class back to back you are in class all day. In architecture studio classes. we spent a lot of time discussing our own projects or other students projects with the class which limits your own time of getting your own projects completed.

To make up the time, students have to spend long hours into the night to get their projects complete. Eichberg Hall where the architecture department is located at SCAD was open 24/7 when I was there. Students had to do a lot of all nighters because the quarter system class periods are too long.

I personally did at least 100 all nighters in 3 years while attending SCAD. I look back and consider that torture. I would never go to a quarter system college again. All nighters become a very painful experience after a while. I still suffer from all of the sleep deprivation. I did not waste time going to parties. I worked on my projects as much as I needed to do to do my best considering the time constraints of the quarter system. I managed to get straight 'A’s my last year and my GPA was over 3.7.

Adding to the severe SLEEP DEPRIVATION issues at SCAD, studio classes sometimes pair you with other students. Unfortunately, you can be paired with a group partner or two who never show up to do their share of the project. I remember one studio, my assigned group partner did not show up until after midterms. I did all of the project up to the midterm presentation by myself. The professor asked me, where is your partner. I said, I do not know, I never see the partner after class hours. All of the SLEEP DEPRIVATION at SCAD hurts you after you graduate. DO NOT GO TO SCAD, if you are a good student who wants to learn.

  1. Another downfall of the quarter system is that professors have difficulty maintaining a class for 2.5 hours. I had some professors at SCAD cancel class after about 1 hour of teaching. But I paid for 2.5 hours of class time. SCAD is very expensive.

I also think the quarter system is not flexible. You cannot take extra classes over full time like you can a semester system.

I went to a semester system college for my undergraduate degree. Class periods are only 50 minutes long 3 times a week or 1.5 hours long 2 times a week. Since the class times are shorter I had much more time after class to do my work. I only needed to do 1 all nighter and that was because I was taking extra classes over full time. I was able to take 1 or 2 classes over full time each semester in order to study business classes outside of my major and complete the required elective classes for my major.

  1. Quarter systems are designed to prevent you from taking free classes like at a semester system. At a semester system, you pay for a full class load of 12 credits. Since the class times are shorter, you can easily take an extra class a semester. Since you only pay for 12 credits, that extra class is free. The quarter system at SCAD is virtually impossibly to take an extra class. So, no free classes. I paid for my own college education. I greatly appreciate being able to take an extra class a semester like at the semester system college.
  2. The scope of classes at SCAD is limited compared to a college such as Penn State University. Do your research on what classes a college offers before choosing a college.

To any student considering going to college, I highly recommend going to a semester system college.

I think the quarter system at SCAD is a fundamentally flawed educational system. Don’t go to a quarter system. I regret going to SCAD for that reason.

Since I graduated from SCAD, I have finished the Architecture Registration Exams and became registered. I passed all of the exams one the first attempt. Most importantly, I have not experienced an all nighter since 2004. I do not miss the all nighter life at all. I would never ever consider going to a quarter system college again. If I take any college courses in the future, I will certainly go to a semester system college.

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Another consideration for quarter programs vs semester programs: I graduated from a quarter program (years ago), with a 4+2 type architecture curriculum. Portfolios are usually required when applying to graduate programs. The quality of projects produced in +/- 10 weeks is far different from those produced in +/-15 weeks. On the other hand, you have more variety, and opportunities to explore with different professors and topics in a quarter system.

ANY architecture studio program is extremely time consuming, whether quarter or semester. Studio courses are typically 3x the scheduled time. So a (3) hour language course may be scheduled for (3) hours per week. A 4 hour studio course is often scheduled for 12 hours a week, and your work time is usually outside of studio.

The common “joke” is that the lights in the architecture building are always on 24/7. It is not a joke. In fairness, some of the studio time after hours was also social. If you are disciplined enough to work elsewhere, your time management may be improved. But architecture is also a collaborative field. Professionally, you work with many people, in many disciplines, so learning to collaborate early is helpful.

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Hi there,

When I was applying to architecture school I had similar questions. I ended up getting into the BArch program at Cornell. For some people in school they were so desperate to get on with their creative degrees that they could only ever imagine doing a BArch. Other friends of mine at other schools, in four year programs, were happy with gaining wider knowledge while they considered their options for the future. It’s quite common to become dissuaded by architecture if you plan to do it at MArch level while starting out with a four year liberal arts degree. That’s not a bad thing, since it allows students to realize that they might actually prefer an alternative path.

In general I would go for the four year degree and then do an MArch I, since for most people this ticks a lot of boxes (allows flexibility, means you get a Masters, allows you to hop between different schools and learn elsewhere). But if you just love Architecture so much that you can’t wait (more rare), then go for the BArch.

When I had these questions I went to this site to get some help:
architectureprep. com
They also have a free resources page

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