<p>My daughter got into undergraduate architecture in WashU, Syracuse, Rice and RPI, so far. WashU's comes with a Murphy Scholarship and the university is highly ranked(12th by US News). But the BArch program is not a professional program and I cannot find any ranking for the program. Syracuse's program is highly ranked but the university's ranking is not as good and I heard that the city is not that exciting. Rice's 6 year program seems to be long and expensive, but I heard the program is really cutting edge. </p>
<p>I would appreciate any of your opinions about these schools, especially about the WashU.</p>
<p>is your daughter looking for a B.Arch education or a BS Arch? They are quite different and if your daughter wants to pursue a professional degree, she would have to attend another 3.5 years of graduate school afterward. Otherwise, the BS Arch would be a good exposure into the architecture profession.</p>
<p>Rice and Syracuse are both stellar architecture schools but have very different methodologies in teaching so she should pick the style of teaching she is most interested in. Rice is far smaller than Syracuse so that might be something she may want to consider. Smaller studio may mean more attention and more recognition but also fewer students to interact with and fewer course offerings. Good luck!</p>
<p>Your suggestions are good and she is looking to the details now. I don’t think she knows what type of program she is interested yet. She got about $8k scholarship from both WashU and Syracuse, but only a $3k tuition grant from Rice. The total amount of financial aid is also smaller from Rice.</p>
<p>Best to deduct the cost of scholarships from the estimated COA of each school, add in the travel cost which can be significantly different for each school depending on your location, check into what it will take to maintain those scholarships and multiply by the required years of attendance (remember to look at grad rates as well). That gives you a truer cost comparison of the schools. If those number don’t make you faint then have your daughter take sashimi46’s advice to heart, they are different programs.</p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter. I just love it once acceptances are in and the kids get to be in the drivers seat while the colleges play the waiting in anticipation role.</p>
<p>I really think Rice has one of the best undergrad architecture programs in the country. Small close knit class, solid faculty, a James Stirling building, and a great preceptorship program. It is six years, but you get paid during your preceptorship year. Wash U. is a good university, but it is a four year program and would be a very different college experience, much less professionally focused. I know Syracuse is well thought of but I don’t have any more insights than that. I had hoped my D would go to Rice, but the lure of Palo Alto was to much. Congratulations on the great choices you have.</p>
<p>My D is finishing her third year at Syracuse. The architecture program is very good. They moved back to Slocum Hall on campus this year (they were at the Warehouse in the Armory part of the city before then). The Slocum Hall renovation has brought back that building and it is now a beautiful building with state of the art facilities inside. Next year, my D will be going to London during the Fall semester and then to Florence for the Spring Semester. The Florence program has been around forever and it has an excellent reputation. The London Architecture program was started just three years ago. This year, they have also added a program in New York City. All of these programs are for the next to last year of the BArch.
Syracuse is not that bad of a city. It has areas which are very nice and enjoyable. The hardest thing my D had to adjust to was the weather, specially the Spring semester, from mid January through March. It is not the cold or the snow, necessarily, but not seeing much of the sun during those two months.
Your D has excellent choices. Ask your D to take a look at the architecture faculty at all these schools, to look where they have graduated from and where they have taught before. That should give you an indication if they are attracting the very best to teach or if they are “inbreeding”, i.e., just hiring folks with the very same background and their very own university. Also consider where your D would like to settle once she has gotten her degree. Rice is better for the South, Syracuse for the North East.
One last thing, Rice accepts a smaller class than Syracuse, 30 to 100 (I believe). Syracuse has studios in first year with approximately 14 students. Don’t know about Rice.</p>
<p>The only thing that I would disagree in the above post is that Rice is better in the South and Syracuse in the NE. The Rice preceptorship program is one of the most significant features of the program and it has a big impact on the school. Here in Dallas we seldom see new Rice graduates. Out of a class of 20 to 25 perhaps a couple come to Dallas each year, with many returning to the firms at which they did their preceptorship. One of the senior partners for KPF in London is a Rice grad who briefly worked for me while on preceptorship at KPF in NY. The project architect working for Renzo Piano on the Nasher was a Rice grad who was hired on after his preceptorship. Among the firms involved in the preceptorship program Rice grads have an excellent reputation. </p>
<p>I really think it would come down to the size of school at which your D would feel more comfortable. With a bigger class size you have more choices for professors, friends, people to debate, etc. With class of 25 there is definitely a lot more nuturing, mentoring, and individual attention. Has your D done an overnight at Rice and spent time with the architecture students? It would give her a good sense of the school.</p>