Hey there. Half a year ago or so, I decided to start pursuing my license, and so far I got half of my hours clocked, and half of the exams passed. Because I received my education abroad, I registered in neighboring state with no education requirements, and simultaneously applied for EESA. After a long wait, they finally sent me an evaluation report, with 43.00 US credits deficiencies, which is - according to my research - 3 semesters of studying. That's like taking a masters again, which I absolutely don't want to do, mostly because of financial reasons. Worst part of it is, 30 credits is for... Liberal Arts? What do I need Liberal Arts for?
I received my education in Poland, went through 3.5 year bachelors + 1.5 Master of Architecture, total of 5 years. My degree is RIBA certified. I have friends who did EESA in US few years ago, and they only had to do one or two classes. Does anyone here have experience going through EESA program? Is there a way for me to file an appeal to their decision? And is it advisable to keep working on license in other state, just to have it off my plate and later apply for a license in my state once I'm done with education requirements? I'm under Wisconsin currently, and from what I researched, I don't have to be a resident there to get licensed, nor do I need NAAB accredited degree.
susanagrajales
Sep 8, 23 6:23 pm
I'm going through a similar situation. Last year I started my license process. After submitting the proper documents, it was a long wait for receiving the results and the report shows more that 20 credits of deficiencies, most of them are liberal arts credits. A few years ago people from my same college applied for EESA and they only had to take English Composition.
My architecture degree is from Colombia, my college is RIBA certified as well, and I also went through 5 years of college, which exceeds by far the required credits for EESSA. Right now I've been sending emails, asking for more information about the report but the answer is that NAAB does not provide a detailed breakdown of what courses were assigned to which category.
You can take a look at the Education Guidelines PDF they provide in their webpage, there is information about appealing the results. I haven't found a program to file complaint , so if anyone know I would appreciate it.
Richard Balkins
Sep 8, 23 10:23 pm
When you attended and what courses you took may make a difference. Changes in the program at your college may make a difference. It could be as simple as also course description information Did they provide more detailed information about their courses like syllabus for the courses and such when they filed? These are all kinds of things that can make a difference. These other students may have took additional courses in liberal arts that you chose not to take.
luvu
Sep 8, 23 9:12 pm
Just to point out that RIBA validated program means absolutely nothing when it comes to registration within the UK or overseas. Not all schools even in the UK recognized by the ARB who governs/control the architect registration.
toritracy
Oct 19, 23 8:30 am
I am also currently going through the painful process that is trying to find courses to satisfy my deficiencies, not to mention feeling that these deficiencies are unfair in the first place. It is clear that we are not alone in our frustrations to do with the EESA process so I had a thought- does anyone else think it could be beneficial if I were to create some sort of petition? If we were able to get a good amount of signatures I feel this could help grab the attention of higher-ups at NAAB and NCARB and prompt a change in the way this process is conducted or at least some alternatives to satisfying deficiencies? Not saying this will solve our problems but at this rate I am willing to try anything.
HeroWonder
Nov 2, 23 1:14 pm
I will sign that petition in a heartbeat; I got my degree abroad and had my documents reviewed in September, got my results in October, which was already too late to enroll in a graduate program, and then NCARB changed their educational requirements in January and then sent out a notice that July 30th was the deadline to complete all deficiencies, if not pay 50% for a reevaluation. I asked EESA why didn't they tell me they were about to change the Standards before I applied for an evaluation. Their excuse was they didn't know - well, that's a sign NCARB and NAAB are on different pages. Anyway, I've completed most of my credits and have five credits of Liberal arts left...Do I need liberal arts? No, I have a BArch, MARch, and a PhD in view...doesn't make any sense.
bishoyerian
Dec 26, 23 9:40 am
Hi all, am thinking of starting the EESA process, just had a few question, for those of you who got their results and finished the credit hours required.
Are there any schools that offer these courses online? I know Boston Architectural Collage has an online program but not sure if it's certified, of if you can take specific courses or you have to take the whole program.
Is there a deadline to when you should take these courses or just take it whenever? @HeroWonder do they often change their standers like that?
Richard Balkins
Dec 26, 23 4:54 pm
The correct term isn't "certified". The term is "accredited". First, it depends on the courses. If the course is general education related, any regionally accredited college or otherwise accredited college/university/community college may suffice, depending on the course needed. As for any architecture courses, look at NAAB ACCREDITED Architecture degrees (NAAB does not accredit colleges. They accredit architecture degree programs). Now, look at that list and look at which ones offers online degrees. For example, Academy of Arts University is NAAB accredited. You have to look at the courses you need and get the course you need to fulfill anything you are missing. If it is significantly more than a 45 term credits or 30 semester credits worth, you may just consider enrolling in an M.Arch 3 year program and get the degree and forget the whole headache of EESA. You might get some slight advanced placements where you don't necessarily need to take some of the first year courses if you have an architecture related program. I am not sure you get into the 2yr M.Arch with a foreign degree. If it is just a handful of courses, then do what will get you through licensure more efficiently in both shortest time AND cost. It can be EESA but I don't know the answer for your situation. Hard to say. I will say there isn't a lot of fully online architecture degree programs around that is NAAB accredited. There are some that are hybrid online and in-person such as BAC is. It isn't 100% online. There are those in-person intensives and such. Most are still in-person because that is how much of the architecture educators prefer to teach courses so online teaching hasn't got the hyper traction.
piyarudeeprasopphakdi
Feb 19, 24 7:15 am
I got mine evaluated in 2021 and it was 36.00 US credits deficiencies. I took continuing education courses from 3 different schools (UOPX, LSU, BAC) to meet the NCARB Standard. It took me 2 years to finish all those. It's less expensive and less time consuming (especially when you have a full-time job and family) than doing a master's degree.
I met lots of people at BAC (online courses) that were going through the same process.
Richard Balkins
Dec 26, 23 5:01 pm
"do they often change their standers like that? "
No. However, NCARB may been its will with enough noise from the profession at large or someone as obnoxious as I am, or some combination of it. I know they have made changes but the question is you can't guarantee the outcome and it also depends on the members from the member boards throughout the U.S. and how open their minds are. We just don't know if we can make things any easier in the standards before there is pushback that they go the opposite direction and make things more difficult as a raising of the middle finger.
Bishoy Erian
Dec 27, 23 1:13 pm
So I sent them an email asking if there is usually a deadline to meet whatever comes out of the assessment. They said I need to satisfy those deficiencies before the next NCARB Education Standard would be implemented in 2026. God knows if that would be for the better or the worst.
will galloway
Dec 26, 23 8:24 pm
From what I can see EESA is barely 20 years old and has been used by about 2500 people worldwide (looking at the NAAB website) in that time. It's not a lot of people, so I dont think there is very much leverage to be gathered from petitioning for change...although I can imagine many would support change of all kinds.
According to NAAB, EESA standards change when accreditation standards change, so I guess they wouldn't change so often, but who knows. We are living in interesting times, and all that...
Clear information about getting a license in North America - when experience or education is mostly overseas - takes effort. Though I can attest there are parts of the world where a foreign education or license is accepted, or accommodated, it is not that common, in general, and very poorly in NA. Most systems are not built for it, really.
From people I know who have gone through the process the commonalities are limited, but one thing that often comes up is that they kept at it, and eventually it worked out. Frustration was part of the deal. A lot of it around bureaucracy. None of them were able to nudge a faster a smoother or different process, but YMMV. Good luck! I hope you are the person who proves me wrong.
przemula
Dec 27, 23 10:14 am
UPDATE: Couple of weeks ago I received an email from NAAB stating that I may be eligible for another partial evaluation to satisfy Liberal Arts requirements if I completed "upper secondary coursework prior to your admission to an architecture program". They're saying it's a more economical path to satisfying the Liberal Arts requirements, but frankly I'm not sure what are they even talking about, what normal person is taking Liberal Arts classes outside of college course prior to joining Architecture school? Is it just their way of scamming people of additional $625 dollars, because this is how much it cost? With the cost of translating some of my transcripts and their robust fees, I already spent close to $4000, and was told to go to college for two years, spent 20k and study about feminist dance therapy or some other nonsense. My current plan is to get licensed in the state without education requirements, and then after two years submit NCARB portfolio and get a license in the state I'm living in now.
Bishoy Erian
Dec 27, 23 1:08 pm
Truly sounds like a way to collect money! May I know how can you be licensed on the state without education?
Richard Balkins
Dec 27, 23 1:55 pm
Multiple states offers alternative paths to licensure in that state. It may be a problem for reciprocity. To point out two states that does offer pathways to architectural licensing without an architecture degree, 1) California, 2) state of Washington. There are others. These two states allows a person to be licensed by experience and passing the exam. They also may allow reduction of supervised architecture experience (which in total includes AXP) with credit for college education by some prescribed amount. Here's the thing, you're always learning even when working. Working is learning, too! This was how 100% of what you learned in the text books origins are. The first person to write or teach in a class room about something learned it by experience. Then over time, it gets parroted but someone had to learn it FIRST HAND by experience. This is how everything is learned.
Everything taught in a classroom (other than a personal professional experience) is found in books and you can always buy the books regardless if you are taking the class or not. It takes a self-discipline to learn and be self-motivated. Most experience any professor had in practice has been similarly experienced in practice. Small details may change. What NAAB and NCARB requires you to know, you can learn it through buying books & studying them and practice. You can learn everything short of maybe studio experience by book studying. You can get the studio experience by working at a firm and simply working with other people. At the end of the day, that is what that is. Working with others and learning from each other.... by conversations and working together. Guess what, you get that at many workplaces.
You still get a number of learning when working on projects even on your own. You are learning.... PERIOD. Learning from mistakes. Learning from observation. Learning from thinking critically about the decisions made and evaluate. It's always learning. That's what education really is. It isn't necessarily someone standing at a podium with slides and talking for two-four hours and writing on the chalkboard or whiteboard. You are ALWAYS learning if you are always seeking to understand something you observed and experienced, and research. You get the basic skills to do all that by the time you get a high school diploma. You learn about libraries and internet and stuff like that. College only reminds people of what... it isn't where that stuff is first taught except if you are an old person who went to school before internet and then it might be the first time you learn how to do it efficiently.
You can get that at any college. Most college libraries even at community colleges will teach the public how to do that. They even offer free courses to the general public from time to time. Most of us are smart people, not complete imbeciles.
Regarding EESA deficiencies, you can take individual general education courses without being a degree-seeking student at almost any public college (from community college to university). You can even get that online at online accredited colleges. I don't mean NAAB accredited but colleges accredited in such a manner that you can get federal student loans to pay for it, even if you don't actually use the student loans to pay for it.
If FAFSA recognizes the institution, then you can take the course from the institution. NCARB just won't accept classes from a unaccredited diploma mill.... like those classes from Trump University won't count.
przemula
Dec 27, 23 2:36 pm
@Bishoy - some states don't have education requirements. I'm currently under Wisconsin, and if I remember well, they require few years of experience if your degree is not accredited. That plus ARE exams like all the other states and AXP hours.
Bishoy Erian
Dec 28, 23 4:22 am
@Richard thanks for the extensive explanation truly appreciate it! What exactly is this path called, I wanna search to see what are the states that accept it and what are the pros and cons of it.
Does overseas experience count by the way or just the ones in the US?
Richard Balkins
Dec 28, 23 8:27 am
you might start with "alternative path to architecture license". There isn't an absolute singular term. More importantly, look at the architectural laws and administrative rules of each state's architectural licensing board. You can research NCARB's website or simply search Name of state followed by architectural licensing board. Remember, it is the individual state licensing boards that issues architectural licenses not NCARB itself. NCARB was established to have facilitate uniformity in architectural examination and some standard for reciprocity. The downside to alternative path to licensing using state specific alternative paths is it is much more difficult when it comes to reciprocity. Reciprocity is a process for licensing in multiple states due to meeting a comparable standard because of being licensed in one state without having to go through all the requirements for undergoing in-state licensing for each state. If you plan to work in multiple states as a licensed architect then you usually will want to get an NAAB accredited architecture degree, complete AXP and pass the ARE exams and get NCARB Certificate. There are circumstances where an individual may choose to pursue the alternative path to licensing. Ncarb and architecture school does not promote these path. Obviously architecture schools likely won't mention it because they are in business making money off of you attending their school. If you really want to know this, you are going to need to research this stuff and inform yourself. I've provided a number of key words and method of finding out the exact information. Nearly if not all of the architectural licensing boards has the laws and rules and information about licensing in that state and all the pathways to licensure for that state. Do note that state laws and rules may change over time. They are not static so you shouldn't rely on what you read today will be accurate in say, 20 years. So keep up on changes so you navigate with the ebbs and flow of changes... that's life.
Richard Balkins
Dec 28, 23 8:45 am
Usually U.S. experience. With foreign education and experience, you may want to obtain licensure in one of those countries and then get NCARB certified through the pathways NCARB provides for foreign architects. Unfortunately there isn't as much clarity about how foreign experience under an architect. You may need to consult the licensing boards for specific info. AXP will need to be qualifying experience. The additional experience required under alternative is state specific as to what they will accept. It might be accepted but it might not be. That is something I can't give all the answers to for all the states. That is a bit exhaustive and I have not personally looked at that in particular.
Richard Balkins
Dec 28, 23 8:50 am
Here's info for California that may be of interest to you, Bishoy:
Hi guys, I studied overseas passed the ARE 5.0 and took the CSE in California. I have two years of uninterrupted professional practice in CA but I recently moved to Florida and NCARB/EESA requires that I complete 14 credits of deficiencies. EESA provided some links to universities, and so far I found out that I can replace English Composition with the TOEFL exam. However I need to study Building Systems and Laws and Regulations. Any ideas if there is an online university that would help with these two?
Thanks!!!
piyarudeeprasopphakdi
Feb 15, 24 10:19 am
LSU Continuing education and BAC. I just finished courses from those schools (LSU is pretty cheap)
curruchet_house
Feb 17, 24 10:29 am
Thank you so much!!! Can I email you?
Dory24
Feb 19, 24 9:19 am
What an achievement! Correct me if I'm wrong cause I'm not familiar with the requirements of Florida - did you consider continue to apply the license in California and get reciprocal registration at Florida? Would that be easier?
curruchet_house
Feb 19, 24 12:52 pm
Dory, I have the architectural license in California for which I passed the ARE 5.0 and subsequently the CSE, but Florida requires a NAAB approved diploma, regardless that I am a licensed professional in California, isn't it absurd?
Dory24
Feb 19, 24 3:31 pm
Oh geez.. This is insane...
Dory24
Feb 19, 24 6:26 pm
Curruchet, I just roughly looked up - you are right, even though some states not require the NAAB for initial registration, some do require it for reciprocal license... What a rabbit hole!
Dory24
Feb 19, 24 6:29 pm
If you don't mind me asking - I also studied overseas and was a bit worried how to start this license process better. I was wondering if I should start from California or New York where NAAB not required. But now based on your experience, would you recommend start the NAAB from the beginning since it's sooner or later needed? thanks!!
curruchet_house
Feb 15, 24 12:13 pm
Would you mind sending me your email? Thanks!
Dory24
Feb 19, 24 9:32 am
Hi all, I’m new to this forum with similar questions on how to start the license process… I studied outside of US. I’m currently located in Texas, which required the expensive EESA that I would like to get pass with. So I was thinking of starting applications at states not requiring it, maybe California, New York, etc. I guess my question is – does anyone know if I’m considered short of education credits when they reviewed my education backgrounds, do I have to work under an architect licensed in that particular state (NY/CA..) , or normally an US licensed architect employer should suffice? I assume online courses would also be possible solutions..
Hey there. Half a year ago or so, I decided to start pursuing my license, and so far I got half of my hours clocked, and half of the exams passed. Because I received my education abroad, I registered in neighboring state with no education requirements, and simultaneously applied for EESA. After a long wait, they finally sent me an evaluation report, with 43.00 US credits deficiencies, which is - according to my research - 3 semesters of studying. That's like taking a masters again, which I absolutely don't want to do, mostly because of financial reasons. Worst part of it is, 30 credits is for... Liberal Arts? What do I need Liberal Arts for?
I received my education in Poland, went through 3.5 year bachelors + 1.5 Master of Architecture, total of 5 years. My degree is RIBA certified. I have friends who did EESA in US few years ago, and they only had to do one or two classes. Does anyone here have experience going through EESA program? Is there a way for me to file an appeal to their decision? And is it advisable to keep working on license in other state, just to have it off my plate and later apply for a license in my state once I'm done with education requirements? I'm under Wisconsin currently, and from what I researched, I don't have to be a resident there to get licensed, nor do I need NAAB accredited degree.
I'm going through a similar situation. Last year I started my license process. After submitting the proper documents, it was a long wait for receiving the results and the report shows more that 20 credits of deficiencies, most of them are liberal arts credits. A few years ago people from my same college applied for EESA and they only had to take English Composition.
My architecture degree is from Colombia, my college is RIBA certified as well, and I also went through 5 years of college, which exceeds by far the required credits for EESSA. Right now I've been sending emails, asking for more information about the report but the answer is that NAAB does not provide a detailed breakdown of what courses were assigned to which category.
You can take a look at the Education Guidelines PDF they provide in their webpage, there is information about appealing the results. I haven't found a program to file complaint , so if anyone know I would appreciate it.
When you attended and what courses you took may make a difference. Changes in the program at your college may make a difference. It could be as simple as also course description information Did they provide more detailed information about their courses like syllabus for the courses and such when they filed? These are all kinds of things that can make a difference. These other students may have took additional courses in liberal arts that you chose not to take.
Just to point out that RIBA validated program means absolutely nothing when it comes to registration within the UK or overseas. Not all schools even in the UK recognized by the ARB who governs/control the architect registration.
I am also currently going through the painful process that is trying to find courses to satisfy my deficiencies, not to mention feeling that these deficiencies are unfair in the first place. It is clear that we are not alone in our frustrations to do with the EESA process so I had a thought- does anyone else think it could be beneficial if I were to create some sort of petition? If we were able to get a good amount of signatures I feel this could help grab the attention of higher-ups at NAAB and NCARB and prompt a change in the way this process is conducted or at least some alternatives to satisfying deficiencies? Not saying this will solve our problems but at this rate I am willing to try anything.
I will sign that petition in a heartbeat; I got my degree abroad and had my documents reviewed in September, got my results in October, which was already too late to enroll in a graduate program, and then NCARB changed their educational requirements in January and then sent out a notice that July 30th was the deadline to complete all deficiencies, if not pay 50% for a reevaluation. I asked EESA why didn't they tell me they were about to change the Standards before I applied for an evaluation. Their excuse was they didn't know - well, that's a sign NCARB and NAAB are on different pages. Anyway, I've completed most of my credits and have five credits of Liberal arts left...Do I need liberal arts? No, I have a BArch, MARch, and a PhD in view...doesn't make any sense.
Hi all, am thinking of starting the EESA process, just had a few question, for those of you who got their results and finished the credit hours required.
Are there any schools that offer these courses online? I know Boston Architectural Collage has an online program but not sure if it's certified, of if you can take specific courses or you have to take the whole program.
Is there a deadline to when you should take these courses or just take it whenever? @HeroWonder do they often change their standers like that?
The correct term isn't "certified". The term is "accredited". First, it depends on the courses. If the course is general education related, any regionally accredited college or otherwise accredited college/university/community college may suffice, depending on the course needed. As for any architecture courses, look at NAAB ACCREDITED Architecture degrees (NAAB does not accredit colleges. They accredit architecture degree programs). Now, look at that list and look at which ones offers online degrees. For example, Academy of Arts University is NAAB accredited. You have to look at the courses you need and get the course you need to fulfill anything you are missing. If it is significantly more than a 45 term credits or 30 semester credits worth, you may just consider enrolling in an M.Arch 3 year program and get the degree and forget the whole headache of EESA. You might get some slight advanced placements where you don't necessarily need to take some of the first year courses if you have an architecture related program. I am not sure you get into the 2yr M.Arch with a foreign degree. If it is just a handful of courses, then do what will get you through licensure more efficiently in both shortest time AND cost. It can be EESA but I don't know the answer for your situation. Hard to say. I will say there isn't a lot of fully online architecture degree programs around that is NAAB accredited. There are some that are hybrid online and in-person such as BAC is. It isn't 100% online. There are those in-person intensives and such. Most are still in-person because that is how much of the architecture educators prefer to teach courses so online teaching hasn't got the hyper traction.
I got mine evaluated in 2021 and it was 36.00 US credits deficiencies. I took continuing education courses from 3 different schools (UOPX, LSU, BAC) to meet the NCARB Standard. It took me 2 years to finish all those. It's less expensive and less time consuming (especially when you have a full-time job and family) than doing a master's degree.
I met lots of people at BAC (online courses) that were going through the same process.
"do they often change their standers like that? "
No. However, NCARB may been its will with enough noise from the profession at large or someone as obnoxious as I am, or some combination of it. I know they have made changes but the question is you can't guarantee the outcome and it also depends on the members from the member boards throughout the U.S. and how open their minds are. We just don't know if we can make things any easier in the standards before there is pushback that they go the opposite direction and make things more difficult as a raising of the middle finger.
So I sent them an email asking if there is usually a deadline to meet whatever comes out of the assessment. They said I need to satisfy those deficiencies before the next NCARB Education Standard would be implemented in 2026. God knows if that would be for the better or the worst.
From what I can see EESA is barely 20 years old and has been used by about 2500 people worldwide (looking at the NAAB website) in that time. It's not a lot of people, so I dont think there is very much leverage to be gathered from petitioning for change...although I can imagine many would support change of all kinds.
According to NAAB, EESA standards change when accreditation standards change, so I guess they wouldn't change so often, but who knows. We are living in interesting times, and all that...
Clear information about getting a license in North America - when experience or education is mostly overseas - takes effort. Though I can attest there are parts of the world where a foreign education or license is accepted, or accommodated, it is not that common, in general, and very poorly in NA. Most systems are not built for it, really.
From people I know who have gone through the process the commonalities are limited, but one thing that often comes up is that they kept at it, and eventually it worked out. Frustration was part of the deal. A lot of it around bureaucracy. None of them were able to nudge a faster a smoother or different process, but YMMV. Good luck! I hope you are the person who proves me wrong.
UPDATE: Couple of weeks ago I received an email from NAAB stating that I may be eligible for another partial evaluation to satisfy Liberal Arts requirements if I completed "upper secondary coursework prior to your admission to an architecture program". They're saying it's a more economical path to satisfying the Liberal Arts requirements, but frankly I'm not sure what are they even talking about, what normal person is taking Liberal Arts classes outside of college course prior to joining Architecture school? Is it just their way of scamming people of additional $625 dollars, because this is how much it cost? With the cost of translating some of my transcripts and their robust fees, I already spent close to $4000, and was told to go to college for two years, spent 20k and study about feminist dance therapy or some other nonsense. My current plan is to get licensed in the state without education requirements, and then after two years submit NCARB portfolio and get a license in the state I'm living in now.
Truly sounds like a way to collect money! May I know how can you be licensed on the state without education?
Multiple states offers alternative paths to licensure in that state. It may be a problem for reciprocity. To point out two states that does offer pathways to architectural licensing without an architecture degree, 1) California, 2) state of Washington. There are others. These two states allows a person to be licensed by experience and passing the exam. They also may allow reduction of supervised architecture experience (which in total includes AXP) with credit for college education by some prescribed amount. Here's the thing, you're always learning even when working. Working is learning, too! This was how 100% of what you learned in the text books origins are. The first person to write or teach in a class room about something learned it by experience. Then over time, it gets parroted but someone had to learn it FIRST HAND by experience. This is how everything is learned.
Everything taught in a classroom (other than a personal professional experience) is found in books and you can always buy the books regardless if you are taking the class or not. It takes a self-discipline to learn and be self-motivated. Most experience any professor had in practice has been similarly experienced in practice. Small details may change. What NAAB and NCARB requires you to know, you can learn it through buying books & studying them and practice. You can learn everything short of maybe studio experience by book studying. You can get the studio experience by working at a firm and simply working with other people. At the end of the day, that is what that is. Working with others and learning from each other.... by conversations and working together. Guess what, you get that at many workplaces.
You still get a number of learning when working on projects even on your own. You are learning.... PERIOD. Learning from mistakes. Learning from observation. Learning from thinking critically about the decisions made and evaluate. It's always learning. That's what education really is. It isn't necessarily someone standing at a podium with slides and talking for two-four hours and writing on the chalkboard or whiteboard. You are ALWAYS learning if you are always seeking to understand something you observed and experienced, and research. You get the basic skills to do all that by the time you get a high school diploma. You learn about libraries and internet and stuff like that. College only reminds people of what... it isn't where that stuff is first taught except if you are an old person who went to school before internet and then it might be the first time you learn how to do it efficiently.
You can get that at any college. Most college libraries even at community colleges will teach the public how to do that. They even offer free courses to the general public from time to time. Most of us are smart people, not complete imbeciles.
Regarding EESA deficiencies, you can take individual general education courses without being a degree-seeking student at almost any public college (from community college to university). You can even get that online at online accredited colleges. I don't mean NAAB accredited but colleges accredited in such a manner that you can get federal student loans to pay for it, even if you don't actually use the student loans to pay for it.
If FAFSA recognizes the institution, then you can take the course from the institution. NCARB just won't accept classes from a unaccredited diploma mill.... like those classes from Trump University won't count.
@Bishoy - some states don't have education requirements. I'm currently under Wisconsin, and if I remember well, they require few years of experience if your degree is not accredited. That plus ARE exams like all the other states and AXP hours.
@Richard thanks for the extensive explanation truly appreciate it! What exactly is this path called, I wanna search to see what are the states that accept it and what are the pros and cons of it.
Does overseas experience count by the way or just the ones in the US?
you might start with "alternative path to architecture license". There isn't an absolute singular term. More importantly, look at the architectural laws and administrative rules of each state's architectural licensing board. You can research NCARB's website or simply search Name of state followed by architectural licensing board. Remember, it is the individual state licensing boards that issues architectural licenses not NCARB itself. NCARB was established to have facilitate uniformity in architectural examination and some standard for reciprocity. The downside to alternative path to licensing using state specific alternative paths is it is much more difficult when it comes to reciprocity. Reciprocity is a process for licensing in multiple states due to meeting a comparable standard because of being licensed in one state without having to go through all the requirements for undergoing in-state licensing for each state. If you plan to work in multiple states as a licensed architect then you usually will want to get an NAAB accredited architecture degree, complete AXP and pass the ARE exams and get NCARB Certificate. There are circumstances where an individual may choose to pursue the alternative path to licensing. Ncarb and architecture school does not promote these path. Obviously architecture schools likely won't mention it because they are in business making money off of you attending their school. If you really want to know this, you are going to need to research this stuff and inform yourself. I've provided a number of key words and method of finding out the exact information. Nearly if not all of the architectural licensing boards has the laws and rules and information about licensing in that state and all the pathways to licensure for that state. Do note that state laws and rules may change over time. They are not static so you shouldn't rely on what you read today will be accurate in say, 20 years. So keep up on changes so you navigate with the ebbs and flow of changes... that's life.
Usually U.S. experience. With foreign education and experience, you may want to obtain licensure in one of those countries and then get NCARB certified through the pathways NCARB provides for foreign architects. Unfortunately there isn't as much clarity about how foreign experience under an architect. You may need to consult the licensing boards for specific info. AXP will need to be qualifying experience. The additional experience required under alternative is state specific as to what they will accept. It might be accepted but it might not be. That is something I can't give all the answers to for all the states. That is a bit exhaustive and I have not personally looked at that in particular.
Here's info for California that may be of interest to you, Bishoy:
https://www.cab.ca.gov/candida...
Other states, you'll have to look at.
Hi guys, I studied overseas passed the ARE 5.0 and took the CSE in California. I have two years of uninterrupted professional practice in CA but I recently moved to Florida and NCARB/EESA requires that I complete 14 credits of deficiencies.
EESA provided some links to universities, and so far I found out that I can replace English Composition with the TOEFL exam. However I need to study Building Systems and Laws and Regulations. Any ideas if there is an online university that would help with these two?
Thanks!!!
LSU Continuing education and BAC. I just finished courses from those schools (LSU is pretty cheap)
Thank you so much!!! Can I email you?
What an achievement!
Correct me if I'm wrong cause I'm not familiar with the requirements of Florida - did you consider continue to apply the license in California and get reciprocal registration at Florida? Would that be easier?
Dory, I have the architectural license in California for which I passed the ARE 5.0 and subsequently the CSE, but Florida requires a NAAB approved diploma, regardless that I am a licensed professional in California, isn't it absurd?
Oh geez.. This is insane...
Curruchet, I just roughly looked up - you are right, even though some states not require the NAAB for initial registration, some do require it for reciprocal license... What a rabbit hole!
If you don't mind me asking - I also studied overseas and was a bit worried how to start this license process better. I was wondering if I should start from California or New York where NAAB not required. But now based on your experience, would you recommend start the NAAB from the beginning since it's sooner or later needed? thanks!!
Would you mind sending me your email? Thanks!
Hi all,
I’m new to this forum with similar questions on how to start the license process…
I studied outside of US. I’m currently located in Texas, which required the expensive EESA that I would like to get pass with. So I was thinking of starting applications at states not requiring it, maybe California, New York, etc.
I guess my question is – does anyone know if I’m considered short of education credits when they reviewed my education backgrounds, do I have to work under an architect licensed in that particular state (NY/CA..) , or normally an US licensed architect employer should suffice? I assume online courses would also be possible solutions..
Thank you in advance!!