More than seventy percent of students at The Boston Architectural College (BAC) are transfer students coming from community colleges, four-year institutions, and graduate programs. In the last three years, transfer students from 28 states and 13 countries have enrolled in the BAC.

"Something special about the BAC is that because it's accessible and personable, transfer students receive a significant amount of individual attention from faculty and staff beginning with the application and portfolio review process," said Meredith Spinnato, Director of Admissions at the BAC.

“That’s when my career took off”

Today, Arlen is based in Berlin, Germany, where he is a resilience leader at Gensler Europe. In this role, he reimagines how to best implement European legislation requiring embodied carbon tracking on projects and how to design cities to accommodate future influxes of climate refugees.

Growing up in Western Massachusetts, Arlen took an early interest in construction. When he wasn't in school, he worked carpentry on job sites. "I always had a work-study focus," he said. “I just learned better that way." In community college, he worked at an engineering firm as a land surveyor, gaining an understanding of the built environment.

He chose the BAC because of its location in Boston–the city in the United States with the greatest number of architecture firms. "I saw BAC alums with jobs at firms I wanted to work with and hoped that the degree would help me get my foot in the door, too."

Arlen’s plan succeeded. During his studies, an internship at Goody Clancy led to an architectural designer role at CBT Architects, and then a job offer waiting at Perkins&Will after graduation. There, he focused on resilience strategy. "That's when my career took off," Arlen said.

Last spring, Arlen was the opening speaker as part of the annual 2024 BAC Talks series, mapping out the trajectory of design over the next century. "My talk focused on some of the biggest challenges we will have to face as designers within the industry over the next century," he said. "That includes biodiversity collapse, climate change, and how AI technology will reshape the design process."

Arlen draws on his degree daily. "At the BAC, I was taught to be a community-minded architect and to see design as a service-based profession," he said. Nowadays, he’s an industry leader working to shape the sustainable future of European cities.

Applying to BAC as a Transfer Student

Students worldwide are encouraged to explore transferring to the BAC, just as Arlen did. Upon expressing interest in the College, prospective transfer students are connected with an admissions counselor who supports them throughout the entire application process and is there to answer questions.

BAC faculty evaluate students' transcripts and clearly communicate with them about which credits and coursework will transfer to their degree. This close evaluation ensures that transfer students begin their BAC program at a level where they are appropriately challenged. Megan Paddock, Transfer and Operations Manager, said, "We are setting the students up for success, which means that if a class in their first institution is congruent, the credit will be transferred."

The BAC works closely with community colleges with architecture and design programs. Many are official articulation partners, meaning the transfer process is seamless. "Our relationship with some of these schools is so strong that they refer to the BAC as their Boston campus," said Richard Griswold,  Associate Vice President of Student Life,  and Dean of Students.

The current list of community college partners includes Broward College, Clover Park Technical College, NHTI, and Norwalk Community College in the United States. While in Canada, the BAC is proud to partner with a number of two and four-year colleges including Centennial College, George Brown College, Humber College, Sheridan College, and St. Clair College.

“I learned how to set goals and work towards them”

After accepting a BAC admissions offer for the fall or spring semester, each transfer student is paired with an academic advisor who takes the time to get to know them, their educational background, goals, and responsibilities outside school. The advisor then helps each student to plan their schedule and course sequence for the duration of their curriculum.

Meredith said: "Because we're a close-knit community, transfer students are aware of all our resources, but an important one I recommend is the Learning Resource Center (LRC), which offers free academic tutoring and is very helpful." At the LRC, students receive supportive 1:1 writing support from trained consultants and support with subjects including structures, studio drawing, AUTOCAD, math, and physics.

Students work together to support one another’s success. When Jana Belack, BDS’10, M.Arch’16, transferred to the BAC after earning her Associate's of Applied Science Degree in Architectural Technology at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, it was her peers who made the transition to the College and Boston especially seamless.

“For me, what made the BAC so special was its diversity,” she shared from her home office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "My classmates were people from all over the world, and their backgrounds came out in their designs in ways that added to my knowledge base.” To this day, some of her closest friendships are from her BAC years.

With her Associate's degree in hand, Jana landed her first industry job at a K-12 focused firm, working as a computer-aided design technician to create construction documentation for schools. “I loved working and didn't want to put that on hold to return to school, but I knew I needed to continue my education to become a licensed architect," she said.

Every accredited architecture program Jana found required full-time study. That is, until an instructor from Thaddeus Stevens recommended the BAC for its hands-on curriculum featuring paid work opportunities for current students.

"I went home and researched the College and knew immediately that the BAC was where I would continue my education. It was a great program, but mostly, I knew it was the right fit for me academically and financially because I could work during the day and study at night."

Upon admission, many of Jana’s Associate's degree course credits seamlessly transferred to the BAC. She went on to earn her Bachelor of Design Studies and Master of Architecture degrees at the BAC, working full-time as a designer at Boston-based firm Elkus Manfredi for much of the seven-year journey.

"At the BAC, I learned how to set professional goals and manage my time to successfully achieve them," she reflected. Today, she's made balancing academia and the field her day-to-day lifestyle.

Jana is the second-year Architectural Technology instructor at her alma mater, Thaddeus Stevens College. In another full-circle moment, she practices as a Senior Architect at Boston-based JGE Architecture + Design, a remarkable firm founded by fellow BAC alum Jonathan C. Garland, BArch’10.

She was the project manager of the team that recently completed an affordable housing project offering 29 workforce housing units at 1463 Dorchester Avenue in Boston. "It is my absolute passion to see a project from initial sketch all the way through to construction completion, especially when it is community focused and designed to high energy efficiency standards “Jana said.

To start your journey as a Boston Architectural College transfer student click here. Our admissions officers are looking forward to hearing from you.