a&m is fucking terrible unless you want to design hospitals

rice and ut austin aren’t just the best in texas, they are the only ones even worth considering. utsa, uta (though the undergrad program is okay), uh, and a&m are all truly awful schools 

Well first don’t listen to place, he obviously isn’t an Aggie.

I am an A&M grad of the B.E.D. Program (class of 2009) and I do not design hospitals. I went on to get my Masters at Pratt and am currently Senior Designer of a 200M budget commercial project in San Francisco at one of the largest architecture firms in the world.

Anyways, I loved my experience at A&M. Some of the best people and most dedicated professors I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting in my life. Truly a valuable experience. You should, however, consider the fact that the B.E.D. Program at A&M is not accredited, so if you plan to pursue licensure you will need a professional degree.

During my time there the program was structured differently. My class was combined with architecture and visualization students, so our curriculum was diverse and we all had options for both architecture and art classes. I found this fantastic, but I know that now these two degrees have been segregated and since then many feel that the program has suffered. Still, some of the best professors in the field still teach there and I personally feel I would not be the architect I am today without their influence.

UT Austin is also a fantastic school, these should be your top two picks in Texas. Do a bit more research and talk to more people, find out what fits best for you. Good luck!

some of the best professors in the field still teach there

this should tell you all you need to know about starling’s credibility

The hate against the state of Texas and programs in the state of Texas is well documented here. And it’s complete and utter bullshit.

Rice and UT are the best, no question.  

However if you want to work in Texas, A&M, U of H, UTA, Texas Tech, etc all produce competent graduates with strong networks throughout the state. You haven’t stated if you’re interested in a bachelors or masters. I went to school with several A&M undergrad alums who got their masters at U of H and have gone on to do well in practice. I work with a few A&M masters grads as well and they’re all solid and doing just fine in practice.

I received my masters at U of H and it was a fantastic experience. As I’ve said before the program is severely underrated and you won’t graduate with a mountain of debt. Is the entire faculty great...not really but that’s how it is everywhere. It’s based on your experience and what you make of the resources there. I was able to work with the best they had to offer at the time and I wouldn’t change a thing about my choice to study there. 

There’s also something to be said about studying architecture in a city. Austin, Dallas and Houston all have plenty of solid options. Go visit them and see what’s right for you.

as has been said countless times before, while the argument that “graduate school is what you make of it” is absolutely true, it is almost exclusively said by those who attended crappy programs. it’s also willfully ignorant of basic educational realities. 

are there some excellent faculty at these second- and third-tier Texas programs? sure. are there some talented students there that produce strong work and go on to professional success? of course. 

but at a top school, you are surrounded on all sides by exceptionally talented fellow students that push you to do your best possible work, rather than a group of classmates that just went to the only place that accepted them. if you’re attending any Texas school other than UT or Rice, you either didn’t have better options or you stupidly didn’t want to grow up and move away from home. 

I know this is a lazy low info thread by a random OP with no chance of actual follow up or meaningful dialogue but I’m so fucking tired of this jabroni saying the same negative shit every time a Texas school is mentioned that isn’t UT or Rice. 

Surrounded by the best talent..are you fucking serious??? Being surrounded by sweater vest twats in ivory towers doesn’t make you a great architect by association. Getting into a “better” school doesn’t guarantee success or get you any closer to licensure than someone who went to Arkansas Tech. 

Please take this in the spirit in which it is intended and fuck off with your bitter bullshit comments, overpriced useless piece of paper that you’re still paying off, and stop shitting on schools(and its graduates) that you know nothing about. 

The best part about the people who beat the drum of academia and rankings is watching them languish on the ladder and wonder why the gal or guy from state got the promotion and they didn’t. It’s probably because they’re a self absorbed asshole who was told over and over again how special they are because they got a high SAT score and was captain of their high school glee club when they applied to the fancy schools. 

Merry Christmas 

thank you for proving my point; OP, this is the level of discourse to be expected from university of houston alumni. 

contrary to your implication, i never said that talented classmates make anyone "a great architect by association." to be admitted to a highly selective school, a student must have demonstrated some form of excellence, whether academic, creative, professional, or otherwise. nor did i suggest anywhere that better schools "get you any closer to licensure" because they obviously do not. exceptional classmates raise the bar for everyone by raising faculty expectations and pushing each other to achieve extraordinary work. 

of course there are weak students in top-ranked programs, just like there are spectacular students in poorly ranked ones. i have seen great work from the best students at U of H, but those students are a tiny minority of the class. however, it is ridiculous to suggest that students with accomplishments sufficient to get into a highly selective program aren't generally going to produce more sophisticated and thoughtful work than those admitted to a school that accepts 59% of all applicants.

i'd say that i'm sorry you couldn't get accepted to a "fancy school" (again OP, consider the credibility of a person who refers to any institution superior to the university of houston in this way), except that i'm not at all sympathetic. i attended both of my "fancy" schools on full academic scholarship, because i worked my ass off to do so.

i have been invited to sit on reviews for each of these schools (except UTSA, and I have colleagues who tell me the work coming from there is so laughably bad that their accreditation should be reconsidered), so the suggestion that I "know nothing" about these schools is patently false.

for further context on u of h, check out the work of that program's most vocal archinect ambassador here. those who know u of h's program won't be surprised.

It is Patagonia vests in the Ivory Tower now, just to clear up the confusion.

Avoid UTSA, its improving, but I did not enjoy my experience enough there to recommend it. The one positive is I managed to tailor my experience to suit my goals and needs but there is little reason to not go to any other school in Texas.

There are some great professors that are invaluable but the administration and policies at the school are awful.

Also. Texas Tech in Lubbock also has an Accredited 5 year B. Arch. I have several friends that went there and they all seemed to enjoy it and landed solid jobs. I hear their focus is a lot more technical and suited towards licensure which I particularly appreciate.

What makes UT Arlington's undergrad program "okay"? 

Do employers/professionals look down on the schools output?

I was actually thinking about attending as an undergrad.