Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Which one is the best Canadian architecture school for undergraduates? Waterloo, U of T, Carleton, Mcgill, or Ryerson?
Hello, I am an international student who has studied in BC, Canada for the last 4 years. I want to be an architect, so I applied to many different universities' architecture programs. So far, I got conditional offers from U of T, Ryerson, Carleton (Scholarship of $12000), and OCAD, but I am still waiting for the results from McGill and Waterloo.
However, because I need to make my decision by April 20th because of Ryerson, I think I need to accept one of the offers I got before I get offers from Mcgill and Waterloo. So here are questions.
1. Among the universities that admitted me, which one is the best to go in terms of curriculum, school's reputation, school environment, and job opportunity? I know everyone's standard is different, so I just want to hear diverse opinions :)
2. If I get offers from Waterloo or McGill, are they better than the schools that I am already admitted?
I know many of you said that graduate program is more important than pre-architecture program to be an architect, but I just want to start my career from a good place. Anyway, thank you for reading my questions.
In order
Waterloo, McGill, Carleton, Ryerson. Note that there is a big gap between 2nd and 3rd/4th on this list.
Not to be considered: UofT & OCAD. Avoid like the plague.
Waterloo and McGill are the better schools by a significant margin and a successful undergrad there will open up many more graduate school options than the others. UofT has a terrible undergrad general arts degree that pretends to be equal to the other BAS... its only purpose is to feed its own M.arch since it's the only option its graduates have. OCAD should not be considered either since it is a artsy college and its teaching of architecture for the purpose of grad-school and practice in general is piss poor.
If you can't wait to see if you get into the top 2 schools, then pick the cheapest option. Looks like you got in on the design path at Carleton. Take the $ and work your ass off to apply to a top grad school eventually.
Thank you for your opinion, Non. Actually, I was about to accept the offer from U of T because of the school's reputation in general... I wonder why the opportunities for graduate school is limited if I go to U of T. Is it because of the fact that the degree I get is BA, not BAS?
Yes, in parts, but also because the undergrad is very poor. You won’t have the same quality level design studios and tech courses as other schools and your portfolio will suffer. Bad portfolio = less chances for employment and grad school.
.
Hi,
Full disclosure- I'm a Carleton grad- I loved almost every minute of my time there.
Waterloo: A strong co-op work experience program and an administration team that has been in place for a long time. Go here if you want to become a well-rounded practitioner who will eventually start your own firm.
Carleton: A consistently strong design and theory foundation with an emerging focus on solving real-world problems. You will challenge norms, get your hands dirty and spend sixteen hours a day in studio. Also a good spring board for additional studies at Sci-Arc, the Bartlett and the AA. Go here if you want to become your firm's design guru or a community thought leader.
McGill: The undergraduate program is a good place to go if you want to become a "parametric design monkey". That quote is from one of the school's Master's program leaders. The Masters programs- in contrast- are highly respected world wide. A good place to go for future academics.
Toronto: Don't honestly know. The school does beg one obvious question: with so many prominent Toronto architects coming from this school, why does Toronto still look like an also-ran urbanistically?
OCAD: Too new to say...a good backdrop for episodes of Kim's Convenience!
Ryerson: Don't know...also a relatively recent arrival on the degree granting scene. Ryerson was a technical college before becoming a university.
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