thank you for the feedback! as a reference, what difference do you see between a berkeley m.arch grad and a cal poly b.arch grad? just from your own opinion, like the different direction these programs would lead an architect towards

Most that I have worked with that did their B.arch at SLO are technically inept but had a very poor design sense. And Berkeley undergrads typically get into top grad schools. If you specifically want to be a designer or teach, I would go for Berkeley. Otherwise, SLO is a great school for just going to work in the field.

thank you for this opinion! I’m definitely aiming to do design for significant projects, not just to be guaranteed a spot in the field

https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14289-americas-top-architecture-schools-2020#Tables

I'm not sure what your argument is @betonbrut "Each year, DesignIntelligence (DI) conducts a survey of America’s top architecture schools, ranking undergraduate and graduate programs from the perspective of practitioners who hire graduates of those programs." It says right in the methodology exactly what I'm talking about. And like I said, I'm not basing my experience of graduates off of some list, these are my friends and were my colleagues

Here's a response to consider "AlexanderChristoforidisOctober 2, 2019 I take the Design Intelligence Survey every year as a firm principal. I also meet faculty from schools across the U.S. at NCARB Licensing Advisor Summits and other academic events. However, it is still very difficult to base my survey answers on anything rational. The survey asks me to rank among over 100 schools. Which survey taker really knows the quality of even 10 of those programs. Perhaps architects who do accreditation visits? Like many of my colleagues who are asked to take the DI survey, I have received e-mails from my alma matter near the time that the survey appears encouraging me to "remember them" this started around 2008 or 2009. Many schools probably go on campaigns to help them boost their rankings. I noticed one school went from totally unranked to the number one position in one year. Really? So much of a school's ability to do what they do is influenced by these rankings because it is the only ranking system we have to figure out something nobody will truly know. I suggest that we come up with a better system - perhaps one based on a scoring system derived from accreditation visits. For now in order to have something objective in DI's rankings they should make ARE pass rates one of the categories we look at. Although we do not want to see schools "teaching to the test" it could at least be just one of the many aspects of a schools' quality that we can truly compare head to head. Just food for thought...."

thank you for this response to the survey! it has been a slight bother to keep seeing Cal Poly listed as a highly admired program and yet hear from people in forums/in person how the Berkeley program offers more enrichment...... I want to make a living salary but at the same time I don't want to underestimate myself and undermine all the work I've done in school because it would result in a safer path to employment

Don't get me wrong,they're both fine schools and you could probably make a great career out of either one. but you'll also have trouble teaching with a B.Arch only. I don't know about private schools but public schools usually require a masters degree to teach. This also shows up on RFQ and resume and etc.. just throwing all the info out there

thank you for this info! could you maybe list some pros and cons of getting a bachelors of the arts in architecture? just from your perspective

thank you for the reply! was the program fairly balanced in teaching technical skills with design and theory or did you find it leaned towards a single direction? also, do you still keep in touch with classmates from Cal, specifically in the industry?

I think Berkeley's more leaning onto the design and theoretical side. Once again, I graduated 13 years ago, so things may be different now. However, lot of majors in Berkeley are typically very academic oriented.. If I offer an insight, you will get ample chance to gain technical skills once you get into the field, unless you choose to teach. My classmates went really broad directions. Some went to great grad schools like GSD then became professors somewhere. My friend went to Yale Arch/MBA program, then became a venture capitalist. Some chose to work and became directors/associate principal level. One got into tech startup and became rich. I didn't become as successful as some of peers and work as a PM... I think you'll be fine with eith er schools. I see plenty of folks from both schools in this area.

thank you for the links! I've heard that the B.Arch at Cal Poly is pretty rigorous and arch-heavy, do the students sometimes feel burnt out or overwhelmed by all the architecture work? not just in terms of sheer energy, but in passion too, like feeling over saturated in architecture (weird question, sorry about it!)

Architecture school can definitely be overwhelming, but I think that's pretty universal. It's a huge demand on your time, especially at the beginning before you have the skills to work quickly. Personally, I found it all so exciting that I never felt mentally burned out, but it was very demanding. I suppose a good thing about Cal Poly is that it's such a large program that once you start choosing your own professors in the second year, you can

-- sorry, the comment system here is so bad -- you can tailor your own experience. There were definitely easier or harder paths to take. And eventually the strange thing you will find in school is that the pressure is really just self-imposed :)

hello! if you want to ask for advice about your own school decision, you can post your own question on the broader forum. this is not a general architecture school post, but is specific to the undergrad programs at Berkeley and Cal Poly

are the Cal grads from the graduate program or the undergrad program? i've been hearing that the difference is pretty substantial between the two

this may seem like a very ignorant question, but what is "production" in architecture? i can guess the meaning... but could you help explain?

thank you for the perspective!