Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
University of Southern California (USC)
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Kansas State University
NJIT vs Syracuse B.Arch
Hello! I'm a high school senior and I'm trying to decide between NJIT and Syracuse for my undergrad. I've got a general opinion that Syracuse has more prestige than NJIT, and I personally like the environment that the school as a whole has, but NJIT is the convenient alternative that my parents like much more. I'd like to know specifically how the curriculum or opportunities would differ between these schools. My understanding so far is that NJIT is a lot more practical software based and will push you towards the NYC job market across the river, but Syracuse will teach you more of design itself to build up your fundamentals. I'd like to know in a little more detail how they handle things and what I'd get out of each of them after spending 5 years there.
For what it's worth, I personally think that BArch degrees are limiting. As in, you won't get a liberal arts education that provides you with a broader understanding of the world (painfully naïve definition, I know). BA in Architecture degrees are even worse (architecture school burnout is inevitable), so what I'm really saying is you might want to at least consider getting you're undergraduate degree in something else entirely and getting an MArch instead.
Because this is an anonymous chat board, I'll offer my experience with BArch graduates that I would never share openly. They're often very technically proficient, but just aren't very mature in the areas of practice that are necessarily interdisciplinary. Programming, zoning politics, formal theory, client relationships, etc. These are my very limited impressions of a few individuals, so take it with a bucket of salt.
I've had some opposite experiences with graduates: I've found B.Arch graduates to often be very good at design thinking. Even if they don't know the problem at hand, they have a very good knack for figuring out how one might solve it. They're usually quite autonomous.
For the BA/BS/MArch1 crowd, my experience has been that they're often very good with programs like Revit or AutoCAD; technically they're really good at document production. But if I ask them to design the stair, their first pass is going to be to put in whatever the minimum code-required stair is. No real thought beyond how to follow someone else's steps.
I can't speak to either school but I can tell you that Syracuse is a very fun place to be. I lived nearby for a number of years and I really loved my time in upstate. Just be warned, the winters dump a lot of snow on that region.
Better job prospects with Syracuse.
Syracuse, of course
even though I'm based in San Francisco, I've had co-workers from both schools - NJIT is a good school for production, SD,DD and CD - One of my Project architects at a Structural Engineering firm was from NJIT
The Syracuse grads are performing design, concept through SD. They tend to be doing more front end type stuff
Do you want to be a designer or work in the production, documentation part? -
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.