hi! i am currently a senior in high school and am applying to architecture schools. my top choice is cooper union so i am EDing there, as well as EAing to MIT. i'm also applying pratt, parsons, vtech, illinois tech, barnard, cal poly slo/pomona, cal, ucla, northeastern, cmu.
for risd architecture, i'm on the fence for applying. is it a studio/technical based program focused on architecture? i really want to get into studio classes asap and don't want to spend a lot of time doing pre req art classes during my time in undergrad. any advice?
also, for cooper union, anyone have any input for hometest? i'm pretty nervous and don't know what to expect. i'm not the strongest artist, so let me know anything you think might help!
1. Where you go to school really won't matter. As long as the school is accredited that's all you need. See NCARB's website for a list of accredited programs.
2. Look at the accreditation scores of the programs you're interested in. This will give you a base of understanding about what the program is teaching.
3. Go with the options that is the most economical for you. The national average starting pay for a fresh grad with a masters degree from an accredited school is $45k. This is regardless of where you went to school.
4. Studio classes are where you take all the other knowledge you've learned and attempt to implement them into a design. Most programs won't have you 'designing' buildings in studio until your second year.
5. Architecture is not art in the typical sense. It is creative however it also has a lot of other factors that will inform your creativity. Codes, zoning, structure, MEP systems, climate, site, context, ect. Don't worry about not being 'artistic'. You will be able to learn / refine your creative process and develop your 'drawing' skills while at school. That's what school is for.
To add to OddA above, everyone and their neighbour applies to the same schools as you list so competition for spots, and most important, bursaries, is tight. Do not get swindled thinking that architecture school is an investment worth 100k+ debt. It is not regardless of the name on the paper.
The title of your post says you want to get a B.Arch, but several of the schools on your list don’t offer that, and only have a non-professional undergrad program leading to a BA, BS, BFA, or AB degree. Before you apply to any of them you should educate yourself on architecture licensing requirements: most states require an NAAB-accredited professional degree (B.Arch or M.Arch) for licensing. There are some that allow licensing without a professional degree but with some extra years of experience (4 to 9 years, depending on the state and your undergrad degree, as opposed to the typical 3 years for someone with a professional degree.) not having a professional degree will limit which states you can practice in.
Make sure to understand all of this now, before you apply. There are so many posts here over the years from people who didn’t understand these differences until they were halfway through a degree, or even already graduated. I’m not saying you shouldn’t choose a non-professional bachelor program, just that you should know you’ll then most likely need to get an M.Arch after it.
If you have an accredited degree you can become licensed in all 50 states without taking additional exams. Basically you pass your ARE and by simply applying and paying for the license you can be licensed in other state. In CA and FL you will have to take one additional exam for earthquakes and hurricane design requirements.
Without an accredited degree you can still become an architect in 30ish states however there is no reciprocity. That means you need to repeat steps 2-3 in each state that will allow you to become an architect. In addition, without an accredited degree the amount of AXP hours increases from 3,740 hours. These alternate paths to licensure can take up to 10 years depending on your level and type of education.
hi eeyayeeayo! my title was not my finest moment lol, mostly wrote this in a rush trying to finish other apps. i'm blessed to have a family friend with a BArch in construction management, so I'm well versed with architecture degree differences and the NAAB process. i have definitely sorted out all of the degrees and understand which ones are BArch/Ba/etc. thank you for clarifying it and thank you to oddarchitect for the naab info :D
All good advice above. I will add that back in the early 2000s a friend of mine applied to Cooper and one of the home test questions was “draw a map of your face.” My friend made a pad of wet clay and rolled their face across it, then photographed the result, and they were accepted. So I guess my advice isn’tthink very abstractly about what the home test questions are asking.
Jodie, good job doing your research now. All the posts above covered the majority of advice I was going to give. Per non-sequiturs' point, apply to the best, most-affordable NAAB ACCREDITED public college in your state and do the 5-year B.Arch OR the 4+1 (BA.Arch with an M.Arch) that some schools are now offering in place of the 5-year B.Arch. As someone mentioned above, schools like UCLA do NOT have an accredited undergraduate architecture program and nearly all of the funding for architecture goes to the graduate program. Also, I did my undergrad at UCLA, the architecture facilities are crap (my most recent visit was just a few months ago). Stunning campus overall though! Best of luck! Also, only do a private college or university if you can do it without debt, like if you get a full ride offer or your family can afford it. Either way, be smart, be frugal, be practical... a friend of mine, like a little brother to me, is in his fifth year in the B.Arch at Cal Poly Pamona, if you'd like to be put in touch. He is kicking ass and doing incredible work.
current senior applying for undergrad barch
hi! i am currently a senior in high school and am applying to architecture schools. my top choice is cooper union so i am EDing there, as well as EAing to MIT. i'm also applying pratt, parsons, vtech, illinois tech, barnard, cal poly slo/pomona, cal, ucla, northeastern, cmu.
for risd architecture, i'm on the fence for applying. is it a studio/technical based program focused on architecture? i really want to get into studio classes asap and don't want to spend a lot of time doing pre req art classes during my time in undergrad. any advice?
also, for cooper union, anyone have any input for hometest? i'm pretty nervous and don't know what to expect. i'm not the strongest artist, so let me know anything you think might help!
thank you :)
A few things:
1. Where you go to school really won't matter. As long as the school is accredited that's all you need. See NCARB's website for a list of accredited programs.
2. Look at the accreditation scores of the programs you're interested in. This will give you a base of understanding about what the program is teaching.
3. Go with the options that is the most economical for you. The national average starting pay for a fresh grad with a masters degree from an accredited school is $45k. This is regardless of where you went to school.
4. Studio classes are where you take all the other knowledge you've learned and attempt to implement them into a design. Most programs won't have you 'designing' buildings in studio until your second year.
5. Architecture is not art in the typical sense. It is creative however it also has a lot of other factors that will inform your creativity. Codes, zoning, structure, MEP systems, climate, site, context, ect. Don't worry about not being 'artistic'. You will be able to learn / refine your creative process and develop your 'drawing' skills while at school. That's what school is for.
Good luck!
To add to OddA above, everyone and their neighbour applies to the same schools as you list so competition for spots, and most important, bursaries, is tight. Do not get swindled thinking that architecture school is an investment worth 100k+ debt. It is not regardless of the name on the paper.
The title of your post says you want to get a B.Arch, but several of the schools on your list don’t offer that, and only have a non-professional undergrad program leading to a BA, BS, BFA, or AB degree. Before you apply to any of them you should educate yourself on architecture licensing requirements: most states require an NAAB-accredited professional degree (B.Arch or M.Arch) for licensing. There are some that allow licensing without a professional degree but with some extra years of experience (4 to 9 years, depending on the state and your undergrad degree, as opposed to the typical 3 years for someone with a professional degree.) not having a professional degree will limit which states you can practice in.
Make sure to understand all of this now, before you apply. There are so many posts here over the years from people who didn’t understand these differences until they were halfway through a degree, or even already graduated. I’m not saying you shouldn’t choose a non-professional bachelor program, just that you should know you’ll then most likely need to get an M.Arch after it.
To follow up on eeayeeayo's post:
There are steps to becoming an architect.
1. Education.
2. AXP hours - aka internship. 3,740 hours with accredited degree
3. Testing - ARE 5.0
If you have an accredited degree you can become licensed in all 50 states without taking additional exams. Basically you pass your ARE and by simply applying and paying for the license you can be licensed in other state. In CA and FL you will have to take one additional exam for earthquakes and hurricane design requirements.
Without an accredited degree you can still become an architect in 30ish states however there is no reciprocity. That means you need to repeat steps 2-3 in each state that will allow you to become an architect. In addition, without an accredited degree the amount of AXP hours increases from 3,740 hours. These alternate paths to licensure can take up to 10 years depending on your level and type of education.
https://www.ncarb.org/gain-axp...
.
hi eeyayeeayo! my title was not my finest moment lol, mostly wrote this in a rush trying to finish other apps. i'm blessed to have a family friend with a BArch in construction management, so I'm well versed with architecture degree differences and the NAAB process. i have definitely sorted out all of the degrees and understand which ones are BArch/Ba/etc. thank you for clarifying it and thank you to oddarchitect for the naab info :D
All good advice above. I will add that back in the early 2000s a friend of mine applied to Cooper and one of the home test questions was “draw a map of your face.” My friend made a pad of wet clay and rolled their face across it, then photographed the result, and they were accepted. So I guess my advice isn’tthink very abstractly about what the home test questions are asking.
That's very innovative!
Jodie, good job doing your research now. All the posts above covered the majority of advice I was going to give. Per non-sequiturs' point, apply to the best, most-affordable NAAB ACCREDITED public college in your state and do the 5-year B.Arch OR the 4+1 (BA.Arch with an M.Arch) that some schools are now offering in place of the 5-year B.Arch. As someone mentioned above, schools like UCLA do NOT have an accredited undergraduate architecture program and nearly all of the funding for architecture goes to the graduate program. Also, I did my undergrad at UCLA, the architecture facilities are crap (my most recent visit was just a few months ago). Stunning campus overall though! Best of luck! Also, only do a private college or university if you can do it without debt, like if you get a full ride offer or your family can afford it. Either way, be smart, be frugal, be practical... a friend of mine, like a little brother to me, is in his fifth year in the B.Arch at Cal Poly Pamona, if you'd like to be put in touch. He is kicking ass and doing incredible work.
hi joey! by any chance, do you know any 4+1 programs in the US? i've only seen 4+2 programs like CMU
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