follow your head

Is UT a better school? Yes. Are you more likely to get an interview immediately after graduation with a degree from UT over UT Arlington? No.

I've worked with grads from both programs, all competent architects and no one cares where they went to school once you've established yourself in practice.   

@LITS4FormZ - Amen, brother, amen.  Probably one of the smartest answers I've read. I've actually tried to make the same point myself on an earlier post, but I feel people are too caught up in the "name game" to listen. 

I did my undergrad at UTA... couldn't stand it so I switched out of the architecture program and got a B.A. and now just got into a bunch of graduate schools around the county. This is my personal opinion but, the undergraduate program has some good professors in the last year or so, but the rest of them are old and bitter. And I hear that gradschool is a lot worse. If I were you I would avoid UTA. Where did you get your undergrad at? If you're in-state, UT is a bargain for the quality. My friends and I had to work our asses off to get in to grad programs far away from UTA. 

If you're looking for a quality program, go to UT. These professional guys might say differently but UTA isn't worth 2 years of your life even if it is free. You're better off spending those two years working and gaining experience.

Wait... if you are going for an M.Arch II then you dont "need" to go to school at all. If you are, you should make sure you are going somewhere that can help you with your goals and plans in life. (I really hope I dont offend any UTA people here) As an architecture student at University of Houston, we would never take UTA's program very seriously. I wouldn't go there. UT on the other hand is a fantastic program and also much more reputable on the global scale. Of course all of this depends on what you want, and where you want to be post graduation. And any dedicated student can do great things in any institution. 

But if it were me, I would go to UT, or not go to grad school. 

Appreciate the response The Arquitektonix. The level of academic hubris this time of year is sickening. Your client is going to care more about your ability to talk college football than what your piece paper on the wall says. "Bad" schools can turn out successful architects just as "great" schools can turn out graduates who will struggle. Everyone is going to have an opinion, if you have the means go visit both of the schools! There is no better substitute than actually sitting down and talking with future professors. 

FYI, not all University of Houston graduates look down on other schools, except maybe Rice.  

Staticsocks-- Ralph Hawkins, CEO of HKS Inc., is a graduate of UTA's architecture program. Obviously he's respected enough by his peers in the industry to lead a team of 900+ designers, engineers, and support staff at one of the largest commercial architecture firms in the U.S.

UTA undergrad = very good

UTA grad = poor

I completely agree with idiotwind. Having experienced both graduate programs, I can tell you that UTA is an utter waste of time, even if it is free. I wrote a post detailing many of the problems of UTA's program about a year ago; I'd be happy to find it for you if you'd like.

The critical one, though, is that the graduate program accepts anyone that applies, so many graduate students are only there because they were rejected from every other school. You will find very few fellow students that will give you any valuable feedback at all.

The undergraduate program is excellent however, and many of its students go on to pursue master's degrees at Harvard, Columbia, MIT, etc. The faculty and administration just do not take the graduate programs seriously at all.