It's an Architecture School btw.

it's where my boss went in the 80s. he liked the school, though he always makes fun of the philip johnson building the architecture school moved into in the 80s: a direct cop of a ledoux design. but that's not necessarily a reflection on the school today.

Yes, it is a good school. It is one of the most underrated architecture schools in the US. The undergraduate program is better than the graduate program. Do a search on the forums and you should find plenty of information as the topic has been discussed before.

There is a grad student from UH who is running a school blog on this site, check it out.

Thanks jasoncross, will do!

There are a couple other threads on this also.

Great school, and I agree very underrated, but highly regarded by many professionals. When I was getting advice on where to go for undergrad, UH was always high on the list.

And Gerald D. Hines is the developer who gave millions to build the "Le Don't" with P.J.

Hey. I go to UH and I am keeping up the school blog on Archinect. Send me a message with any questions you might have...

i went there for grad school. i graduated in 2000.

it is really about what you are looking for in a school. it is a pretty good school (it is inexpensive...so value is great) there are some pretty good professors there and it has even gotten better since i was there. it is an interesting laboratory for such a strange city as houston!

just like any school, i recommend going to talk to professors in the program...focus on professors you will have (if in grad school esp.) and schedule meetings with them.

also go there when school is in session and talk to the students (they usually are more harsh on the program than they should be). it is a good gauge of where you would be if you were there.

wow...never thought id see the day when someone talked about my arch college! I am a 5th year (undergrad obviously) at the Gerald D Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston. Im not really sure how i would rate the program. I have travelled across the country and the world looking at schools over the past year (schools in texas, most of the Ivy's, the AA, schools in Venice, Berlin, Vienna, India and a few others in between). Im also active in the AIAS and been to the past two forums and have seen a large sample of student work through that....so basically i see myself as able to judge whether or not i goto a good school. and honestly up until going to the AA and Yale i have really thought highly of UH. In undergrad there is a lot of variety. There are many students who just coast through and take all easy profs and graduate with a b.arch. then there are me and my friends who take all hard profs and really push and there is some pretty good work that comes out. but generally about half way through 4th year 90% of the student population gives up and starts working for firms too much. by 5th year most of the student projects really start to suck. the 3rd year studios almost always have the most progressive and best (IMO) work. The students always work harder in that year than any other year. almost everyone in undergrad does the b.arch (5 year). and almost all undergrads look down on the grads in our college. we have always been told that we have a good undergrad program but poor grad program.
Ive seen students from aroudn the country at aias forums go gaga for shitty models and projects thinking they were so great where they would be total faliures at UH. but then again our school doesn't compare to the AA and the like. woudl be nice but no. We are also a unique school in that we have a space architecture program. i think its pretty cool, but the projects in there are total crap and its generally just a couple of studios where its all about who has the coolest rendering. we recently got a new professor (awesome guy from harvard, santiago perez) that is leading the way for us in digital fabrication. we're getting a new facility this fall with all new machines for fabrication. should be very exciting.
as far as academics, we suck so much ass. theres only 2 professors that you can learn anything good from and thats nora laos (history) and rives taylor (sustainability and structure.....hes also gensler's national sustainability consultant and is too freakin smart). Those two are excellent proffessors.....the rest of them are horrible and our classes are a complete joke. academic dishonestly is unbelievably everywhere. most of my friends feel as though they really haven't learned anything at all in our classes since there is sooooo much emphasis on studio in our college. and somehow every test, to every class, in every year seems to get out before we actually take it and so most people pass since we always know exactly word for word whats on the tests. its really rediculous.
as far as admission we only accept about 180 students each fall and last i heard there are generally about 1200 applicants each fall. if your serious about getting in i would try to contact lannis kirkland. ive always been told he is the one that gives the final thumbs up/down on admissions.
BUT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT judge our work by our shitty ass website. that thing is 6 years old i think and was put up with really shitty work and has never been updated. i think they are working on making another site for the fall. if you have any questions just ask. or if your in houston swing by. there are summer 1st year students there now so they really dont have a true idea of the program since they are just starting and have never actually spent time with the rest of the student body, but im still in and out of the building everyother day or so and i still see lots of regulars there even in the summer.

its nice to see other UHA'rs on this board. as for school
i think its a fairly good school. the guy above me seems
to talk more about students then the actually facility.
which in my opinion is getting better.
seriously, in school you are only going to get out what
you put in. there are a lot of people that coast by, but
why should that matter? its not your life, and i doubt
they will get into a good grad school, probably just end
up being CAD monkeys.

all in all i think UH is a good choice.

I agree that it's a good school. I am also a 5th year student there and like the guy (girl? sorry) above me said, it is what you make it. It is easy to coast and get by, but if you make the right choices faculty-wise, you will get a lot out of it. The best way to learn about a school and if it is the right one for you is to visit, look at the work, and decide if you like what you see or not. Yeah.. stay away from the website..
The industrial design program is still fairly new, but so far it's doing well I think. I don't know much about the space program other than it's in a separate area of the building and you need an access card to enter the room. :) I hear it's good..... hmm.

guy thank you =)

ha. noted. :)

I just graduated in May from UH and I went to the graduate program. There are some really good professors who made me what I am now. I learnt so much not only about professional knowledge but also how to behave as an architect. We have a design & build program and it was the best studio that you don't want to miss. There are other interesting courses too like object design(? I forgot the name : ). But I felt some weakness about the program are: 1. there are only two other division, interior design and industrial design in the College of Architecture, and they are both founded recently.  No urban design or landscape design program in the college. You don't get a lot information in these area. There are also very few professors teaching theory or architectural criticism. One of the professor left to IIT in the fall semester and they had to suspend that required class so they had time to find a new teacher. 2.  Even the school offers some concentrations like urban design, sustainability design, historical preserve and digital fabrication, etc, I don't feel it really work. It only required students to take 2-3 elective classes that cataloged in those concentration and it didn't really show in your studio work or thesis project. I was interested in material study and parametric design. I don't feel the school had enough resource to help student explore what they want to do. 3. I don't feel the school do good enough on the teaching of technology part. The professor I had on system class is just horrible. I admit that he might be a great academician but he is a horrible teacher. Anyway, there are some great professors and they would love to help students. I'm thankful to have my intense graduate school here. I met some really good friends and I will always remember those hard but happy days.