the university of pennsylvania also has an undergraduate program in architecture

so does drexel

i know absolutely nothing about any of the undergraduate programs, so take this with a grain of salt, but my completely unfounded gut feeling rankings of these schools would be (full disclosure: i'm a phd student at upenn):
upenn
maryland
pennstate
temple
drexel
phila u

also, you need to make sure that you understand the difference between which degrees the schools offer... most importantly, if any of them offer a b.arch. (which usually take 5 years), that is a professional degree which allows you to become a licensed professional... any other degree will not be professionally accredited and you will have to go on to get an m.arch.

I have juried at all these schools (but Maryland) and taught at a few.

Penn Undergrad is just an awful program!!!! Mediocre faculty and work.

Temple, Drexel, and Philly U (the worst) are weak programs run by mediocre leadership. Faculty is spotty.

PU is just a Degree Mill. Stay clear.

Penn State is the best of the bad. Though it is also moving in a downward direction.

I wouldn't write off Drexel that quickly - for a certain sort of student, their co-op program is great. Other then the BAC, don't know many other places in the northeast that provide that level of integrated internship & studio. For wanna be starchitects, drexel/BAC don't produce flashy projects or teach bleeding edge scripting procedures and so are boring places to be. for folks interested in the craft of putting together buildings, they get what they ask for (and become pretty reliable employees/colleagues along the way).

there are a few architecture programs in the garden state and empire state since you're considering adjacent states (or did PA just annex MD?). You should also look to the buckeye state for two of the strongest under grad programs in the region.

oh yeah, carnegie mellon has an undergrad program as well.

Came here just to say Carnegie Mellon... I'm also looking to start undergrad studies in the fall (if I get in anywhere, of course!) and couldn't make the deadline for CM, but from all the research I did and what people said here it's a great place to be. Can't say anything about the others except that Temple and Drexel combined must have sent me a library's worth of materials...

I still don't really believe that there are "good" schools and "bad" schools in general. There are schools that fit you best and don't fit you. A horrible school for one person can be a great school for another. And in PA, there is plenty to choose from. The state is big enough though, that if location is really the big thing, it may be that going out-of-state might actually be closer and there might not even be a difference in the "in-state" and "out-of-state" price tag.

One of the main differences in architecture schools is rather or not the B.Arch is available (if that is what you want). From what I know UPenn does not have B.Arch, but it is Ivy league and whatever good that comes from that (well-known/published professors, reputation, higher price tag, etc). I believe the rest have B.Archs.

Drexel does have a unique program and at minimum will take 6 years. But you will get (well, maybe not so much these days) about 4 years of full-time professional experience, a lot of which will count towards IDP, so more than likely make up more than the fact that it is a 6 year program.

The rest have pretty standard programs that can probably be compared more directly. At this point I would consider where the school is located (urban vs rural, etc), what kind of professors there are, what the mission statement is for the school, the price tag, resources, etc etc. But while these have objective numbers and figures, its up to your priorities to decide how much of a deciding factor they are.

U of Maryland moved their school to Pennsylvania???

I have a Barch degree from Drexel and I spent 2 years at U of Md Arch school. Uof Md is a selective program and theirs is unaccredited bach of Sci degree in Arch. Their M Arch is required to be become eligible for licensure.

At the time I attended U Md I was having to waste money taking classes not required for my intended major due to their selective arch degree program. Also, jobs for architects at the time (20 years ago) were completely unavaible....kinda like now.

Drexel was fairly cheap. I don't think thats the case anymore.
Yeah, it's a "nothin fancy" program because your really getting a real world education at your job. At least I did. Considering the fact that typical Arch grads have no job experience and therefore are finding it hard to find work. Drexel truly has a sensible approach.

I went to Cal Poly so I don't know much about east coast schools, but from what I've heard, Lehigh University's preprofessional BA in Architecture is turning into a pretty tight little program. One of my friends graduated from there a year ago - his work is strong, he got to be fully involved in a design-build project with Habitat for Humanity, and he found work right out of school - more than most newly-graduated BArchies can say.

Seems like a pretty well rounded liberal arts education which, believe me, I found lacking in mine and think is lacking in many other overtly and narrow focused B.Arch programs.

Nonetheless, it is still a preprofessional degree, so you really gotta look into what you want to do in undergrad.

What specifically is wrong with Phil. Univ other than lack of prestige?

"You should also look to the buckeye state for two of the strongest under grad programs in the region. "

is this a joke about the Amish?

temple is undergoing a substantial transition; they are starting their new M. Arch this fall, as well adding two other undergrad degrees.

http://www.temple.edu/architecture/

in addition, there appears to have been a substantial faculty shake-up (fewer TU alums and more ivy-league folks) since i graduated in 2005. i would give them a look. their rome program is excellent and by comparison to the other schools, tuition is damn cheap.

There is a new program at Marywood University in Scranton. It is in its first year for undergrads.

http://www.marywood.edu/architecture/

Thanks to all - some info was helpful. Bottom line, it's hard to find out what's the best for undergrad. Narrowing down now between Temple and Penn State for undergrad. Don't think we can go wrong with either. Philly U. is out due to wanting to take other courses such as language.

Carnegie Mellon is by far the best regarded arch program in PA. Not sure if you are willing to go the B.Arch route though, it's definitely a commitment.

In fact, I'll be honest I didn't even know Temple had a program. I have no idea, it might be fantastic, I'm just going by rep -- the one you hear about is def. cmu. Penn State too, for 4-year.

*best regarded undergrad arch program, that is. Best regarded grad program is definitely Penn...

I'll have you know I worked hard for my degree, thank you. You get out of any program what you put into it.

sarah, i thought you went to penn? no?

No, I went to PhilaU. It was a small program, and some were passed when maybe they shouldn't have been, but it was a good, solid program, and I learned more than others I have encountered in the workplace.

Oh. I'm really sorry, I've honestly never heard of it. I'm sure it's great! I'm just commenting on rep, not having personally visited most of these programs.