I got a B.Arch at Syracuse. It's pretty great and you won't lack any resources or contact with great faculty, despite what some may try to tell you about the location. Currently, though, it's a program in flux. I graduated before this new dean came in, and I have no info as to what direction he is taking the school. If you are able to visit, do so.

While these days part of SU's B.Arch program may be tending toward the outer reaches, it's still a program that's known for producing actual practitioners. If you seek out some of the faculty who have been around for a while, I think you could have an endlessly enriching experience. USC and UT also fall into that category. I don't know a lot about USC, but they have a reputation as a balanced school with sufficient resources to get you on your way to wherever you want to be. I have a lot of respect for UTSOA, and may end up there this fall for the MLA program. Like SU and USC, UT is a program that does not shy away from broader and more progressive issues, but at the same time produces very capable and well-rounded grads.

From what I know, SciARC occupies a different niche. More academia and boutique firm oriented. But I will let someone who's intimately familiar with the program tell you about it. I don't know anything about the current state of the AA, but I think its reputation is much closer to that of SciARC than to the other three schools.

What are you looking to get out of a B.Arch program? Do you have any thoughts on what you want to do professionally?

I'm tag teaming with the og for my own sake and answering the questions - i think:

I am 25 going on 26. I have had an interest in architecture for a long time now. I shied away from it because at 15 i felt i was being...boxed somehow when my teachers said i would make a great architect - back then i wanted to be a lawyer. I think architecture isn't given much priority in Trinidad and back then I supposed it was nothing more than a glorified mason or carpenter...
At fifteen you're just barely touching the surface of your interests I guess and I had NO idea that I was interested in Art and math and writing as much as I realize it now.

As time went on it became clear though - this interest in math and art  and writing - kinda weird - Or maybe not. I am actually quite good at the three...

So Architecture. I am made a decision to apply to a school before the year ends. I like the AA because it seems oriented on the logic and philosophy of architecture or 'building the minds of builders' (lol) - which I like. I was told it is an experimental space and I would fit in great. Some friends see me as a critic and think this might be a good place to start... idky

MIT is interesting to me because I hope that I'd be able to double major or minor in physics or math and be challenged. I only heard about the school last year.

Bath is another interesting school. I like Bath not because of the architecture degree though but the art courses that the school offers (including one in DJing!)

Some other schools I looked up were RISD, UCL, SCI-ARC, Cornell, UCLA, CUNY, UTokyo, SCAD, MCgill, CAM and PARSONS. I'm also told that Brazil and Germany are great places to start out. My friends know that I'm not rich so - with that added info I was told to look there. I found some schools in Holland and Vienna that interested me (I'd have to relocate the sites) but not in Brazil nor Germany. idk maybe im not looking hard enough.

I am EXTREMELY interested in a school that gives math and the design/Art priority. I am also very interested in the theoretical side of things...
I wouldn't say that computational methodology is a last priority but it doesn't get me as excited as debating aesthetic, dreaming in design and numbers.

So to round off - I am stuck on AA, McGill, (would luv to c HKU but no and still looking up u de Sao Paulo)? AA looks like a good start if i can get the funds together tho.
possibly UTokyo, Harvard or Parsons for postgraduate study.

Oh Bullocks!
lol.

Professionally? I love working with paper? design buildings? :p I think I think an architectural degree would force an artistic maturity out of meh! I would like to work in Trinidad critiquing and adding and fighting for an activated aesthetic - one that is not some passive ode to an old history... 

:/
bleh! moving on.

any suggestions on where to go and getting there?

I think USC is a huge waste of money, the school is highest end of costs and there is little of relevance coming out of the school, it is comparable to decent state school's, but at triple the tuition.

The AA and SCI-Arc, both architecture only, independent schools, they are both well regarded though controversial, but their faculty and their work put them in the middle of the discussion regarding the discourse and future of architecture.

Syracuse and UT Austin are both high quality, well rounded school's, but the discussion and discourse on where architecture is heading is not really taking place within those institutions.