It is very common for someone to complete an undergraduate education outside of architecture and then transfer to a three year Masters of Architecture at an accredited school. However, if you are fairly certain that architecture is a path you are committed to following, you should definitely look into the possibilities of transfering to a five-year B.Arch to save yourself some time and money.

Joepalz wouldn't be transferring to a 3 year M.Arch; Joe would apply to an M.Arch.
Also, J may or may not save both time and money if J decided to transfer into a B.Arch program, depending on what year J's in currently, as well as the type of courses taken during the time @ UDel.

transferring...applying I think he gets the idea.

i personally think it's not worth transferring. do the 3 year master's. an undergrad in architecture cripples your college experience (imo).

So going to a school with a Masters of Architecture program gets you a degree in architecture and prepares you to take the ARE?

In most cases, this is true.

Check with the NAAB website, www.naab.org/schools/search.aspx?searchType=A for a current list of accredited schools.

It's worth exploring the costs and benefits of both transfering directly to a 5 year B. Arch and, finishing your BA at UD and then transfering to a 3 year M. Arch. In some instances, people who finish with a 4 year pre-professional architecture degree (typically one that offers an accredited M. Arch) will receive advanced standing. This allows them to finish an M. Arch in 2 years rather than 3+.

If you are in your first or second year (I'm assuming since you mentioned you are undeclared) then you would have 5 years left of education in the best case scenario. Given that many B. Arch programs would take you a full five years to finish, as you start the design cirriculum in the freshman year, you could break even time-wise.

Keep in mind the benefits of holding an M. Arch over a B. Arch, including the ability to specialize in an area of research, and the potential to work in academia as well as practice.

Thanks, your posts are all helpful. Any more information that anyone might have would also be appreciated.

Have you been leaning towards anything else? What's the breakdown of classes you've taken so far? I'll be doing a B.Arch because it's all that's offered by the school I wanted to / will be going to, but there's a huge advantage to spending your undergrad years doing something else and then getting your M.Arch. For the record anywhere else I would likely be a philosophy or political science major. Also, what architecture programs have you been looking at (if any)?

My undergrad in architecture was far superior to my grad experience (UF for under, UCLA for grad). UF was just more for the students, UCLA was more for the celebrity architect experience. Loved them both, but I'd take my 4 yr undergrad over my 3 yr grad any day.

Honestly, I don't think I'd have gotten much out of my MArch without the foundation of UF, but then again, UF is an exceptional school and that's probably less of a 'rule'.



Advice: what are you thinking of? If it ain't business, then I'd drop it and think about transferring. IMHO, you (and everyone) needs at least one business degree (I'd argue that you should have something substantial coming out of highschool, but that's another discussion).

Call some schools, talk to them about combo master's like Columbia's MArch/MSRED (the perfect combination), although, honestly, I don't know how much you can learn about design in such a short amount of time, with your thinking split between degrees.