try looking up the school by its name on this site or others. Engineering based education in architecture school? you are really new aren't you? because there are not more than a hand full of those college programs and some of those are veering away from the engineering aspect all together in a marketing effort to get students like you enrolled.

well let me see what you call cutting edge, some of us call the Crazy Parade or aesthetic speculation programs.

usc
sci arc
harvard
yale
university of ill in champ.
uic
Cincinnati
miami
texas colleges
i could keep going but ill stop here i have a life.

well good luck to you mr. c.

I agree with DisplacedArchitect, but really I would recommend finding schools that you might be interested in. Make a list of schools based on general reputation, campus, location and tuition range etc. Than go visit the schools and don't just take a tour of the campus, ask to sit in on a class, hang around in the computer lab when it's crowded with other students. Talk to people who are in school there and they will tell you honestly what they think of their program.

Also, architecture is an amazing major to be in, but I wouldn't undervalue engineering. They are two very different methods of thinking, but both are valuable. Right now most schools that offer architecture will not give you an "engineering" perspective. Architecture programs will give you a comprehensive understading of materials, structure, technologies, passive design techniques and other practical requirements to design. But fundamentally they just teach you how to learn, do research, and how to do conceptual design. Also you will find that once you are in school that you will favor certain aspects of architecture and connect with certain professors.

I promise you that you will be inspired by some of your professors. You will also strongly disagree with some of them. Schools are not homogeneous places, and their professors often have strong disagreements about architectural education, practice and life. Some schools have overall philosophies, but most still have a lot of variety within them.

Depends on what your looking for...grad, undergrad? Etc.

As noted above, you really don't learn engineering, math or whatever in school, contrary to what the world thinks.

The most significant way to judge a school is by what the students know and produce coming out, not the professors star quality, the tuition or the rankings.

Make a good list of questions, maybe even post them here, then go to whatever schools you can go to.


I thought I was going to love LA, I hated it. I thought I would have hated Columbia, but turns out they had a MSRED/MArch combo degree that I'd kill for right now (granted, if I had accepted their offer I'd still owe a small fortune more and I had no idea that a business degree is so useful back then).


Point being, be careful about the conclusions you think you know now, they will change.

My best advice: where ever you decide, get a MBA too. That was you know you have employable skills regardless of where the future takes you.


Good luck! Ah...to be young, naive and idealistic again!

austin w.. that was one horrible plug.