The DesignIntelligence 2020 architecture school rankings are out! The annual design industry survey asks hiring professionals two basic questions:

1. "What schools do you most admire for a combination of faculty, programs, culture, and student preparation for the profession?”
2. “From which schools have you hired the greatest number of (undergraduate or graduate) students in the last five years?” 

The responses record the degree to which students have the ability to hit the ground running in their new jobs following graduation, among other factors. The survey, according to DesignIntelligence, assesses how recent graduates perform according to 12 skill areas encompassing knowledge of how buildings come together, communication and decision-making abilities, and digital technology skills. Using the accumulated responses, the organization tabulates top 10 rankings for both graduate and undergraduate programs, shown below.

The Top 10 Most Admired Architecture Undergraduate Programs

1. Cornell University
2. Rhode Island School of Design
3. Rice University
4. Cooper Union
5. Syracuse University
6. Virginia Tech
7. Pratt Institute
8. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
9. University of Texas, Austin
10. Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)

The Top 10 Most Admired Architecture Graduate Programs

1. Harvard University
2. Columbia University
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)
4. Yale University
5. Cornell University
6. Princeton University
7. Rice University
8. Rhode Island School of Design
9. University of Pennsylvania
10. University of California, Berkeley

This year, DesignIntelligence reports that a whopping 32-percent of hiring managers feel that communication and decision-making abilities among recent graduates are "inadequate" and that these architectural workers, while possessing a high degree of fluency with digital workflows, miss "the human necessity of effective personal interaction. Conversational and written communication to defend and support detailed design decisions is critical to the future of the profession, yet so many don’t possess these basic skills."

The survey's student responses indicate a desire for their work to be "purposeful, responsible, founded in defensible research, with a measurable impact. That sense of purpose continues to be a major drive in the generation entering the workforce: working for a wage is no longer enough motivation. A range of work is also critical: engaging various market types and solutions, and using a broader range of their skills. "