Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Does undergrad major impact grad school?
I am a current high school senior choosing between a couple different schools right now. I was hoping to major in architecture in undergrad, but my top choice school (UMich) accepted me under a different major. Would not majoring in architecture in undergrad hurt my chances of studying it in grad school?
It could both hurt and/or help.
A large number of grad programs offer 3.5 year first professional master’s degrees. Including UMich. These programs largely accept non-architecture students, or students that fall really short of the 2year program prerequisites when applying (some bachelor of arts in architecture students fall in that category). Anyway, these programs are longer than the typical master’s degree, so you will end up spending a total of more time and more money for school.
Your odds of getting into these programs is likely influenced by what your other major ends up being and how good of a student you are. Realistically It’s probably similar odds to getting into any other master’s program with a architecture undergrad.
That said, again, this is about the most expensive and time-consuming way to get into architecture. If you know you want to do architecture, your cheapest/shortest option is to go to a 5-year professional BArch degree… which don’t really exist in the Midwest. If you really want the master’s degree after that you can get a 1-year non-accredited degree. Next shortest is a 4+2, where you do a 4-year unaccredited degree (Bachelors of Science of Architecture is usually your best bet) and then a 2-year accredited masters. This is pretty common in the mid west, and is the way you do it if you were to do your undergrad and grad school both as architecture at UMich.
Not necessarily.
Everything natematt said I'd agree with. Except I'll say that most unaccredited BA architecture programs will land you in a 3 year grad program, not a 2 year one. At least from what I've seen.
I went with the non-arch BA followed by an MArch, even knowing I wanted to do architecture in the long run.
It was a great path for me, and I think it's given me a lot of advantages in school and in practice. I have a whole other degree in the social sciences, it gives me a whole other way to understand and move within the profession. I learned how to write (they don't teach this in arch school). These were important values to me from the beginning, however, so it's up to you. This is a long career! Have fun.
For OPs clarification, you are talking about a BA Arch degree, IE bachelor of arts in architecture. Which is usually a 4 year unaccredited degree that is similar to a BS Arch (bachelor of science in architecture), but often covers slightly less of the prerequisites for an accredited degree and thus will land you in a 3 year like a non-architecture degree would. I agree with this statement. Again for OP I would clarify that a BArch (Bachelor of Architecture) is usually a 5 year long professional undergrad degree, not to be confused with a BA Arch.
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