Top 30 Undergraduate Architecture Schools in the U.S.

11. Princeton University

Architecture Dept.: School of Architecture
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
Degrees: Four-year B.A. (Bachelor of Arts in Architecture)
Websites: www.princeton.edu
Architecture: soa.princeton.edu

The School of Architecture’s undergraduate program is known for its rigorous and interdisciplinary approach to pre-professional education. The program leads to an A.B. with a concentration in architecture and offers an introduction to the discipline of architecture within the framework of a liberal arts curriculum.

In addition to architectural design and the history and theory of architecture and urbanism, undergraduates study a range of disciplines that contribute to an architect’s knowledge and vision, including courses in architectural analysis, representation, computing, and building technologies. Such a broad academic program also prepares students for a graduate program in architecture and other related disciplines such as landscape architecture, urban planning, civil engineering, art history, and the visual arts.

12. Rhode Island School of Design

Architecture Dept.: Department of Architecture
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Degrees: Five-year B.Arch. (Bachelor of Architecture)
Websites: www.risd.edu
Architecture: architecture.risd.edu

As an integral part of a fine arts school, Architecture at RISD emphasizes process, artistic sensibilities, and social and ethical responsibility. Students hone the ability to think and communicate through drawing, making, writing, and discussing ideas with others as they define and articulate a personal approach to the discipline.

13. Rice University

Architecture Dept.: School of Architecture
Location: Houston, Texas
Degrees: Four-year B.A. (Bachelor of Arts in Architecture) and an additional two years leading to B.Arch. (Bachelor of Architecture)
Websites: www.rice.edu
Architecture: arch.rice.edu

Located in the nation’s fourth-largest city, Rice University is a leading research institution committed to fostering a strong intellectual environment for the next generation of leaders and thinkers. Rice Architecture’s small, 5-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio encourages a close-knit community that provides both undergraduates and graduates with thoughtful instruction, particularly in the studio setting.

14. Syracuse University 

Architecture Dept.:School of Architecture
Location: Syracuse, New York
Degrees: Five-year B.Arch. (Bachelor of Architecture)
Websites: www.syracuse.edu
Architecture: soa.syr.edu

The five-year BArch program offers a rigorous and stimulating professional course of study, providing a comprehensive approach to the design of the built environment. The design studio is at the core of the program. It is here that students begin to understand the fundamentals of design, working alongside their classmates. Instruction takes place through extensive one-on-one communication with professors and in formal and more casual reviews of work.

15. Texas A & M University-College Station 

Architecture Dept.: College of Architecture
Location: College Station, Texas
Degrees: B.L.A. (Bachelor of Landscape Architecture)
Websites: www.tamu.edu
Architecture: www.arch.tamu.edu

The Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) program at Texas A&M University is the oldest in the state and one of the oldest in the Southwest. It is a four-year accredited by the Council of Landscape Architecture Registration Boards under the auspices of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Provisional accreditation was first granted for the BSLA program in 1971 and has maintained accredited status continuously since that time.

16. Tulane University 

Architecture Dept.: Tulane School of Architecture
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Degrees: Four-year B.S. (Bachelor of Science in Architecture) and Five-year B.Arch.(Bachelor of Architecture)
Websites: tulane.edu
Architecture: architecture.tulane.edu

The Tulane School of Architecture provides a world-class education in architecture, preservation, and sustainable real estate development. These programs, from undergraduate to graduate levels, equip future graduates with the basic intellectual, cultural and technical skills needed to be relevant in reversing social inequalities and ecological disruptions.
The school’s teaching and research advance the fields in the most relevant topics of today, such as climate change, coastal and riparian crisis, the process of urbanization under these circumstances, and the challenges for social and environmental justice.

17. University of California – Berkeley

Architecture Dept.: Department of Architecture in the College of Environmental Design
Location: Berkeley, California
Degrees: Four-year B.A. (Bachelor of Arts in Architecture)
Websites: www.berkeley.edu
Architecture: ced.berkeley.edu

The program combines required courses in environmental design and architecture with opportunities for highly varied individual programs. Through its core courses, the program offers a broad introduction to the field of architecture, and through studies in the various areas, it provides opportunities to prepare for specialization in the field in the areas of architectural design and representation, architectural technologies and building performance, architectural history, and society and culture. In addition to offering a sound and well-rounded education, undergraduate studies can also provide pre-professional competency for entry-level employment in architecture, the option for graduate work in architecture, or further studies in a related environmental design field.

18. University of California – Los Angeles

Architecture Dept.: Department of Architecture and Urban Design in School of the Arts and Architecture
Location: Los Angeles, California
Degrees: Two-year B.A. (Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies)
Websites: www.ucla.edu
Architecture: www.aud.ucla.edu

The curriculum for the Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies introduces the fundamental ordering systems of architecture: form, space, tectonics, and program, and their relationships to political, social, and cultural constructs. Central to the pedagogy are two objectives: the first provides an understanding of architecture and urban design as a humanist discipline, which engages cultural and social studies, and the history of architecture and cities. The second provides, for interested students, preparation for graduate professional studies.

19. University of Florida

Architecture Dept.: School of Architecture in College of Design, Construction and Planning
Location: Gainesville, Florida
Degrees: Four-year B.Des.Arch.  (Bachelor of Design in Architecture)
Websites: www.ufl.edu
Architecture: dcp.ufl.edu/

This program leads to a pre-professional undergraduate degree that serves as excellent preparation for an accredited two-year Master of Architecture degree, the educational credentials you need for licensure as a registered practicing architect. The ideas and experience that you gain in design studio are reinforced and amplified by support courses in history, theory, structural tectonics, building technology, and construction materials and methods. Design studio and support courses are not isolated from each other as mutually exclusive territories.

20. The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Architecture Dept.: School of Architecture
Location: Champaign, Illinois
Degrees: Four-year B.S.A.S. (Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies)
Websitesillinois.edu
Architecture: arch.illinois.edu

The Illinois School of Architecture (ISoA) Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies (BSAS) curriculum combines a comprehensive design education with the broad perspective necessary to become active and engaged global citizens.  You will learn to address and solve tomorrow’s complex problems at the intersection of the social, political, economic, and environmental realms. Two- and three-dimensional design form the foundation of the four-year BSAS degree.  Technology, history, and structures courses complete the curriculum, preparing you to enter a two-year NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture degree program or to pursue a graduate degree or career in an allied discipline.