2010 United States Best Architecture Schools
Cornell University
Every year, the Greenway Group led by James Cramer (chief executive of the AIA from 1988 to 1994) assembles the architecture-schools rankings. The rankings include the top 10 undergraduate architecture schools and the top 10 graduate schools.
Also, there are different skills rankings, like “analysis and planning”, “communication”, “computer applications”, “construction methods and materials”, “design”, “research and theory” and “sustainable design practices and principles”. This may be a great tool for architecture students when looking for a school and useful also for architecture firms when deciding on who to employ.
Read the complete rankings after the break. Seen at Architectural Record.
Top 10 Undergraduate Architecture Schools
1. Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
2. Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
3. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
4. Virginia Polytechnic institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.
5. University of Texas, Austin, Tex.
6. Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kans.
7. University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
8. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.
9. Rice University, Houston, Tex.
10. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.
Top 10 Graduate Architecture Schools
1. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
2. Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
3. Columbia University, New York City
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
5. University of Texas, Austin, Tex.
6. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
7. Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
8. Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, Va.
9. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
10. University of California, Berkeley, Calif.
Skills Rankings
Analysis and Planning
1. Harvard University
2. Virginia Polytechnic Institute
3. Cornell University
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. University of Cincinnati
5. University of Oregon
Communication
1. Harvard University
2. Yale University
3. Cornell University
3. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
5. University of Cincinnati
Computer applications
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. Carnegie Mellon University
2. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
4. Columbia University
5. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Construction methods and materials
1. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
1. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
3. Auburn University
3. University of Cincinnati
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Design
1. Harvard University
2. Yale University
3. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
4. Cornell University
5. Columbia University
Research and theory
1. Harvard University
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. Princeton University
4. Columbia University
4. Yale University
Sustainable design practices and principles
1. University of Oregon
2. University of California, Berkeley
3. University of Texas, Austin
3. University of Virginia
5. Auburn University
Too bad Cal Poly lost accreditation this year. . .
not true, why dont you try checking the NAAB website before posting inflammatory and absolutely untrue remarks.
From Cal Poly’s website:
The MS-Arch. is not an accredited professional degree program. This is a second degree for those who already have a BArch or related Bachelor degree. Emphasis is on research, with a thesis project required.
http://www.arch.calpoly.edu/prospective/masters.html
Who’s talking about the Masters program JS? Im referring to
the undergraduate (BARCH) program, you know, the one that is actually mentioned in this article.
They might not of lost it, but they came close…
“They might not of lost it, but they came close…”
might not have*
Harvard and Yale… sure… how original.
More interesting: Do the “best” architecture universities produce the best architects? Or rather: Why not?
someone didn’t make to Harvard or Yale,,,hmmmm….
Virginia tech and Carnegie Mellon are the best architecture universities and produce the best architects.
Not necessarily… Architecture is more a matter of talent than anything else… We’re similar to Athletes… UIC isn’t ranked very highly, yet they’ve produced some of the best architects in the world, like Adrian Smith for example…
Hello, where did you hear this fact? Did you go to UIC?
cud some please upload the ratings for masters in landscape
I’m interested in why most of these universities have little or no involvement with the American Institute of Architecture Students. The culture of insularity that has been a real problem at architecture schools is now being challenged by students and faculty alike, but many of these schools represent some of the worst examples of this problem. UT and Cal Poly are a couple of exceptions to this, but it makes you wonder what makes these schools “the best.”
what does aias involvement have to do with the quality of work/students? i felt like it was a waste of time and money and did not really add anything to my school experience. it was just another pointless formality or ‘club’ to put on the resume. there are much better ways to be involved and engage the broader design community… can you elaborate on how cal poly and ut are exceptions? i feel that they are no less insular than any other school on the list.
The AIAS is the only collateral organization representing students at the national level. National officers sit on the board for the AIA and the ACSA, and members comprise the student representation on NAAB accreditation teams. Unfortunately not all school have active chapters, but in terms of engaging the greater architectural community and connecting with other architecture students, the AIAS is probably the best way for students to do that. UT and Cal Poly have fairly consistent representation at regional and national conferences, so at least in some ways they are more engaged than Harvard or Yale.
you dont know what you are talking about. most have very strong involvement with AIA or AIAS. Here at KSU it is considered a very important.
Not at all.
AIAS in Syracuse University does have its perks like traveling to other schools but it is still simply is a club. It doesn’t teach kids design or anything conceptual or truly practical, only AIA traditions.
Mostly everyone talks down on the AIA here anyway
example: Greg Pasquerelli’s (SHoP) entire lecture this year
no love for Pratt?
No kidding, I would certainly expect Pratt to be listed.
Rankings mean nothing if you can’t get a job…
Good architects don’t “get jobs” they start firms and make their own decisions.
Rich architects don’t get jobs they start firms.
You can’t start a firm until you’re licensed, after you’ve worked for at least 3 years.
Harvard only because Farshid Moussavi is positively beautiful.
If I’d known Kansas State Arch was so good I might not have paid triple to go to USC… ;)
Remember that Eisenmann debating wolf video? xD… that was yale right? hahaha nice, i wanna go there then B)
Whoever compiled this list obviously has some sort of connection to Va Tech. It’s a good school, but not THAT good.
Actually Va Tech has consistently been ranked among the best architecture schools.
Rankings are ridiculous anyway. A degree from Harvard is no substitute for good and diverse practical experience. Trust me, I know.
really… you think that VT is the mis-ranked school. did you not notice that Syracuse doesn’t make any of the top fives but is ranked #2 overall.
What is your justification that Virginia Tech is not “THAT good” of a school?
Your education is as much as you make of it and you certainly could find success getting a degree from nearly anywhere. However, the schools that can facilitate the most growth and provided the most opportunities for you as a student that make success that much more attainable. In that respect, Virginia Tech is a fine university.
Don’t ever believe in rankings, ever….
uhh, where is SCI_Arc?
these list are always bogus
Are you a student at SCI-Arc? I’m debating between Sci Arc and Cornell for grad school this coming fall, any thoughts? Thanks.
I didn’t go to Harvard or Yale, but yes, they really are the best grad schools out there.. and yes, they really do produce some of the best architects and designers out there. It’s not a coincidence that many of the most innovative and well-respected young firms out there are the brainchilds of GSD or Yale alumni.
People who went to poorly ranked or unranked schools always think these lists are bogus but most likely, if offered the opportunity (and probably a scholarship), they would jump at the chance to go to any of those schools.
I’d like to see a Worst Arch School list.. even more controversial!
I have to agree with Archi-nerd. They are actually the best schools because of the students and not because of the location, teachers ans technology. They are the main reason for the success of their schools because going to the best school, it does not always make you better than others students if you do not want to succeed.
Regarding the comment of 12yrVet that says: “Rankings mean nothing if you can’t get a job… i guess it is partially true but remember that these schools have the most influential relationships between big firms and teachers and also they are great designers with a lot of project under their wings and that helped you to find a job. I guess after studying on those schools, you got a better chance to get chosen in interviews(if you were a good student) along with new perspective a new plans to develop in the professional world.
I am going to a probably low or mid level school in regards of ranking but my portfolio, knowledge in 3d programs and ideas are the only things that i have so i am making the best of it. So it is great having the chance to go to those high ranked school but is up to you to make the best out from the school that you go to.
Stopped me in my tracks: Arts Quad photo from Cornell. Article about 2010 best Architecture Schools http://bit.ly/1J49rT
"2010 United States Best Architecture Schools | @archdaily ArchDaily" (http://twitthis.com/e58vlp) Yay Cal Poly!
Rankings are useful in many, albeit narrow, ways. They offer specific insights, but should not be viewed as the end-all-be-all surveys of educational institutions.
The motivating factors and architectural ambitions of prospective students vary greatly. Likewise, design schools also vary greatly. A student will receive very different educations at Virginia Tech or VCU (generally more traditional) than schools such as SCI-ARC and Cooper Union (generally more experimental). Thus, the value of a school is based on the values of the prospective student. One seeking guaranteed job placing with a good salary would probably do well to aspire to the zenith of such rankings as the one found in this article.
Anyway…. Is anyone else surprised that Cooper Union is nowhere on these lists?
Cooper never makes the list, we have to small of a school; these rankings don’t account for that. With regard to the statement about Vidler ruining the school, he has very little control within the school. Hejduk RAN the school, Vidler lectures at other schools.
In no way is Cooper ruined as was suggested, we still have the same great professors and we are still producing innovative and provocative work. Personally I agree that the rankings accurately show the schools that are producing some of the best thinkers and practitioners. These rankings just go to show that with any general statements made there are exceptions that are ultimately left out.
Rice’s architecture school is the same size as coop’s
Not surprised at all that Sci-arc didn’t land on the lists, as that place is nothing more than an architectural ponzi scheme. They essentially lost their way since moving downtown and the thesis reviews for a long time have been a digital pony show of bad actors creating bad music.
Very true. Sci-arc represents all that is wrong with architecture.
Its not so much the school ranking but what kind of instructors do you deal with..I went to a mid-lev. school where at times studio guidance was extremely challenging, I know Harvard doesn’t have that type of challenge and I would never trade it for a course just because it is placed in a highly ranked university. You gotta search the pearls for what suits you and enhances the architectural drive. But I like Harvard in many ways, I’m just saying just bc it’s on the top list does not mean it has all the ingredients. At the end it’s what you make of your talent.
the schools that give a student the ‘best’ education may (or may not) be the best school to advance a career or open doors throughout a career. of course, i’m speaking about quality of design education. others may differ. that’s why i put ‘best’ in brackets. these days, it’s such a big investment-it’s good for the prospective student to ask how many (if any!) offices arch recruited at the school in past years. i think that’s something that architecture students-who tend perhaps to be idealistic in their view of things in general-can take into account when choosing their school. as for rem’s opinion, well you know he’s in a different situation than 99.9999% of architects get to live.
And what happened to Cooper Union?
Vidler ruined the place.
Immagine how pissed you’d be if you went to one of those schools and didn’t make top 10.
I think that the rankings are useful as long as you understand what criteria was used to make them. It’s nice to help evaluate schools you would like to go to but I hope employers are looking past my less than top 10 school status and into my work and personality.
RT @architwibe: 2010 United States Best Architecture Schools http://bit.ly/1J49rT
2010 United States Best Architecture Schools http://j.mp/2GwdGC
RT: @shamit RT @architwibe: 2010 United States Best Architecture Schools http://bit.ly/1J49rT
the rankings aren’t bogus. they are subjective only in the criteria used to determine rankings, which, from a former executive of the aia, don’t seem to have any bias concerning the interaction with the aia. the gsd and yale are thorough, excellent schools that have the opportunity to draw from a massive, competitive talent pool both with their faculty and their student body. i don’t think this should come as any surprise that they tend to get many of the best students and faculty out there. and without the quantitative score published, who knows how big of an objective edge they really have over others?
the only oddball in the top ten undergrad schools is perhaps RISD. nice to see an art school ranking high with ivy league & technical schools. there is, afterall, some hope for the future.
i would put rice, pratt and cooper union above risd in the undergrad list.
clearly the evaluation criteria here is corporate in nature.
DAAP listed as top 10 US Architecture grad school: http://bit.ly/3oWLaW
DAAP listed as top 10 US architecture grad school: http://bit.ly/3oWLaW
Syracuse – very good balanced program; stresses technical and design equally.
Best US Architecture school http://bit.ly/30tG01
WAB Purdue ???
Purdue doesn’t offer architecture. Possibly architectural engineering, but not architecture.
Is anyone ever gonna do the list for European best architecture schools???? I couldn’t find one on the web as well? And there are hundreds of lists for US schools…
Yeah! Is the US afraid to be compared on the global level? In this global world!? Its down right ill-liberal!! Sinister even!! hehehe
hehe…Syracuse is good but a lot of the professors come from Cornell or have been influenced by the school. lol I watched some of them walk.
In response to the comment before mine, there are worldwide rankings. Its just hard to compare any two schools because each country, culture, and society has a different standards and importance for architecture. Read up chap.
whatever you might think of ranking… Harvard been always the place where leaders are made! That’s why it’s the best!
harvard is the place for students without imagination or confidence. it’s nice to be able to tie yourself to something that makes you feel accomplished before doing anything. yale, well that’s the place to learn to be even more uninteresting. Evidence: where’s princeton? sure, the school is tiny, but how can a ranking list mean anything when a hokie beats a tiger?
There is some accuracy to this ranking but most it seems like BS.
I would say that the skill rankings are fairly accurate.
However the top tens for Barch seem hard to believe and even some of the March list. These lists seem like they were are based on the size of the program… the larger the program, the more graduates, the more people working in the field, the more successful the program. But most those more often then not end up at some un-influential corporates firms doing monkey work.
Sci-Arc and Cooper Union are two perfect examples of school which are producing by far the best (most progressive) work but because of their size will never do well in a ranking system like this.
I think the best way to judge a schools is through publications, faculty, and facilities/curriculum. And see what schools have students/alumni winning competitions.
California College of the Arts is another example of a small program that isn’t going to make it on one of these list but won the architecture category in the Solar Decathlon… which Cornell, Virginia Tech, and Rice were a part of.
“12yrVet says:
Rankings mean nothing if you can’t get a job…”
since when do architects study to “get a job”?
these rankings are here to help future prospects choose the best education possible; not salary…
we are not lawyers!
12 you most certainly are in the wrong profession…
Carnegie Mellon?
Are there any lists that go deeper than 10? I don’t see much on the West coast and I don’t really want to live on the East coast.
As a principal of a California architecture firm, it would be really nice to find Cal Poly (slo) or Cal Berkley grads that have 1/10th of the technical expertise (hvac,electrical, structural, etc), knowledge of professional practice, knowledge of history – - – not to mention design capability- – that graduates from those “mid level” architecture schools have.
We need qualified graduates in this profession, but it is very difficult to find graduates of California Architecture schools that are truly ready to enter the profession. Getting accepted by these schools might be harder than other schools. After many years of practice and many interviews – - it seems that graduating from these schools is much easier than getting accepted….
What happened to schools like the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, The University of Illinois (Chicago and Urbana Champaign),Frank Lloyd Wright (Taliesen) School of Architecture… or the “School of work” ?
These rankings are ridiculous – the quality of an education is all up to the student and what that student does with that education after leaving school. These Rankings are good for students that want to go to a place that will help you to get good connections…..
The most useful thing about these rankings is the help provided to the vast majority of architects that did not go to these schools when determining whether or not they should join the AIA.
design intelligence rakings are supposed to be compiled from feedback given by employers about the performance of their new graduates/employees, in other words they are mean to be ……but i know of a certain school that debuted in the rakings a couple of years ago in 3rd place when not even its first ever graduate class was in the work field. How do we explain that?
so they are BULL…but they mean something other than “best” i supposed…..
and even more bull is the further rating per sub categories….come on!!!
what about interior and industrial design programs?? does anyone have any insight on these rankings?
lets do a survey on the most progressive firms now and see if anyone famous and well known graduated from va tech, cal poly and other tech schools?
what about upenn?How is its ranking?
The only ranking that really matters is the one that is right for you. Kids are apply to a dozen schools these days based on no other solid reason than rankings-which is extremely unfortunate. If you look at some of the websites and took away the name of the schools, you really couldn’t tell one from the other…Go make your Rhino models and tell me that your overpriced school is any different from any other program, then graduate to unemployment because of the irrelevance of a design education to its pratical applications.
I worked with five people from Harvard; two were decent. Notice I said “decent,” not the best or even great. The other three literally sucked. Maybe they should have became professors because they had no business being in an office. When I looked into grad school, the Ivy Leagues, for practical reasons, were very low on the list.
Best architecture in USA, if you are interested: http://tinyurl.com/ykjpnee Well, I'm sure I am, but think about getting there?
No list is perfect, not even nearly perfect.
However, these are a definite improvement on the ludicrous DI lists. That is all.
harvard is always going to be in the top rankings because it is one of the biggest and attracts the teaching talent. these rankings are kind of meaningless for that reason.
what is important is not the school but who is teaching. harvard can have its off years also.
know what you want and who you want to learn with, adjust your school selection accordingly.
i agree, cooper union was one of the best schools for an architectural education by far.
I’d hire anyone from Kansas State over Harvard anyday of the week. Why?
1. They get work done
2. They do it faster and without question
3. They don’t whine or think their God’s gift to the world
4. They can draw a wall section accurately
Who cares how progressive your work is if it never gets built!
2010 United States Best Architecture Schools | ArchDaily http://shar.es/mG4UK @williamsonbiz #Auburn in Top 5 on 2 lists
School rankings don’t mean much in architecture because architecture, both as a profession and a discipline, is endagered. Out of all the professional fields, architecture has the lowest percentage of graduates entering practice (it was right around 50% in the early 2000′s). Out of the 50% who enter the profession, only a small percentage will ever start their own firm, make partner, or even design something that ever gets built. The field needs to step back and re-examine it’s place in society and in academia. The fist thing that needs to happen is modifying the degree structure to have professional doctorates on par with those in medicine and law, and research doctorates on par with the sciences and humanities. Until this happens, the field will continue to struggle in stature, earning potential, and job opportunities…and like many have stated above, if you can’t get a job, what good is a ranking?
*endangered
*first
Agree with Mike Fully!!!
What is really going wrong in this field is the lack of a true, social/economical demand.
I tell you what. Lets get rid of utilizing architects and their stupid egos and use old plans. Who really cares?
One out of 100000 architects have the freedom to bring to fruition half of their unrealistic thoughts in their whole lifetime. The others are cad-monkeys for the rest of their lives with nothing better to talk about than somebody else’s accomplishments.
Best Regards
John “the baptist”
this scares me. I want to make something significant with my life and not be a cad monkey. john the baptist, don’t say things like these. at least if I throw myself out there I will not live with regrets…
what happened to Clemson…
anyone know about it?
Architecture schools..why even rate them?! they should be called the Computer Application Administrator degrees..or how about a “Virtual Tool-shed degrees..
Dropped out?
where is cooper union here
havard university should wait for the world best architect from nigeria by 2014/2015…Archi.Reinhard Bonnke Chukwualuka Nnabuenyi.
Hey, that guy owes me money!
Cooper union is the best
i am an international undergraduate applicant. reading through the comments has left me more confused than ever about my choice of school. where does iowa state university stand in the ranking for arch schools?
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http://www.archdaily.com/39728/2010-united-states-best-architecture-schools RT @ifeelfunny: @leamandana Harvard is for aardvarks
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@archdaily 2010 Top Architecture Schools in the Country http://ow.ly/2I4BH
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