2011 BEST ARCHITECTURE SCHOOLS in UNITED STATES

James Cramer answered the ever popular question, why rank schools, “At university, students’ experiences can significantly enhance or diminish their interests as well as their likelihood for future success. This gives schools both tremendous opportunity and huge responsibility, since what happens in them has the potential to change the careers of individuals as well as the architecture profession as a whole.”

Cramer continues, “Another answer is given by the architecture firms that employ recent graduates. If the purpose of a professional degree is to prepare students for professional practice, then how well are degree-granting institutions performing the task? Ongoing research by the Design Futures Council and Greenway Group shows that architecture firms and related professional practice careers are being deconstructed and reinvented at an accelerated pace. Beyond the economy, for example, the profession is being shaped by profound changes in technology, such as building information modeling. Can educational institutions keep pace with the changing needs of 21st-century practices? And so we ask in our survey, “In your firm’s hiring experience in the past five years, which schools are best preparing students for success in the architecture profession?”

After the break you can find the complete rankings divided into the following categories: analysis and planning, communication, computer applications, construction methods and materials, design, research and theory and sustainable design practices and principles as seen at Architectural Record.

Top 10 Undergraduate Architecture Schools

1. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
2. Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
3. Rice University, Houston, Texas
4. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
4. Virginia Polytechnic institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
6. Southern California Institute of Architecture , Los Angeles, California
7. Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
9. Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
9. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
3. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
4. Columbia University, New York City, New York
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
6. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
6. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
8. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
10. University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
10. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Analysis and Planning
1. University of Michigan
2. Harvard University
3. Cornell University
4. Virginia Polytechnic Institute
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. Yale University

Communication
1. Harvard University
2. University of Michigan
3. Yale University
4. Cornell University
5. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Computer applications
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. Southern California Institute of Architecture
3. University of Michigan
4. Columbia University
5. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Construction methods and materials
1. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
2. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
3. University of Michigan
4. Lawrence Technological Univeristy
4. University of Kansas

Design
1. Harvard University
2. Southern California Institute of Architecture
3. University of Michigan
4. Cornell University
5. Yale University

Research and theory
1. Harvard University
2. University of Michigan
3. Columbia University
3. Yale University
5. University of California at Berkeley
5. Cornell University

Sustainable design practices and principles
1. University of Oregon
2. University of Michigan
3. University of California at Berkeley
4. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
5. Auburn University

Architecture Deans Survey

Most admired B. Arch. programs
1. Auburn University
2. Cornell University
3. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
4. University of Texas at Austin
5. Syracuse University

Most admired M. Arch. programs
1. Harvard University
2. Yale University
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4. Columbia University
5. University of Michigan