2024 Best Colleges for Architecture

SUMMARY

A degree in Architecture is a valuable choice and commonly a critical first step for scholars planning to begin a career as a home designer, an architect, or an architectural drafter. Interestingly, architecture is a fairly common choice ranking as the 96th most popular area of study. Last academic year alone, there were 4,108 architecture graduates. In-state tuition for architecture at private institutions is, on average, 4.2 times more costly than their public peers.

With just 122 institutions having programs for architecture there might be a smaller selection of institutions you can choose from. If you're looking to immerse yourself with other architecture majors, consider colleges in California which have more undergrads admitted to architecture than any other state. Zooming out, the best region to study architecture is in the Far West region with California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, University of California-Berkeley, and Newschool of Architecture and Design best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection of the top conference to major in architecture is the Southeastern Conference with Auburn University, University of Florida, and Texas A & M University-College Station representing the conference. From our extensive list on the best colleges, our selection for the best college for architecture is Yale University.

The overall 'best' school does not have to be the 'best' school for every student. There might be tons more facets to weigh when selecting institution. Features such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food would definitely alter your choice on which university to attend. At authority.org, we evaluated the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which architecture school has the top campus, the answer is Northeastern University. If you are very interested in which university has the best campus, we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through government databases, student reviews, professor reviews, and more so we can compare all U.S. majors in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our well researched list for the schools with the best student life&nbsphere and our choice for the college with the best student life for architecture is University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Are you curious why? Continue reading to learn more about Authority's top selections. Some of our conclusions might shock you.

If expense is a primary deciding factor in your decisions, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspis the most expensive university for architecture, at least for out of state students. That being said, we have a list of the most expensive&nbspcolleges that might put the price tag of Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you could care to know that architecture is the 114th most expensive program in the US, with an average expense of $37,700. To zoom out a little, the most costly state for architecture on our list is Connecticut demonstrated with a cost of $55,500 at the main college in the state Yale University. To zoom out even further, the most costly region for architecture is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, Wellesley College with a cost of $55,728, and Middlebury College with a cost of $55,790.

Our cheapest region for architecture is the Southeast region which is represented by Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University with a cost of $14,524, Florida Atlantic University with a cost of $14,374, and Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College with a cost of $8,038. More optimistically, the most affordable college for architecture is California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo. Authority.org's full list of the most affordable colleges can be explored here.

In-state learners can expect to pay about $10,700 for a degree in architecture. The cost balloons substantially to an average of $27,600 for an out-of-state public-school student. On that note, our pick for the college representing the best value for architecture: Yale University. Here you can find our comprehensive list about the colleges we believe to be the best value&nbspoverall. With that said, this list is predicated on out-of-state tuition costs. The value proposition changes when it comes to in-state tuition, but we do not know where you live (and are not trying to collect that kind of data).

Earnings for architecture majors can cover a wide range, but within two-years of graduation students will typically make around $65,100. There can be a lot of variation in earnings; highest paid earners can rake in up to $104,400. Straight out of college, the minimum earning opportunities within the architecture space make $40,100, which could be worse. The highest earning graduates for architecture studied at University of Pennsylvania&nbspand if you want to find the colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.

The prevailing diversity of architecture stands quite high, falling within the 88th percentile of all programs. The school with the highest composite diversity for architecture is Yale University&nbspand here you can find our comprehensive list of the schools with the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of the Architecture major only is in the 78th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is actually greater, ranking in the 86th percentile. White undergraduates make up the largest proportion at 49% of those studying architecture. Additionally, 53% of undergrads pursuing an architecture degree are men.

The median ranking for architecture's professors is 3.8 stars, a score that is 5% below the median score across every major; which is a subpar score. If you are curious about the most popular architecture professor in the country, look no further than Ted Mosby from Columbia University in the City of New York. It might come as a surprise, but the highest rated instructors for architecture according to students are found at Columbia University in the City of New York. As we including data beyond basic rankings we find that the university possessing comprehensively the best professors for architecture is Princeton University. One will find an explanation of our ever evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as many of the best examples of instructors in the U.S.

Finally, the hardest college to get into for architecture is Columbia University in the City of New York. While we think of this list more as a novelty, we have a comprehensive page for the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, here at Authority we hope you believe that considering higher education with a lens only built on superlatives can cause issues. We at Authority hope you read our other pages on different topics and peruse some of our background 'blog posts' on beneficial things to think about as you progress with your university search.