01/28/2023

How Many Years of School Does it Take to Become an Architect?

How many years of school does it take to become an architect? Three years. No, four years. No, Five years … It depends. I’ll explain your options.

To become a licensed architect, you’ll need three things: an NAAB-accredited architecture degree , apprenticeship in the practice of architecture, and a passing score on each of six registration exams . The last two are the subject of other posts. . . let’s talk about architecture school! Architecture school offers a curriculum centered around design studio, the best mode of education ever invented.

You have three base options if you want an accredited architecture degree: five-year B-Arch, “4+2 M-Arch,” or “M-Arch for those who majored in something other than architecture as an undergraduate.”

Option 1: Bachelor’s of Architecture

This undergraduate degree, which spans five years, allows you to pursue licensure without a master’s degree. Be aware: not every university with an undergraduate architecture program offers an NAAB-accredited Bachelor’s of Architecture (B-Arch); only about half do.

Should you earn a five-year B-Arch degree and still wish to pursue a master’s degree in architecture, that’s a (typically 1- or 1.5-year) option in many, but not all, graduate schools. Below is a list I compiled , in rank-order of the rates in which B-Arch graduates pass their licensure exam.

University of Notre Dame
University of Oregon
Virginia Tech
Carnegie Mellon University
Rice University
Tulane University
University of Texas at Austin
Penn State
University of Tennessee
North Carolina State University
Cornell University
Ball State University
Auburn University
Mississippi State University
Oklahoma State University
Iowa State University
Louisiana State University
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Marywood University
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Arkansas
Drexel University
Drury University
Syracuse University
University of Maryland
Rhode Island School of Design
University of Arizona
National Average
University of Southern California
Boston Architectural College
Illinois Institute of Technology
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Miami
University of Oklahoma
California College of the Arts
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Pratt Institute
Kennesaw State University
Cal State Pomona
New School of Architecture and Design
Southern California Institute of Architecture
University of Houston
Florida A&M
The City College of New York
Academy of Art University
New York Institute of Technology
Woodbury University
Florida Atlantic University

Option 2: 4+2 Master’s of Architecture

To pursue architecture in this track, you’ll attend a four-year non-accredited bachelor’s of arts or bachelor’s of science program in architecture. Upon graduation, you can find a job in the profession and never get licensed, but if you’d like to get licensed–which allows you to legally use the title “architect” and is required to own your own practice–you’ll want to return to graduate school for a two-year, NAAB-accredited master of architecture (M-Arch) degree.

Option 3: Master’s of Architecture With an Undergraduate Degree in Something Other Than Architecture

Architecture school, for most of us, is fun. You may have heard that it’s difficult, but it isn’t so much difficult as it is time-consuming. If spending most of your free time in studio as an undergraduate doesn't sound like great fun to you (as it didn’t to me as an undergraduate), you can major in something other than architecture (I majored in math).

Then, upon graduation, you’ll want to seek out a graduate school that offers a program to people like you and me who didn’t elect to pursue an architecture degree as an undergraduate (or didn’t have such a program available where they went to school).

These NAAB-accredited master’s of architecture programs for those with an undergraduate degree in something other than architecture should probably have a universally accepted separate degree name, but they don’t … Like the 4+2 option above, this flavor is also officially called simply a “master’s of architecture (M-Arch) degree.”

Graduate programs in this option typically last between 3.5 and 4 years–after you’ve completed your undergraduate degree (in theater, history, or engineering). Below is a ordered list I compiled , again by licensure exam pass rate, of schools that offer an M-Arch degree.

Princeton University
University of Notre Dame
University of Virginia
Yale University
MIT
University of Washington
University of Oregon
Harvard University
Virginia Tech
Kent State University
University Massachusetts Amherst
Carnegie Mellon University
Norwich University
Portland State University
University of Hartford
University of Minnesota
Rice University
Tulane University
University of Texas at Austin
University of Cincinnati
Judson University
Montana State University
Penn State
Northeastern University
University of Tennessee
University of Colorado, Denver
North Carolina State University
Clemson University
Ohio State University
University of California, Berkeley
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Cornell University
Miami University
Roger Williams University
University of Colorado
Washington State University
Ball State University
Texas A & M University
University of Kansas
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Iowa State University
Louisiana State University
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
University at Buffalo, SUNY
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of Michigan
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Columbia University
Kansas State University
North Dakota State University
University of Kentucky
University of Idaho
University of Utah
Drury University
Syracuse University
University of Maryland
Georgia Tech
Washington University in St. Louis
Rhode Island School of Design
University of Arizona
Lawrence Technological University
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Pennsylvania
Catholic University
University of Illinois at Chicago
National Average
University of Detroit - Mercy
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture
School of Art Institute of Chicago
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Temple University
University of Southern California
University of New Mexico
Boston Architectural College
Illinois Institute of Technology
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Philadelphia University
Andrews University
Morgan State University
University of Florida
University of Miami
University of Oklahoma
Louisiana Tech University
Texas Tech University
California College of the Arts
Arizona State University
University of Hawaii at Manoa
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Pratt Institute
Savannah College of Art and Design
Cal State Pomona
New School of Architecture and Design
Southern Polytechnic State University
University of South Florida
University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at San Antonio
Southern California Institute of Architecture
University of Houston
Florida A&M
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The City College of New York
Academy of Art University
Woodbury University
Howard University
Florida International University

Know that in some states, you can earn a license without an NAAB-accredited degree, but that’s not something I’d rely on as a readily available option if you don’t have to. Know also that many schools offer non-NAAB-accredited master’s of science degrees, often about two years in length, in subspecialties like architectural acoustics, historic preservation or architectural theory. Those degrees alone won’t get you eligibility to test for licensure, but especially if you have an NAAB-accredited B-Arch and enjoy school, this path may offer something worthwhile.

So, Which Path Should You Pick?

Which option should you pursue? I teach at Virginia Tech, a five-year undergraduate B-Arch program ranked third on that B-Arch list, and my colleagues swear by this five-year model, but I’m not so sure it matters that much which option you choose: 5-year undergrad, 4+2 M-Arch or M-Arch without an undergraduate architecture degree.

In a fifty-year career, you’re not going to look back and be thankful that you saved a year or two of school, nor will regret spending an extra year or two in school to earn a master’s degree. Instead, I offer these four pieces of advice:

If, as you approach the end of your bachelor’s degree, you find that you enjoy school, plan on earning a master’s degree. It’s increasingly a master’s-degree world (though currently in architecture your employability with an M-Arch isn’t that different from your employability with only a B-Arch).
If you think you may want to pursue a master’s degree, take the GRE exam while you are in college. The GRE is like the SAT for graduate school. Many, though not all, architecture graduate schools require a GRE score, and your ability to do well on this kind of exam will only wane over the years after graduation. You don’t have to go to graduate school right away you can work first — but have that GRE score in your pocket when you’re ready to return for a master’s degree.
You don’t have to decide beforehand whether to pursue a master’s degree or pursue a career after you complete your undergraduate architecture degree: you can simultaneously apply to both graduate schools and jobs at the conclusion of your undergraduate program and decide once you know who wants you (and how much salary/financial aid they’re offering). I don’t know why everyone seems surprised that applying to both before you decide is an option.
I strongly believe that if you think you’ll want to go to graduate school, then you ought to enroll immediately after earning your bachelor’s degree and not go to work “for a few years first” because life gets in the way. I used to hold an agnostic stance on this issue — and probably leaned slightly toward the “work for a few years first” camp–until I began teaching continuing education courses to practicing architects at AIA chapters around the US.

These courses spanned three full days, and I did fifty of them, so I got to know about 1,500 practicing architects. A common lament among the enrollees in my courses went something like this: “I’d like to go back to graduate school, but there are no worthwhile architecture graduate schools in my city and I can’t move because my partner loves her job, my local aging parents need my help, my children have good friends in high school that I’m not ready to rip them away from, I’ve become accustomed to a spending level above that of a student, and, besides, what would I do with my house and furniture while I’m in school?”