08/06/2022

The Top 100 Architectural School & Program Rankings

Architect Education

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In this article, we take a look at the top 50 undergraduate architectural school rankings by licensure exam division pass rates, as well as the top 100 graduate architecture program rankings by the same metric.

Architectural School Rankings By Average Architecture Licensure Exam Division Pass Rates (Undergraduate Programs)

Composite average pass rates for schools offering an NAAB-accredited BArch degree.

Rank	School	Pass Rate
1	University of Notre Dame	77%
2	University of Oregon	72%
3	Virginia Tech	71%
4	Carnegie Mellon University	70%
5	Rice University	69%
6	Tulane University	69%
7	University of Texas at Austin	69%
8	Penn State	67%
9	University of Tennessee	66%
10	North Carolina State University	65%
11	Cornell University	64%
12	Ball State University	63%
13	Auburn University	62%
14	Mississippi State University	62%
15	Oklahoma State University	62%
16	Iowa State University	62%
17	Louisiana State University	62%
18	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	62%
19	Marywood University	61%
20	Cal Poly San Luis Obispo	61%
21	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	61%
22	University of Arkansas	60%
23	Drexel University	59%
24	Drury University	58%
25	Syracuse University	58%
26	University of Maryland	58%
27	Rhode Island School of Design	57%
28	University of Arizona	57%
29	National Average	55%
30	University of Southern California	53%
31	Boston Architectural College	52%
32	Illinois Institute of Technology	52%
33	University of Louisiana at Lafayette	52%
34	University of Miami	50%
35	University of Oklahoma	50%
36	California College of the Arts	48%
37	New Jersey Institute of Technology	47%
38	Pratt Institute	47%
39	Kennesaw State University	46%
40	Cal State Pomona	45%
41	New School of Architecture and Design	45%
42	Southern California Institute of Architecture	43%
43	University of Houston	43%
44	Florida A&M	42%
45	The City College of New York	41%
46	Academy of Art University	39%
47	New York Institute of Technology	37%
48	Woodbury University	32%
49	Florida Atlantic University	31%

Architecture Program Rankings By Average Architecture Licensure Exam Division Pass Rates (Graduate School)

Composite average pass rates for schools offering a NAAB-accredited MArch degree.

Rank	School	Pass Rate
1	Princeton University	81%
2	University of Notre Dame	77%
3	University of Virginia	77%
4	Yale University	77%
5	MIT	73%
6	University of Washington	73%
7	University of Oregon	72%
8	Harvard University	72%
9	Virginia Tech	71%
10	Kent State University	71%
11	University Massachusetts Amherst	71%
12	Carnegie Mellon University	70%
13	Norwich University	70%
14	Portland State University	70%
15	University of Hartford	70%
16	University of Minnesota	70%
17	Rice University	69%
18	Tulane University	69%
19	University of Texas at Austin	69%
20	University of Cincinnati	69%
21	Judson University	68%
22	Montana State University	68%
23	Penn State	67%
24	Northeastern University	67%
25	University of Tennessee	66%
26	University of Colorado, Denver	66%
27	North Carolina State University	65%
28	Clemson University	65%
29	Ohio State University	65%
30	University of California, Berkeley	65%
31	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	65%
32	Cornell University	64%
33	Miami University	64%
34	Roger Williams University	64%
35	University of Colorado	64%
36	Washington State University	64%
37	Ball State University	63%
38	Texas A & M University	63%
39	University of Kansas	63%
40	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	63%
41	Iowa State University	62%
42	Louisiana State University	62%
43	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	62%
44	University at Buffalo, SUNY	62%
45	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	62%
46	University of Michigan	62%
47	Cal Poly San Luis Obispo	61%
48	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	61%
49	Columbia University	61%
50	Kansas State University	61%
51	North Dakota State University	61%
52	University of Kentucky	61%
53	University of Idaho	60%
54	University of Utah	59%
55	Drury University	58%
56	Syracuse University	58%
57	University of Maryland	58%
58	Georgia Tech	58%
59	Washington University in St.Louis	58%
60	Rhode Island School of Design	57%
61	University of Arizona	57%
62	Lawrence Technological University	57%
63	University of California, Los Angeles	57%
64	University of Pennsylvania	57%
65	Catholic University	56%
66	University of Illinois at Chicago	56%
67	National Average	55%
68	University of Detroit - Mercy	55%
69	Wentworth Institute of Technology	55%
70	Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture	54%
71	School of Art Institute of Chicago	54%
72	Southern Illinois University Carbondale	54%
73	Temple University	54%
74	University of Southern California	53%
75	University of New Mexico	53%
76	Boston Architectural College	52%
77	Illinois Institute of Technology	52%
78	University of Louisiana at Lafayette	52%
79	Philadelphia University	52%
80	Andrews University	51%
81	Morgan State University	51%
82	University of Florida	51%
83	University of Miami	50%
84	University of Oklahoma	50%
85	Louisiana Tech University	49%
86	Texas Tech University	49%
87	California College of the Arts	48%
88	Arizona State University	48%
89	University of Hawaii at Manoa	48%
90	New Jersey Institute of Technology	47%
91	Pratt Institute	47%
92	Savannah College of Art and Design	47%
93	Cal State Pomona	45%
94	New School of Architecture and Design	45%
95	Southern Polytechnic State University	45%
96	University of South Florida	45%
97	University of Texas at Arlington	45%
98	University of Texas at San Antonio	45%
99	Southern California Institute of Architecture	43%
100	University of Houston	43%
101	Florida A&M	42%
102	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	42%
103	The City College of New York	41%
104	Academy of Art University	39%
105	Woodbury University	32%
106	Howard University	32%
107	Florida International University	29%

Architectural School Rankings Methodology

All the data used was pulled from NCARB’s ARE 5.0 Pass Rates by School . No trained statisticians were used for this ranking, and we make no claims of scientific validity. We simply culled data from publicly available sources, averaged it, and rank-ordered it.

School licensure pass rates were derived from the average pass rates for each of the six architecture licensure exams averaged over four years (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020), so 24 cells in total (six exams times four years). If a school had more alumni taking CE than PjM over those four years, or more taking exams in 2019 than 2020 (as most did because of COVID closures) our data would not have reflected that anomaly. We averaged the CE division pass rates with the PjM division pass rates (and all the others) and weighted each exam division and year as equal.

We used “missing teeth” in the data as a proxy for “a school is too small or too new to have useful data.” The vast majority of schools had data for each exam, each year. Those that didn’t were left off this survey.

While NCARB has found that candidates with graduate degrees, on average, pass exams at a +4% rate relative to candidates with only undergraduate architecture degrees, the school-level data that NCARB provides for programs that offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees does not differentiate between the pass rates of the school’s undergraduates and graduates. Therefore, if a university offers both degrees, the overall pass rates for all degrees were reported in each list. Only NAAB accredited programs were included in this ranking.

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No matter where your program sits within architectural school rankings, utilizing a focused study course for the ARE 5.0 will properly prepare any would-be architect for the exam.

Amber Book was created by Michael Ermann, AIA, a licensed architect and tenured full professor in Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design (number three on the undergraduate ranking). He was the first person to pass all six ARE 5.0 divisions and enjoys hosting ARE Building Systems prep courses for those in practice. Enroll in Amber Book’s multi-exam course today to best prepare for the ARE 5.0.