More than 100 colleges with 154 architectural programs are NAAB-accredited in the United States. Only one NAAB-accredited college offers a Doctor of Architecture degree. A Master of Architecture degree is offered by 95 NAAB-accredited programs and 58 NAAB-accredited programs offer a Bachelor of Architecture degree.
Generally, baccalaureate degrees are considered pre-professional degrees and usually take four years to complete. Most jurisdictions require a professional degree consisting with at least a Bachelor of Architecture five-year degree in order to become a licensed architect. A Master of Architecture degree usually requires one to five years to complete, in addition to completion of an undergraduate degree program. Although the NAAB only accredits one Doctorate of Architecture program, other colleges offer a doctorate degree in such areas as design theory and solar design with concentration in architecture.
Admission requirements vary between schools but the prerequisites at Harvard University are most common among Massachusetts architectural colleges. Prerequisites to enter the Harvard University School of Architecture professional degree program are completion of at least one semester of both college-level physics and college-level calculus. Additionally, applicants must have completed two semesters of art or architectural history. Applicants must have received a "B" grade or better in all of these four courses. Applicants must also provide a hard-copy portfolio. Applicants must submit scores for the Graduate Record Examination. Additionally, applicants must have maintained a grade point average of at least 3.30 for previous education. Massachusetts Institute of Technology admits approximately 10 percent of all applicants to its architectural program. Applicants at all Massachusetts architecture degree programs must submit recommendation letters. Foreign students will also need to prove proficiency of the English language by taking the TOEFL exam.
In 2008, four Massachusetts colleges reported students who took the ARE exam. The best ARE examination pass rate for Massachusetts colleges was 100 percent for examinees who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Second-place was at Boston Architectural College with a 70 percent pass rate, followed by Harvard University School of Architecture with 61 percent and Wentworth Institute of Technology with a 37 percent pass rate.
Although tuition costs vary depending upon whether a student attends an undergraduate or graduate program, attendance as a full- or part-time student, and other factors, tuition costs at MIT architecture programs are representative of the approximate cost. For the fall 2010 term at MIT, annual tuition for a full-time student was $39,212.