Top Architecture Schools in the Nation

Virginia Tech

• Architect Magazine rated Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) as the top-rated undergraduate architectural school in the nation in 2008. Ratings were primarily based on opinion polls taken by members of firms and organizations who hire architecture graduates. Virginia Tech's graduate school program ranked fifth. The school of architecture offers a wide variety of degree programs, including a bachelor of architecture, along with programs in interior design, industrial design and landscape architecture. Aside from its undergraduate programs, Virginia Tech offers graduate degrees such as master of architecture, master of science in architecture and a PhD in architecture and design research. The department also has a number of off-campus research laboratories and design centers that allow students to hone their skills and conduct extensive research in the field of architecture. A study abroad program is also offered during the summer session, allowing students to experience and study the architecture of Europe first-hand.

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute
  School of Architecture + Design
  201 Cowgill Hall
  Blacksburg, VA 24061
  540-231-5383
  archdesign.vt.edu

Cornell University

• Architect Magazine ranked Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art and Planning as having the No. 2 undergraduate program in the nation. Cornell's graduate program ranked third (tied with Columbia University). Like Virginia Tech, Cornell offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Cornell offers both the bachelor of architecture and the bachelor of science in architecture at the undergraduate level. Graduate degree programs include the master of architecture, the master of science in computer graphics and a PhD in the history of architecture and urban development. Like Virginia Tech, Cornell offers a study abroad program. Students spend one summer in the city of Rome studying the classical architecture of the Greco-Roman tradition. Other study abroad programs are also available with destinations that change each year.

  Department of Architecture
  College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
  Cornell University
  139 E. Sibley Hall
  Ithaca, NY 14853
  607-255-5236
  aap.cornell.edu/arch

Harvard University

• Harvard University's Graduate School of Design was ranked as the top graduate program in the nation by Architect Magazine in 2008. Harvard has held this top-rated position since 2004. Harvard offers a wide array of programs in the fields of architecture, urban planning and design and landscape architecture. Harvard offers two separate master of architecture degree programs. One of these is a professional program and the other is a postprofessional degree track. The school also offers a master in design studies, a doctor of design and a PhD in the field as well.

  Harvard University
  Graduate School of Design
  48 Quincy Street
  Gund Hall
  Cambridge, MA 02138
  617-495-5453
  gsd.harvard.edu