Best universities for architecture in america?

Question

Could anyone tell me the best universities for architecture in america?

Anywhere there?

My grades are good enough for cambridge/oxford england, so erm i think that i'm okay for most places in america.

If you could give me any suggestions it would be great!

Answer 1

I'm not sure if it's the best but UW-Milwaukee has this huge institution for architecture and urban planning. It has one of the largest schools of architecture buildings built in the  U.S. and was ranked in the top twenty by a US report. That's where I might go to study to be an architect since I live right down the block from there.

Plus the best architects ever are from Wisconsin Frank Lloyd Wright, these two other guys, and me.

Answer 2

It does not have to be Ivy league to be a good school! and it depends on what type of cirriculum you prefer as to what's "best." from what i understand, the ivy league's typically base their architecture education on theory, whereas schools like Kent State or Univ. of Cincinnati are very technically oriented (meaning you'll know how to design every structural member in the building as well as how to make it "pretty.") Personally, i like the schools that offer a balance of the two types. I'm currently a grad student at Ball State, and i think we have a well balanced program. Our professors make fun of the architecture people from Notre Dame, and i had a boss who graduated from Kent State and was hired over a person who graduated from Harvard because my boss actually knew what to do and not just talk about it. Schools like Florida, Michigan, Ohio State are also very theory-oriented and make their students design very conceptual stuff.

Savannah College of Art & Design is another good school, although i'm not very familiar with it.

Go to the universitys' websites and look at the student projects. If you can't understand what it is by looking at it, then that school probably focuses on concepts and theory.

The link below is to a list of architecture schools ranked based on their internship programs. It'd be a good start.

Answer 3

The usual suspects (Ivy League+UC System) have the best architecture departments and schools. Namely:

Columbia, Princenton, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Berkeley, Yale, Rice, Notre Dame, MIT, UCLA, Northeastern, University of Maryland and Carnegie Mellon (in order of ranking/prestige by magazine DesignIntellence - the 'Big Daddy' of trade/professional publications in architecture in the US).

Other great programs are available at UTA (University of Texas at Austin) and FIU (Florida International University).

Now, if you're not dead-set with a US school, the National Superior School of Architecture of Versailles (ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE D'ARCHITECTURE DE VERSAILLES) is a top-notch choice for many now famous contemporary architects.

By the way, a lot of architectural projects that are cutting-edge are now based out of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (so a French or English formation would be advantageous).