America's Top Architecture Schools 2015

In December 2013, MIT architecture students of Jos' Selgas created a pavilion of plastic and algae on the campus. The Madrid architect, a principal of the firm Selgas Cano, led the studio, aptly called Burglars of Transnature Technologies.

Photo © Iwan Baan

Architecture Student Survey

This year, 2,619 students responded to DesignIntelligence’s questions about their satisfaction with their education in 60 schools. Of this group, 36 percent is B.Arch. and 31.6 percent is M.Arch.; if all undergraduate architecture programs are grouped, including B.Arch., B.S. (16.9 percent), and B.A. (11.4 percent), that percentage rises to 65 percent. As the sample indicates, the students generally approve of the education they are receiving, and many consider it superlative.

**Skills Assessment**
The academic programs that practitioners deem strongest for each skill area:
DESIGN
1	Harvard University
2	Southern California Institute of Architecture
3	Yale University
4	Columbia University
5	Cornell University
SUSTAINABLE-DESIGN PRACTICES & PRINCIPLES
1	University of Oregon
2	University of California, Berkeley
3	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5	Auburn University
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2	Columbia University
3	Southern California Institute of Architecture
4	Harvard University
5	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
CONSTRUCTION METHODS & MATERIALS
1	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
2	Auburn University
3	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
4	University of Michigan
5	Georgia Institute of Technology
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY TEAMWORK
1	Harvard University
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3	Cornell University
4	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
5	Columbia University

TOP 5 SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
This year, DesignIntelligence polled 78 deans and chairs, along with 1,059 professional offices and corporations, to assess the top five significant issues from each of their perspectives.
DEANS AND CHAIRS
1	Sustainability/climate change
2	Speed of technological change
3	Integrated design
4	Urbanization
5	Maintaining design quality
FIRM LEADERS
1	Sustainability/climate change
2	Maintaining design quality
3	Integrated design
4	Speed of technological change
5	Retaining quality staff in design practices

Methodology: Greenway Group, as it usually does, sent surveys to CEOs, managing partners, and human resource directors asking about their findings in hiring architecture graduates. The respondents could select up to 10 NAAB-certified undergraduate and graduate programs in each category. Each survey response was checked for authenticity and validated by the research staff at Greenway Group. In cases of dubious or unreliable information that could not be confirmed, researchers eliminated the questionable return. Researchers also confirmed that the person responding to the survey was in a hiring capacity. In addition to the architectural component of Greenway Group’s research, the study includes rankings and satisfaction surveys for the professions of interior design, landscape architecture, and industrial design. This information is published in DesignIntelligence annually, along with a comprehensive list of the firms and employing organizations participating in the research. These charts reflect combined accredited B.Arch. and M.Arch. programs.

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Suzanne Stephens, a former deputy editor of Architectural Record, has been a writer, editor, and critic in the field of architecture for several decades. She has a Ph.D. in architectural history from Cornell University, and teaches a seminar in the history of architectural criticism in the architecture program of Barnard and Columbia colleges.