Carnegie Mellon's School of Architecture offers a 5-year, NAAB accredited, Bachelor of Architecture degree. We are consistently ranked in the top tier of architecture degree programs, ranked third in the 1997 Gourman Report, and is one of the few Bachelor of Architecture programs ranked in the top ten. What is unique at Carnegie Mellon is its commitment to architectural design excellence linked to environmental, social and technological innovations and its strong link to graduate research in architecture. While architectural studies at Carnegie Mellon are studio based, they are richly linked to a multi-disciplinary education from across campus. A majority of entering freshmen complete their five-year Bachelor of Architecture degrees, however, students who decide to move into other fields have a smooth transition and graduate in four years with their entering class on a campus with top ranked programs in the arts, sciences, engineering, business and computer science.

There are approximately 120 NAAB* accredited schools of architecture in the United States, a prerequisite for sitting for your architectural registration exam to practice architecture. Approximately fifty of these schools offer five-year Bachelor of Architecture degrees - an intensive but direct path to the practice of architecture. Alternatively, some schools offer a 4+2 program, where after four years, students receive a B.A. or B.S. in Architecture. However, that does not qualify them for the licensing exam; they must continue in a two-year Masters program and the Master of Architecture degree allows the student to sit for the licensing exam.

*In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit US professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes two types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture and the Master of Architecture. A program may be granted a five-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on its degree of conformance with the established educational standards. Masters degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree, which when earned sequentially, comprise an accredited professional education. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree. (National Architectural Accrediting Board Conditions and Procedures 1998)