Program Overview
The Architecture Major is a pre-professional degree program that satisfies the entrance requirements for graduate architecture and urban design programs at the nation's top universities. The curriculum combines an introduction to architecture, community design, urban design, city planning, and landscape design with a strong emphasis on the social sciences and humanities. In the classroom, around San Francisco, and on international immersion trips, we train students to become impassioned readers, interpreters, actors, and designers of their cities, institutions, and communities.
Multiple Pathways to Architecture Licensure
Architecture, BA students at USF have two paths to become licensed architects:
- The Degree+Work Experience Path gives graduates four years of credit toward their experience credentials. This path allows candidates to combine their undergraduate architecture study with architectural work experience under a licensed architect. As with all paths to licensure, this path also requires completion of the Architect Registration Examination (ARE), completion of the Architectural Experience Program (AXP), and the California Supplemental Examination (CSE).
- The Traditional Path has students following their undergraduate BA degree with a Master of Architecture (MArch) degree from a program accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) or the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB), completion of the Architect Registration Examination (ARE), completion of the Architectural Experience Program (AXP), and the California Supplemental Examination (CSE).
Graduates from the Architecture, BA program have used both paths to become licensed architects and landscape architects.
The projects in addition to learning AutoCad are a large reason as to why I was able to quickly secure a job at an architecture firm three months after graduating."
Arantza Aramburu '21 Designer at Medium Plenty