Architectural Studies Program FAQs

There is a spectrum of ways to study architecture as an undergraduate. At one end are professionally accredited schools of architecture offering 5-year B. Arch. degrees for students who want to study only architecture in college. Then, in the middle, are universities with architecture schools offering undergraduate majors in architecture for students who want a design-focused major within a general education. Then there are un-accredited architectural studies programs like BU’s offering a broad-based, interdisciplinary architectural studies major that allow students to more fully explore architecture and other subjects.

The difference between the types of undergraduate architectural education is in whether or not you are ready to commit to a career, to study only architecture in college, and primarily from a design perspective. Architectural studies, alternately, is for people curious and ambitious about architecture, who want to explore the field most broadly — not solely from the point of view of designers today, but rather from the outlook of makers, users, and interpreters across time, space, and disciplines.

An architectural studies major may be right for you if you want to learn more about architecture and are thinking about careers in the field, but want to keep your options and interests as open as possible. An Architectural Studies curriculum offers the most choices.

Importantly, an architectural studies major prepares students for graduate study and careers in architecture equally well as the other types of programs. You are at no disadvantage applying to graduate schools, or eventually becoming a successful architect, if you study architectural studies as an undergraduate. It is a choice about what you want to do in college, not what becomes of you after college.

Boston University’s 5 full-time and 4 part-time architectural studies faculty is larger than most other architectural studies programs in liberal-arts colleges. Thus, there is a greater selection of courses offered each semester in architectural history, theory, and design, as well as in landscape architecture and historic preservation.

Architectural studies majors at BU also benefit from offerings in the College of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan College’s City Planning & Urban Affairs program, and other departments and colleges from across the University. There is the advantage, too, of course, of being in Boston itself, one of the greatest cities for architecture in the world, full of amazing buildings, institutions, people, events, and opportunities.

Each year, usually less than half of the graduates go directly to architectural graduate school to earn their M Arch degrees. Other graduating majors will take a year or so to decide to continue their educations in architecture. Recent BU architectural studies majors have gone to graduate architecture, planning, landscape, or preservation programs at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Northeastern, Michigan, Miami, UVA, USC, RISD, UCLA, NYU, Pratt, and Temple. However, many other architectural studies majors will pursue non-architecture careers in law, medicine, business, advertising, etc. — just like other liberal-arts majors.

At any one time, there are usually about 75 architectural studies majors, with 18 or so graduating each year as seniors. For faculty, there are 5 full-time architectural studies professors, plus several part-time and adjunct instructors. A complete list can be found here.

There are no separate admissions criteria (or portfolio evaluations) for the Architectural Studies program. Once a student is accepted into BU’s College of Arts and Sciences, he or she can simply elect to become an Architectural Studies major.

Good gateway courses for the major, both of which fulfill requirements, are Understanding Architecture (CAS AH201; only a fall course) and Twentieth-Century Architecture (CAS AH398; only a spring course). For other possibilities, contact the Director of Architectural Studies.

Complete the online “CAS Advising Major/Minor Declaration” form.

All Architectural Studies have a professional academic advisor with whom to discuss major and graduate requirements, and semester-by-semester course selection.  Currently, it is Sarah Niles in the CAS Advising office.  For a recommended course sequence, see the PDF linked on the program webpage.

All majors also will have an official department faculty mentor with whom to discuss their overall trajectory through the program, goals, graduate school, career options, and other general issues.  The faculty mentor will be assigned to you by the department shortly after you declare the major;  or you may ask any full-time faculty member in the Department of the History of Art & Architecture to be your advisor, especially the full-time architectural studies faculty listed here.  You are also welcome at any time to speak with and seek advice from the the Director of Architectural Studies, Professsor Daniel Abramson.

Yes, it is common and not difficult for Architectural Studies majors to complete other majors, either with or without overlap with their Architectural Studies classes. Up to 5 courses can be double-counted. Recent double-majors include art history, biology, computer science, economics, environmental analysis & policy, mathematics, and sociology, as well as communications, business, and visual arts.

Yes, these include urban studies, engineering science, sustainable energy, art history, and environmental analysis & policy.  No more than 2 courses can be double-counted for a minor and the major.

No. Architectural Studies majors are not required to take calculus and/or physics. However, if you are considering applying to graduate schools in architecture, then for nearly all schools you will need to have taken a semester of calculus (CAS MA 121 or 123) and physics (CAS PY 105). Check individual graduate schools for specific admissions requirements.

No, students may fulfill the major’s requirements in any order. A good gateway course for the major is CAS AH201 (Understanding Architecture), offered every fall. The following are general suggestions for a course sequence. First and Sophomore years: CAS AH201 (fall); CAS AH398 (spring); CAS AH111 (fall); architectural history elective and/or studio art elective. Junior-Senior years: CFA AR412 (fall) or CFA AR428 (spring); study architecture abroad in BU’s Venice Studio Arts program; architectural history elective and/or studio art elective; architectural history seminar; Capstone course (spring senior year); free electives. See the recommended course sequence PDF linked on the program webpage, which also shows options for fulfilling HUB requirements through the major.

Boston University offers a highly recommended and excellent, in-depth architectural design study abroad program of its own in Venice for sophomores, juniors, and seniors, which satisfies several of the major’s requirements and offers unparalleled opportunities for study and travel.

Other, non-BU study away programs, focused upon architectural design studios and appropriate for both architectural studies and other majors include: Design Discovery, Harvard University Graduate School of Design (summer only); DIS Copenhagen: Architecture, Interiors, Urban Design; and CIEE, Global Architecture + Design programs in Barcelona and Berlin. 

Yes. The Architecture Capstone course (CAS AH486) is a spring class open to all senior majors. It can be completed by doing an internship in a local Boston office, which the architectural studies program will help you find.

Other ways to secure an internship, which will not be for credit, are by inquiring at architects’ offices in your hometown, or wherever you’ll be spending the summer or semester; or through your own networks (e.g., family of your friends, or friends of your family). You can also look into opportunities through sustainability@BU and BU’s Center for Career Development.

An internship in an architect’s office is useful for learning more about professional practice; it is not, however, a requirement for the major or graduate school admission.

To be eligible for professional qualification, you need an M Arch I degree, taking about 3.5 years. For admissions criteria, you can consult individual graduate schools’ websites, but generally the requirements are fairly minimal: 1) some architectural history classes; 2) one semester of calculus and physics; 3) the GRE exams, and; 4) most importantly, a portfolio of studio art work, which need not be exclusively or even predominantly architectural.

Yes. Individual architectural studies faculty are available to meet with students to discuss their portfolio, most usefully just prior to the time students apply to graduate school. There is also a collection of prior students’ portfolios to consult (ask the Director of Architectural Studies). Also, the student-run Undergraduate Architecture Association holds annual portfolio workshops in the fall for students at all stages to get advice and be shown examples of portfolios.