Tzar

I would agree completely-- I think that may be the case of USC-- which is not known for its masters program

rick12

Tzar, I am not really sure why you have a bee in your bonnet about the DI rankings. They are what they are; a ranking by practicioners of what they consider to be the best schools. If you don't care what practiciners think about your school then just ignore it. Is it flawed? Absolutely, just like very other ranking out there. However the DI rankings are as good as any that I have seen for architecture schools, and are a pretty good reflection of the students that I have hired.

We had the report, and my D looked at it, but I don't think it had a lot of influence on her choice of schools to apply to.

rick

Tzar

Rick - I think that there needs to be a better ranking system and I know we can to better than what DI gives out every year.- the only reason that DI rankings 'are as good as any' that you have seen is because there aren't any other credible rankings that exist. Also, it is not just that they are flawed- because any ranking system will be flawed-- these rankings are flawed to a point that questions the meaning and usage of the ranking at all. This doesn't mean you shouldn't look at it, but that you should keep in mind that this system does has very serious problems.

rick12

Tzar, all ranking systems are flawed, whether it is the numerically based U.S. News and World Report ranking of colleges, the subjective DI rankings, or the BCS football rankings. You just need to be aware of what criteria is used and adjust your judgement accordingly. However if you can come up with a better way to rank architecture schools, go for it.

rick

msheft

Besides the college web sites, there is a book published by the Association of Colleiate Schools of Architecture titled Guide To Architecture Schools. It lists all the schools that have architecture programs, whether BArch, MArch, BS Architecture Studies, 4+2, etc. It gives info on the schools including financial info, student populatin, number of students in each degree program, school philosophy, summaries of the programs, etc. Excellent guide to help create a first cut of a list of schools.