<p>hey you may want to first research on B.Arch and B.S. Architecture. They are very different programs, with the prior one being a 5 year program and the latter one a 4 year program. With the four year program you’ll have to do another 2 years of master degree to be eligible for the licensure exam. both cal poly slo and usc offer the B.Arch (5 year) program and cal poly slo is very, very highly ranked in architecture. usc isn’t bad either (within top 20 in the US). for more info on the difference between the two programs you can look around CC and many people have done very clear analyses on them.
ucla has the 4 year program, but know that the program is pretty new and thus may not be entirely developed. if you really want to do the 4 year program in california, i would recommend ucberkely. its master program for architecture is highly ranked.
cal poly slo is very grades-oriented in the selection process. basically all you need is a really high GPA and do very well especially in maths and phys. i would recommend you to take as many of those honor classes as possible. SAT scores are very important in their selection process too.
as for usc, i’m not so familiar with their selection process but i believe that high scores would be a huge plus. they may require a portfolio so if you can take a few art classes in high school so to have a collection of portfolio materials that would be very helpful. </p>
<p>you may want to look into the following schools as well. they should be less competitive than the ones you’ve mentioned
5 year program: sci-arc (so cal), cal poly pomona (so cal), california college of the arts (nor cal), newschool of architecture (so cal)</p>