Another route to consider is a BS in Arch with a one year extension to MArch if the school offers it.) It all depends on when and how NCARB accredited the schools. My D is finishing her BS in arch at Northeastern in Boston and will stay one more year to get her MArch. Northeastern is a coop school so the four year BS takes 5 years bc they take two 6-month breaks and work in firms. So, she already has one year full time working experience with 2/3 of her hours needed for licensure completed and one more year for her Masters bc of how the curriculum is planned. Besides getting great experience working and fine tuning interests during the undergrad time, having a break from the intense rigors of studio time is very welcomed and keeps them fresh. Plus my D studied architecture in Rome the summer after her first year, and spent a semester at an exchange university in Spain her third year (luckily pre Covid so they could travel everywhere on weekends and breaks!)
I should say that my D did the Calpoly summer HS program after her HS junior year which was a fabulous introduction to what being an arch student is like. She loved studio time and found her people of very artistically creative math and science geeks which has proven true of her fellow college arch students. Unless your child KNOWS the intensity of being an arch student and KNOWS they want to be an architect, it might be worth exploring BS programs that offer a little more flexibility. Just a thought. (My D was choosing between calpoly and Northeastern in the end and is very happy she chose the latter as it gave her a very broad life experience coming from the central CA coast where we live.)
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