NC State vs UNC Charlotte for Architecture

IComeCorrect
Sun, 03 Apr 2011 10:14:50 +0000

I have had the unique experience of attending both uncc and ncsu for architecture. I would say that although they are both good schools they are also vastly different in that uncc allows for more design/research exploration while ncsu has the tradition and is much more technical in their approach. For example, uncc requires graduate students to complete a thesis project before graduation, ncsu openly discourages it and only allows a very select number of students to pursue the thesis out of fear that they will embarrass the school… For me the primary drawback for uncc is that it’s in Charlotte, sort of at least, it’s actually in the middle of absolute nowhere and, as a city, Raleigh is a much much better place to live. That being said, if i had to choose between the two with all things being equal, and not considering the cities themselves, i would choose uncc hands down. I believe in exploration in education, especially in the case of graduate studies and ncsu too many times has almost gone out of their way to prevent that. However, if i was an in coming undergraduate, who planned on getting my M.Arc afterward, i would chose ncsu for the intense technical training/history/theory and attend a more exploratory school, such as uncc, for my graduate studies. It is much more difficult and less beneficial to go the other way around. I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.