@badmintonarchitect, I think you need to delve a little deeper into the financial part of the equation. You have some time to do that, but since the choice of degree will impact the cost, you should understand the different degrees, how state residency works and what kind of financial aid may be available.
For both the BArch and BA/BS undergraduate degrees need based aid is widely available. Merit based aid less so.
Funding is available for the MArch but it’s often difficult to predict.
The BArch is generally 5 years. Rice’s is 6, as are a few other schools that offer co-op work plans. The BArch is an intensely architecture focused degree. You won’t have a lot of time to explore other academic disciplines or to participate in a lot of extracurriculars.
As I mentioned, there are about 50 schools of architecture in the US that offer the BArch. Some are art schools, some are tech schools, some are schools within larger universities. You can look at Design Intelligence for a ranking, but as with any college list you’ll need to include reach, match & safety schools.
The BA/BS+MArch can take anywhere from 5 to 8.5 years. There are a lot of variables depending on your undergraduate curriculum and your graduate school. The BA/BS allows for a wider and deeper undergraduate education – more room for experimentation, more time for a traditional undergraduate experience.
There are dozens and dozens of choices for a BA/BS degree, both in architecture and in any other major… A few good BA/BS Architecture programs that you could look at are Michigan, WUSTL, UVA, Northeastern, Cincinnati, Brown, Lehigh. There are many, many others, but that will get you started in learning about the options.
The schools that require a portfolio are looking for design, creativity, presentation and facility with various media, especially drawing. The pieces in the portfolio do not need to be architecture based. Most schools of architecture post detailed information on their websites regarding how to assemble a portfolio.