Syracuse vs Carnegie Mellon BArch

Mashinations
Tue, 14 May 2024 12:51:04 +0000

Not knowing you personally I can’t make any suggestion as to which program is right for you. S23 is now in the Tulane BArch program and we toured both Syracuse and CM. What I can offer:

You don’t need to worry about participating in the party scene or greek life too much. BArch programs are incredibly time intensive. You’ll likely have the ability to pick up 1 extra-curricular/club/etc but won’t have time for much more than that unless you have excellent time management skills.

You mention the size of the Syracuse incoming class. Yes, it is much bigger but for Studio’s you’re going to be broken into cohorts of 10-15 students. By the time you get to your third year (in most programs) the size of it is going to be 1/2 or less than what you started out with.

I would agree with you that Syracuse as a whole is a “less prestigious name” than CM but would question that prestige ranking when it comes to the BArch programs. They’re both very highly ranked.

CM’s building/facilities are shared with their performing arts. In the tours for S23’s cycle we found that the larger programs have a dedicated building, the smaller programs share a building with other disciplines. Yes, CM’s program is going to be more technical than Syracuse - which is going to be more art/design but the core of all the BArch programs are going to be pretty similar because of the NAAB accreditation.