The USA's Best Architecture Schools in Research: 2009/13 results
Final Edition
Note Along with the rest of this site, this page ceased updating in 2014. No further results will be published.
The Good Oil
Results for our 2009/13 survey are shown here. We provide two indicators:
- Median Research Score
- Percentage of staff in the top quartile
For information on what these numbers mean, read this page. Can't find your school? Find out why.
We want to be very clear about one thing before you proceed (assuming you are too lazy to click the numerous links on this page that explain in meticulous detail the methodology and object of our rankings). We rank the schools in terms of research, not in terms of teaching. Great if you are thinking of postgraduate courses. We make no claim that our highest rated schools will get you a great job as an architect.
The USA's 2009/13 rankings
We provide data on 103 American schools. The NAAB accredits 117, and the ACSA has 122 members (2010 data). Can't find your school? Find out why. Click on the headings to sort.
| University | Median Research Score | % of staff in the top quartile |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia University | 31 | 80 |
| Cooper Union, The | 27 | 75 |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 27 | 87 |
| Princeton University | 22 | 83 |
| University of Pennsylvania | 12 | 68 |
| Yale University | 10 | 62 |
| University of California, Berkeley | 8 | 63 |
| Harvard University | 8 | 58 |
| Rice University | 8 | 56 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 7 | 51 |
| University of Notre Dame | 5 | 47 |
| Ohio State University | 5 | 40 |
| California College of the Arts | 4 | 36 |
| Northeastern University | 4 | 27 |
| University of Minnesota | 4 | 21 |
| University of Maryland | 4 | 27 |
| Pratt Institute | 3 | 40 |
| University of Michigan | 3 | 38 |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology | 3 | 32 |
| University of Virginia | 3 | 31 |
| University of Southern California | 3 | 31 |
| University of Texas at Austin | 3 | 32 |
| University of Houston | 3 | 28 |
| University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee | 3 | 23 |
| University of Washington | 2 | 34 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 2 | 28 |
| University of Miami | 2 | 23 |
| University at Buffalo, SUNY | 2 | 35 |
| Cornell University | 2 | 23 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | 2 | 38 |
| Drexel University | 2 | 17 |
| Tulane University | 1 | 38 |
| Washington University in St Louis | 1 | 28 |
| University of Colorado | 1 | 26 |
| North Carolina State University | 1 | 21 |
| Iowa State University | 1 | 19 |
| Ball State University | 1 | 14 |
| University of Cincinnati | 1 | 11 |
| University of Arizona | 1 | 0 |
| California State Polytechnic University, Pomona | 1 | 19 |
| Arizona State University | 1 | 15 |
| Roger Williams University | 1 | 13 |
| University of Kansas | 1 | 31 |
| University of Illinois at Chicago | 1 | 21 |
| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 1 | 21 |
| Kansas State University | 1 | 20 |
| Rhode Island School of Design | 1 | 18 |
| Catholic University of America | 1 | 17 |
| Texas A&M University | 1 | 16 |
| University of Oregon | 1 | 16 |
| Texas Tech University | 1 | 12 |
| Washington State University | 1 | 10 |
| Miami University | 1 | 30 |
| Florida A&M University | 1 | 0 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | 0 | 28 |
| Syracuse University | 0 | 27 |
| University of Utah | 0 | 27 |
| Clemson University | 0 | 25 |
| City College of New York, CUNY | 0 | 24 |
| Woodbury University | 0 | 22 |
| University of Massachusetts Amherst | 0 | 21 |
| Morgan State University | 0 | 20 |
| Pennsylvania State University | 0 | 19 |
| Florida International University | 0 | 19 |
| University of Hawaii at Manoa | 0 | 19 |
| University of Tennessee, Knoxville | 0 | 16 |
| Kent State University | 0 | 15 |
| Judson University | 0 | 13 |
| Norwich University | 0 | 13 |
| Mississippi State University | 0 | 12 |
| University of Arkansas | 0 | 12 |
| University of New Mexico | 0 | 12 |
| Andrews University | 0 | 11 |
| University of Florida | 0 | 11 |
| University of Kentucky | 0 | 10 |
| Wentworth Institute of Technology | 0 | 9 |
| California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo | 0 | 8 |
| Virginia Tech | 0 | 8 |
| Louisiana Tech University | 0 | 7 |
| Temple University | 0 | 7 |
| University of Oklahoma | 0 | 7 |
| University of Idaho | 0 | 6 |
| North Dakota State university | 0 | 6 |
| University of North Carolina - Charlotte | 0 | 5 |
| University of Texas at Arlington | 0 | 5 |
| Lawrence Technological University | 0 | 5 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 0 | 4 |
| New York Institute of Technology | 0 | 4 |
| Illinois Institute of Technology | 0 | 4 |
| Auburn University | 0 | 0 |
| Drury University | 0 | 0 |
| Florida Atlantic University | 0 | 0 |
| Hampton University | 0 | 0 |
| Howard University | 0 | 0 |
| Louisiana State University | 0 | 0 |
| Montana State University | 0 | 0 |
| NewSchool of Architecture and Design | 0 | 0 |
| Oklahoma State University | 0 | 0 |
| Philadelphia University | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie View A&M University | 0 | 0 |
| Southern Polytechnic State University | 0 | 0 |
| Southern University and A&M College | 0 | 0 |
| Tuskegee University | 0 | 0 |
| University of Detroit Mercy | 0 | 0 |
| University of Louisiana at Lafayette | 0 | 0 |
| University of Nebraska - Lincoln | 0 | 0 |
| University of Nevada, Las Vegas | 0 | 0 |
Other assessments
The magazine DesignIntelligence (DI), provides an annual rankings list of American schools. It purports to guide prospective students to the light: you just have to pay them a hefty fee to receive this illumination. We think DI's report is crap, the sort of crap that gives crap a bad name: read our hefty critique of DI.
At Architectural Blatherations we make few claims about the use or validity of our rankings. We simply put them forward as an indicator of research performance.