Undergraduate Degree
The Department of Architecture at MIT welcomes students who have more questions than answers and who are more interested in approaches than conclusions. MIT architecture students and faculty members work to create new concepts of design that address the needs of society.
The department’s undergraduate degrees are:
Bachelor of Science in Art and Design (BSAD)
Bachelor of Science (SB)
Within BSAD there are several streams of study: architecture design; building technology; computation; history, theory and criticism of architecture and art; and visual arts.
About 60 undergraduates register in the department each year. Most concentrate in architecture design. The department offers more than 120 courses annually (graduate + undergraduate), taught by a faculty of more than 50.
Approximately 75 percent of undergraduates in architecture go on to earn a Master of Architecture degree after spending some time in a design firm. Others enter directly into a profession after earning a bachelor's degree. Students find jobs not only in architecture, but also in visual and computational design, construction and related fields.
Most states require that an individual intending to become an architect hold an accredited degree. There are two types of degrees that are accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture in the United States: 1.) the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.), which requires a minimum of five years of study, and 2.) the Master of Architecture (M.Arch.), which requires a minimum of three years of study following an unrelated bachelor’s degree, or two years following a related preprofessional bachelor’s degree. These professional degrees are structured to educate those who aspire to registration/licensure as architects.
At MIT, as at most American architecture schools, the M.Arch. is the professional degree program. MIT undergraduates who wish to study architecture do so while satisfying the General Institute Requirements (GIR), which give them the technical skills and exposure to the humanities and sciences needed to provide a well rounded education and to strengthen their architectural education and practice. The four-year, preprofessional degree (MIT’s Bachelor of Science in Art and Design with a focus in architectural design) is not accredited by NAAB but is structured for those wishing a strong foundation in the field of architecture, as preparation for either continued education in a professional degree program or for employment options in architecture or design related areas.
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