Over twenty-five thousand students were admitted into about 156 accredited and approved Bachelor of Architecture programs in the U.S. and 136 schools of learning in 2018. For context, in that same period, there were over one hundred and twenty thousand students of law at two hundred and three law schools (accredited).
Also, in that same period, there were about 190,000 medical students across a hundred and fifty-four programs. If that information is not enough for you, check this also; there were more than six hundred and twenty thousand students in various engineering disciplines and almost four hundred schools. These should be enough to make the point.
The point is this: the number of architects across the country is much lower than in many other disciplines, as highlighted above. In other words, architects are not as well-represented across states and schools as it would seem, and this is because admitting and teaching student architects is an arduous task.
Architecture is not just about drawings; after all, students of this discipline take other courses (such as psychology) and submit custom college papers. This induces some difficulties in how the discipline accepts the right students.
Difficulties Faced During the Admission of Students into Architecture Schools
Below are just some of the numerous problems faced by architecture schools during admission:
Passion for the course
Requirements for architecture refer to a student’s love and drive to know more about the course. This, of course, can be found in many forms. From seeing the knowledge, a student displays about certain buildings of repute in terms of design and appearance to seeing a sketchbook packed with different sketches and ideas. Or simply a constant love for visiting popular architectural destinations. These tell a lot about how ready a student is to study architecture, and if the student (especially a Master) cannot prove that, then they might not stand a chance.
Admission quota
Architecture is a very practical course. This implies there will be more hands-on teaching sessions during the four years of learning than theory teaching sessions. This warrants that only a specific number of students can be admitted into the department annually to ensure that all admitted persons are appropriately taught and instructed.
It would be pointless to admit students and not have the personnel to handle them at once. Hence, there needs to be a standard figure or number of students to be accepted each year for proper dissemination of information and consistent instructive and corrective sessions across the board.
Facilities
Also, due to the nature of the course, an optimum number of students can be admitted. Architects work in studios, and there can only be so many students in a studio at once.
It is why a class of new students can range between thirty to sixty students at once. However, the number will drop as the years go by (just seventy per cent of architecture students finish the program after being admitted).
The comprehensiveness of the admission process
The comprehensiveness of exams for admission to architecture programs is always a requirement. These exams aim to cover a wide range of knowledge that encompasses the diverse skills and knowledge required to study architecture.
If the exam is improperly designed by choosing to focus on basic drawing skills and general knowledge of architecture, the wrong students can be admitted. This is where many students cannot qualify; they lack the means to prove that they are worthy of a seat at the admission table and beyond. This is one factor that makes architecture a difficult course for admission.
Conclusion
Architecture is a course that needs more funding to take in and teach more students the required knowledge. And while it is not always about drawing (architecture students take other classes), it is vital to maintain a balance in the instructional basics. Not everyone can grasp this, hence the difficulty in the admission process into the speciality.
