The School of Architecture + Design’s programs have again been recognized in the most recent professional design education rankings by DesignIntelligence, which publishes the only national college rankings focused exclusively on architecture and design.

For 2016-17, Virginia Tech’s undergraduate Architecture program is ranked 5th in the nation, ranking in the top five for ten of the last eleven years. In a survey of deans and chairs of Schools of Architecture and Design, the undergraduate Architecture program is recognized as the 3rd most admired program nationally “for its accomplished faculty, community outreach, and high quality design.” The graduate Architecture program is ranked 19th in the nation. Professionals rated the architecture programs #4 nationally in the area of Construction Methods & Materials and among the top ten for Computer Applications, Cross-disciplinary Teamwork, and Sustainable Design Practices & Principles. The undergraduate Landscape Architecture program is ranked 13th in the nation.

The 2016-17 DesignIntelligence rankings are based on survey responses from 2,920 hiring professionals from 2,218 U.S. firms and organizations employing architecture, design, and landscape architecture professionals that were asked, “In your firm’s hiring experience in the past five years, which of the following schools [from a list of NAAB, LAAB, or CIDA accredited programs] are best preparing students for success in the profession and designing a sustainable future?” The firms were also queried about additional issues, such as how programs rate in teaching various skills. In addition to the school rankings by professionals, 145 deans and chairs from 69 academic programs in architecture, interior design and landscape architecture participated in this year’s surveys, and 3,742 architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design students completed satisfaction surveys about their education, the data from which is presented separately from the practitioner rankings. The response rate for the industrial design survey was insufficient to produce a statistically valid sample, and therefore the results for the discipline have been left out of this year’s edition of the DesignIntelligence rankings.

Source: “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools 2016-17,” DesignIntelligence Quarterly, #265, Vol. 21, Third Quarter, 2016.

Past rankings: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004