Admission Decisions: Where to Go?

My daughter is keen on studying architecture in the US. She has just completed her IB diploma and is an international student.

At present she has secured admission into 3 universities

• Iowa State University for Barch. She has been awarded a $ 7,000 scholarship as an international ambassador for 3 years.
• University of Cincinnati for Bsc in Architecture with a scholarship of $ 5,000 for 3 years. University of Cincinnati offers the co-op program.
• Penn state for Landscape architecture

She is keen on architecture and so our options are limited to the first 2. Since she is an international student with an F1 visa, the ultimate objective is for her to chose a school and a course which provides her the best options for employment when she completes her course. I've read that Iowa State Barch degree is NAAB accredited and this is a big plus point. But I've also heard that the co-op program in Cincinnati is very highly rated and employers rate the students from cincinnati very highly.

My instinct and logic tells me to focus on getting an NAAB accredited degree first and then look for employment thereafter. But I need your advise as the information on the net is getting me confused.

Finally she has also applied to Virginia Tech and has yet to hear from them. if she gets into Virginia tech should she chose this over the other 2?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks and kind regards

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In this role, I am not in a position to tell you which program is best for your daughter.  However, what I can share is to discuss with her the criteria by which she will make the decision.  In my book, Becoming an Architect, I discuss three categories - You, Institution, and Academic Unit.  Within each, there are criteria to determine which are most important.

Below, you outlined a factor of employment and NAAB accreditation.  You and your daughter need to discuss these criteria to determine what program is best for you.

What is critical is comparing each program against the criteria that you determine are most important.  By doing so, it will become clear which is the program to attend.

I do hope this helps.  Also, feel free to contact each of the programs and ask for either students or alumni that you could connect with to learn firsthand about the program.

Best.