architecture school rankings uk

GSA entrance
photo by Moira

architecture school rankings uk 2013 dundee, gsa, newcastle

There were 46 architecture schools in the uk in 2014, by 2018 this will have increased to 54. Wow. And each school takes in around 100 students. That's a lot of people training to be architects. I've studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art (ranked 3rd or 4th place in AJ 100 opinion poll), Dundee University  (ranked 18th) and Newcastle University (ranked 5th) in the University League Table.

I didn't find it hard to be accepted at an architecture school, (I was interviewed and gained entry to what was at the time considered to be a top school), it's was getting out the other end with a degree certificate that turned into a real challenge.

Every student thinks they will succeed at university if they work hard enough. Unfortunately this isn't the case on this unique course. Sadly, students of architecture are regularly failed at the end of first, second, third, fourth, even fifth year because a tutor dislikes their designs, dislikes THEM or is jealous of them (of course the latter reasons could never be openly admitted). But believe me, anger them in any way, and you'll receive a big fat fail.

And the most sickening thing of all is that, while most students work day and night, some individuals sail through the entire course handing in work produced by a 3rd party - usually someone in a higher year or even a qualified architect who has provided his/her services for free eg. a relative or boyfriend/girlfriend or the student PAYS someone to do their drawings for them. So, don't think for a minute it is an even playing field.

I have written about my own experiences as an architecture student in a book called BRICK WALL for sale on Amazon. Clearly not a comedy, but it's an interesting insight into how architecture schools in the uk operate. The marks, in relation to design work, are plucked out of the sky. I kid you not. And that mark, which determines your life chances, might be sky-high or it might be sensationally low, even a fail, as was the case with 117 1st year architecture students at Greenwich. In June 2011, only 25 out of 142 achieved the 40% pass mark. Wow. You couldn't make this stuff up.
 The mother of a 1st year student at Greenwich, who received 28% for her portfolio of work said, "She has in fact spent the year thinking she was doing quite well."

This explains why conscientious students of architecture live in a perpetual state of anxiety;  they never know what the final outcome will be. Sadly the only outcome they can be certain of is a mountain of debt.