02/19/20

The USC undergraduate architecture program has been committed to the fundamental concerns of the built environment for over 100 years. Rooted in Los Angeles but embracing a global outlook, our programs encourage progressive, cultural thinking about architecture and its role in social change. 

The USC School of Architecture nurtures its students, supporting your interests, challenging you and helping you transition into the professional world of design and architecture. The unbeatable combination of a world-class research university, Trojan spirit and Los Angeles – a center of architectural culture – will present you with an education that will forever change your life.

Beyond design studios and other classes, there is much going on at the School, including student events, lectures, exhibitions, global travel opportunities and workshops. The School is a constant hive of activity and invention, and the deeply knit undergraduate architecture community progresses our ideals into the future built environment.

The Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies program begins intensively with architectural studies in the first two years and provides a mix of architectural and general university studies throughout the program. The curriculum includes a core program in the first two years identical to the Bachelor of Architecture professional degree program. The last two years provide the opportunity to explore many aspects of architecture and related fields and to develop individual strengths and interests.

Students take an introductory course in specialization in the second year, which provides an introduction to related fields and alternative degree options. Students can elect to move into the four-year non-professional B.S. in Architectural Studies program with a degree plan identifying electives fulfilling an area of concentration. The program is concluded with a seminar with all degree candidates, allowing for collaborative work on areas of common interest.

The Bachelor of Science in GeoDesign is an interdisciplinary major offered by the Spatial Sciences Institute, the USC School of Architecture and the USC Price School of Public Policy. This degree treats planning as a globally relevant framework for collective action, the spatial sciences as a platform for supporting science-based decision-making, and design as a vehicle for solving the world's wicked problems. This degree prepares students for professional careers and/or graduate study by engaging them in the acquisition, representation, analysis, modeling and visualization of spatial information set in the context of the built environment and policy. The underlying spatial principles, methods and tools can be used to support sustainable planning, facility and infrastructure management, the design of livable and healthy communities, and a series of regional planning applications to address pollution, water and energy needs, and the impact of population growth on the environment. The major electives provide students with opportunities to explore one or more facets of the built environment and a series of complementary analytical and visualization tools in more detail. Finally, the major is structured to provide students with sufficient elective credits to explore minors or other programs at USC so they can broaden their education to better prepare themselves for the next stage of their lives.

The Minor in Architecture provides the flexibility of complementing a student’s major with an area of specialization. Taking a minor in the School of Architecture is a unique opportunity for a student to stimulate his or her imagination and learn creative approaches to problem solving.

The Minor in Architecture or Landscape Architecture provides the flexibility of complementing a student’s major with an area of specialization.