Master of Architecture

The Master of Architecture (M.Arch) degree is earned through successful completion of a five and a half year program at Norwich University. Graduates from other colleges are not accepted into the fifth year of this program. Transfers are accepted into the B.S. in Architectural Studies and are governed under existing university academic regulations (including 60 percent of credit hours being earned at Norwich).

The master's program builds on the experience of the undergraduate curriculum, preparing students to function as professional architects. The program emphasizes practical experience (through a practicum) as well as autonomy and rigor (through an architectural thesis and graduate seminars).

Admission into the fifth-year Masters of Architecture is not automatic. In their fourth-year, students must submit a portfolio of their studio work for review and approval by an architecture faculty committee. This threshold also requires a minimum university GPA of 2.25 and a GPA of 2.50 for all design studio courses. The fifth year offers graduate-level professional electives as well as the opportunity to undertake a thesis, or another kind of capstone project, of one’s own choosing.

Perhaps the most exciting and innovative aspect of the masters' curriculum is the requirement of an architectural internship in the summer between the fourth and fifth years. For this practicum, students will be required to locate and work in an architecture
office (or in another design-related firm). The course work is completed using distance-learning techniques, which not only permit students to work in their hometowns (or other locations of their choosing) but also give each individual experience in digital communications and technologies which are major evolving aspects of architectural practice today.

The curriculum features the use of threshold points and portfolio reviews for each student in order to better identify individual career objectives as well as to assure the high academic caliber of every Norwich graduate.

Students have an opportunity to spend a semester abroad on approved exchange programs, such as at Hochschule Wismar in Germany or the DIS Program in Copenhagen, Denmark.

This is the sequence of courses which follows successful completion of Bachelor of Architectural Studies at Norwich:

Summer

Fifth Year

Important: Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA in the Masters program.