hey everyone welcome back to the channel my name is ashley and i'm an architect in Ontario and
in this video we're going to be talking about the top three universities for architecture so perhaps
you're looking into applying for your master's degree or your undergrad and you don't know
where to apply well in this video i'm going to be talking about the top three universities in Canada
that you should be considering to apply so if you're interested let's get started
so before we get started i just want to mention that we're only talking about the top three
universities in Canada but there are some other programs that perhaps you should also consider
but in this video i'm only talking about the top three i will be doing another video in the future
about the other programs that are also something to consider of course they're not on the top three
list but they are programs that i would look into applying as well and of course when you are
applying for universities you should also consider in applying to as many places as possible and i
share the factors that you should consider when you're applying for your master's degree
in the video above here so i would check out that video if you're looking for what you should look
into when you are applying for a program and so when i'm evaluating also these universities and
including them in the top three list i'll be looking at the programs that they offer
for architecture we're going to be looking at the location and the facilities and also the tuition
costs as well because that's something that you should take into consideration as well number one
on the list is UBC now i'm not just being biased here there is some facts to having UBC number one
on the list according to QS it's ranked number 30 globally so globally the architecture program
at UBC is ranked 30 and that is ranked ahead of any other architecture program in the country
in Canada so that goes to tell you a lot so i am not surprised to see that UBC is ranked ahead of
u of t, Ryerson, and all the other architecture programs in the country it's not a surprise it's a
great program i really enjoyed my time when i was doing my master's program at UBC and i'm hoping to
share that experience in a future video so stay tuned for that but it's a great program and it
starts from the faculty the faculty at UBC are amazing it's really great i had a wonderful time
and i highly recommend it to anyone that's interested to do their master's program or even
their undergrad it's a really great program now i can say that i didn't have this experience with
other programs and so that's what makes UBC so unique is the program is so diverse and there's
faculty with different interests and topics and none of them really push you on topics that they
want you to look into because of their personal interests and so that's something that i really
valued when i was doing my master's at UBC and that's something that i would consider and make
sure that there is that diversity in the program that you are looking into so the programs offered
at UBC there's quite a few there's eight programs in total that you can look into there's the master
of architecture which is professional and it's accredited degree there's also master of landscape
architecture which is also a professional degree and it is also an accredited program so one of the
unique things about UBC is they also offer a dual degree option where you can also do your master
in architecture and your master and landscape architecture together and get a dual degree
and both are professionally accredited programs so that's something that i haven't seen in
other universities across the country so that's something that's uniquely offered at UBC they also
offer a master of urban design they also offer a master of advanced studies in architecture
which is a post-professional degree and they also offer a master of advanced studies in
landscape architecture studies which is also a post-professional degree so those are not
professional degrees they're post-professional so after perhaps doing your professional masters
of architecture you want to continue to study and to look at a specific topic that you're interested
in research in architecture then you could do a post-professional and so they have one both
in landscape architecture and in architecture you can also get a master in engineering leadership in
high performance buildings and this is pretty unique as well i haven't seen this in other
universities as well and i believe this is a new program that UBC is offering which i think is
great they also have a bachelor of design and architecture so that would be your equivalent
to an undergrad in architecture so those are the eight programs that UBC offers which there's some
great selection and diversity in there now the university is located in Vancouver but the campus
is a bit isolated from downtown Vancouver they are slightly south east of downtown Vancouver
and so i would say that would be maybe this wasn't too much of a downside for me but it is a little
bit isolated from downtown Vancouver and they do have their own campus which is a bit isolating
from the Vancouver downtown but i didn't find this to be too much of a hassle it was only a bit of a
hassle when you were looking to get materials if you are building something and you need to
get some wood or supplies to build a prototype then having your campus closer to downtown would
be a lot easier and also of course being in the downtown core of Vancouver it's also a different
culture and you get exposed to different things as well so that would have been nice to have if
the campus was located downtown but for me again it wasn't a complete drawback either so i was okay
with that now let's get into the tuition costs and these numbers are per year and they're also listed
in Canadian dollars and they're for 2021. so one of the lowest tuition rates across the country
for masters is UBC so the master's program at UBC for domestic students is about 5,830 and 11 cents
and that's for domestic students for international students you're looking at
and 45 eight dollars and nine cents so that's what you'd be looking at for one
year now it's important to note that UBC is an interdisciplinary program so it's three
years if you do have an undergrad outside of architecture so for example if you have
an underground in arts visual arts for example then you would do a three-year master's program
however if your undergrad is in architecture then you can get advanced standing and that you could
get two years or two and a half years depending on your undergrad and the courses that you completed
and they would do an assessment of that of how many years upon your acceptance letter
now the bachelor of design and architecture for domestic students you're looking at nine thousand
and fifty one dollars and thirty cents and for international students you're looking
at forty one thousand eight hundred and fifty seven dollars and eighty cents and so that is
the bachelor of design in architecture landscape architecture and urbanism so it's a pretty diverse
and interdisciplinary bachelor's program which is great i also wanted to talk about the facility
now UBC has a good facility i wouldn't say it's a state of the art facility but it is
it has everything you need in terms of the basics so they do have a wood shop they also have digital
fabrication tools so they have 3D printers laser cutters CNC router and a die cutter
so they have all those options at their facility and of course the building is an older building
so it's not a new construction building and it is a little bit smaller it houses all the
master of architecture students in one building and they have a separate building for the
landscape architecture buildings and also for the master in advanced studies and architecture they
have those students in a separate building as well i would say that's probably the drawback of UBC
is that yes okay they're not downtown Vancouver and yes the building would be great to get a new
building where they can fit all the students in one building where you can also learn from each
other learn from the bachelor's program because they are also on a separate building so it'd be
great to be exposed to all of you know landscape architecture students advanced study architecture
students in one building so you can kind of cross-contaminate and also learn from each other
and explore different ideas together because that is the unique thing about architecture is how you
can collaborate with everyone and that's where you get a lot of ideas too so i think that would have
been great if they can get a new building where they can get where they can house all the students
in one building it would be great and i know that's something that they were looking into when
i was enrolled in the program so i'm sure that's something that's on their list of things to do
so even though i'm being very picky here with the location and the facility itself but nevertheless
i would still consider UBC 100 but just imagine when they do get a new building how great and
how much that will elevate the program onto another level number two university of Toronto
university of Toronto ranks 46 globally while UBC ranked 30th and McGill actually ranks ahead
of university of Toronto at 45 however according to my experience in the industry i would actually
rank u of t ahead of McGill and this is just based off of what my experience in the industry
of seeing recent graduates and how easily they can find work and how much in demand they are in
comparison so i would rank u of t a bit higher and also rank it a bit higher based on the items we're
going to be talking about in this video as well let's talk about the programs offered at u of t
they offer 10 programs they offer a bachelor of arts of architectural studies they also
offer a master of architecture they both offer a professional accredited degree and they also
offer a post-professional they also offer a master of forest conservation they also offer a master of
landscape architecture and the master of landscape architecture is both a professional degree
and a post-professional they also offer a master in science forestry a master of urban design and
that is a post-professional degree they also offer and this is unique from all the other programs in
Canada they offer a phd in architecture landscape and design and they also offer phd in forestry
so the phd is unique UBC does not offer a phd so that's something that's unique to u of t and of
course that's also great to have a phd program because again you can learn from those students
too if you are doing your master's or your bachelor degree now let's talk about the location
of where the architecture building is located u of t their building is actually located in the heart
of Toronto and they just got a new building and it looks amazing the interiors the interiors look
amazing the studio spaces informal study areas just is amazing it's a dream it would be a dream
to study at u of t in the new building and of course because it's a new building they were able
to actually include the undergrad the masters mass the post-professional and professional degrees all
in one building which is definitely an advantage because again you can learn from each other
and explore ideas and collaborate as well so i would definitely say that the new building and
the location of u of t is definitely an advantage now for me of course that's not a deal breaker but
that could be something that you're looking into and that could be important to you now let's talk
about the tuition fees now u of t has one of the highest tuition fees so let's review the numbers
so for the masters in architecture and master and landscape architecture you're looking at for
as a domestic student you're looking at eleven thousand and four hundred dollars if you are an
international student you're looking at forty eight thousand four hundred and forty dollars
and if you are doing your undergrad then you would be looking at seven thousand five hundred
and one and ninety four cents as a domestic student if you are an international student
you'd be looking at 59 141 dollars and 94 cents as an international student so it is a little
bit higher in comparison to UBC let's talk about the facilities at u of t which i have to say is
absolutely amazing they have the state-of-the-art digital fabrication tools not only do they have
the basics you know your wood shop your laser cutter your 3d printer your CNC router and so
on but they also have a robotic arm absolutely amazing this is where u of t really shines is with
their facilities and the architecture building in itself looks amazing the studio spaces they look
spacious it really looks amazing so this is where they shine number three waterloo now waterloo
ranks much lower in the QS from u of t and UBC but i've included them in the list they rank about 51
to 100 globally but i find that the students that do graduate from the waterloo program are highly
sought out by employers they're technically sound with a variety of programs and their knowledge of
their programs are sound you know they come out of the program with sound knowledge of Revit
and all the different 3D modeling softwares as well so that really makes them highly sought
out after they graduate and their program is also unique because they do offer co-op so you have the
ability to gain some experience while you are completing your degree and this is unique from
all the other programs that we've talked about in the video so waterloo offers three programs
they offer a bachelor in architectural studies they offer of course the master of architecture
both professional and post-professional degree you can also do a co-op with that program they
also offer a master of architecture with structure certificate program so those are the main programs
that they offer now the program is located in a small town in Cambridge and i would say this is
a major drawback in comparison to UBC yes the UBC campus is not in downtown Vancouver but it's still
very close it's 20-30 minutes away and you can take public transportation you can take the subway
so it's not too bad in comparison to the waterloo campus the waterloo campus for the architecture
building is quite remote it's in a small town and yes they do have buses but that's about it so in
comparison to UBC waterloo is a bit of a drawback in terms of its location so that's something to
think about when you are looking into the program the program is still good but that's something
that you would have to consider in terms of its location now let's get into the tuition cost
now the graduate program at waterloo is about five thousand four hundred and forty nine dollars
and eighty cents so that's for one year um one term is 2,724 dollars and 90 cents
and that's if you're a domestic student if you are an international student you're looking at fifteen
thousand four hundred and forty nine dollars and eighty cents and for one term you'd be looking at
seven thousand seven hundred and twenty four and ninety cents waterloo is right there with UBC in
terms of tuition costs now let's talk about the undergrad program and the costs associated so the
undergrad for as a domestic student you're looking at ten thousand and nine hundred dollars per year
and if you are an international student you're looking at 59 and 700 and of course if you are
a co-op student in either the graduate or the undergrad you're looking at an additional fee
of 734 dollars per term if you are an undergrad student and if you are an undergrad student taking
the co-op program you're looking at 729 dollars per four-month work term so there is an additional
charge if you are taking advantage of the co-op program now let's talk about the facility
now the architecture building at waterloo is also an older building and i would say i did get a tour
of that building and i found that it was a bit cramped students were really closely packed up
together so i didn't find it of course it's not as spacious as u of t their new building but it's
not as spacious as UBC i would say they're a little less they're more compact for sure in
comparison to UBC now in terms of the facilities they do have a wood shop and they have the basics
also for the digital fabrication tool so they also have a 3D printer laser cutter and a CNC router so
they have your basic tools that you would need if you want more information about doing your
master's program check out this video here if you are looking for an alternative path to licensure
outside of doing a university degree then i would check out this video here so i hope you guys got
a lot of value out of the video if you got value out of the video make sure to like the video and
if you want more content make sure to subscribe i hope to see you on future videos till then
bye