a master's degree in general architecture is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #122 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 5 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Architecture Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 194 master's degrees in general architecture to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great General Architecture School for Your Master's Degree
The architecture master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general architecture students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other general architecture students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for general architecture to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general architecture related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general architecture students working on their master's degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best General Architecture Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
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It is hard to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a master's degree in general architecture. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
General Architecture master's degree recipients from University of Notre Dame receive an earnings boost of about $9,929 over the average income of general architecture graduates.
Kent State University at Kent is a great choice for students interested in a master's degree in general architecture. Kent State is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Kent.
Students who graduate with their master's from the architecture program state that they receive average early career wages of $54,613.
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in general architecture has to take a look at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. SIUC is a large public university located in the distant town of Carbondale.
General Architecture master's degree recipients from Southern Illinois University Carbondale earn a boost of approximately $2,984 above the average earnings of general architecture majors.
University of Illinois at Chicago is a wonderful option for students pursuing a master's degree in general architecture. UIC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chicago.
After graduating, architecture master's recipients generally make about $46,760 in their early careers.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The architecture master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
