Admissions

For students seeking to begin their professional design studies as undergraduates, the Architecture Department offers the Undergraduate M.Arch 5.

Applicants who have recently graduated from high school begin with admission at the freshman year. These pre-graduate students are admitted into the foundational curriculum of the undergraduate M.Arch degree program. Pre-graduate students progress through the foundational design course work and general education studies (72 credit hours) and those students who successfully complete the pre-graduate foundation seamlessly matriculate into graduate coursework and receive the Master of Architecture degree at the conclusion of an 102 additional credit hours. No baccalaureate degree is awarded on this path. The course of study takes five or six years to complete, depending on the track that is selected.

• Total Undergraduate Credits 72
• Total Graduate Degree Credits 102
• Total Credits to M.Arch 174

A transition from undergraduate to graduate standing occurs at the end of the fourth year Spring semester after the completion of 120 credits. Students must be in good standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. A Bachelor’s degree is not awarded at any point in the program.

Application Process

Step 1

Application to the Master of Architecture program begins with an online application to FIU’s Admissions Office. admissions.fiu.edu. Please review the Admissions website for all University requirements and deadlines. Note that the School of Architecture only admits students during the Summer and Fall semesters, with major-specific courses only beginning in the Fall. 

Step 2

Portfolio of creative work that demonstrates creative abilities as well as visual and written communication skills to the department for review.

Portfolio content suggestions:

• A one-page (maximum) statement outlining the student’s intentions, aspirations and purpose in pursuing a professional degree in Architecture.
• This exercise is designed to assess your ability to observe and translate real-world objects into two-dimensional representations while also evaluating your attention to detail and composition skills.
• We ask that you create three separate drawing compositions featuring a bicycle, a shoe, and a chair. These objects should be rendered from life or from photographs you have personally taken; the use of stock photos from the internet is not allowed. If applicable, alongside your drawing, please include the reference photos you used to create your composition. Feel free to submit any other pertinent creative works.
• Examples of recent artwork.

Formatting Submission Guidelines for Uploading

• Image File Size: Minimum of 500 KB / Maximum 5 MB.
• Image File Format: JPEG (JPG), 72dpi.
• Convert images to color profiles RGB.
• Do not submit slideshows, PowerPoint presentations, animations, movies, audio with images or embed images into Microsoft Word.

Submit portfolio to: Get Acceptd

FIU Application and Portfolio Deadlines

Fall 2025 Portfolio Submissions open September 1st, 2024. The final portfolio deadline is February 25th, and the final decisions will be released no later than March 31st.

• Deadline 1: November 1st (Decision Date: December 11th)
• Deadline 2: December 3rd (Decision Date: January 22nd)
• Deadline 3: February 25th (Decision Date: March 31th)