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Click on a question link below to toggle open the answer. Undergraduate Admissions
If you are a prospective freshman applicant, see the Office of Undergraduate Admissions' information about selection. If you are a prospective transfer student, Yes, students must declare one of the three CED majors at the time of application to the college. Even if you are certain about which major you want, you can still benefit from doing some research into the content of the program before you apply. No. Prospective transfer students must complete each of the college’s individual general education requirements prior to admission. See ASSIST for more information. No. While you may be able to use courses you took at another UC to fulfill CED’s requirements, there is no agreement stating that fulfilling another school’s requirements automatically fulfills CED’s requirements. If there is no way for you to complete pre-approved lower division environmental design courses at UC Berkeley via Concurrent Enrollment/Extension or Summer Sessions or at a California community college, contact the CED undergraduate advising office for assistance. Both in-state and out-of-state applicants must complete all lower-division courses required for admission. Read the degree requirements carefully and do your best to select courses that fit the descriptions of the lower-division CED prerequisites and the general education requirements. If you are admitted, you will be asked to submit official transcripts and course syllabi for evaluation. Reading and composition courses are evaluated by the College of Letters and Science. You must submit a reading and composition questionnaire to the College of Letters and Science for each course you would like to have evaluated. This can be done at the time of application. International applicants should consult the UC Berkeley Office of Undergraduate Admissions website for additional information. You must complete all lower-division courses required for admission. Read the degree requirements carefully and do your best to select courses that fit the descriptions of the lower-division CED prerequisites and the general education requirements. If you are admitted, you will be asked to submit official transcripts and course syllabi for evaluation. Reading and composition courses are evaluated by the College of Letters and Science. You must submit a reading and composition questionnaire for each course you would like to have evaluated. This can be done at the time of application. You may be eligible to receive course credit for Advanced Placement (AP) exams, Advanced Level (AL) exams, or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams taken prior to admission at UC Berkeley. For further information, including minimum scores required, please consult the AP examination credit, AL examination credit, and IB examination credit tables on our website. If you are exploring college options with your daughter or son, check out the Cal Parents website, your portal to the University of California, Berkeley. There's a wealth of information online, plus programs and staff to address your individual questions. Architecture
For more information on architecture programs in the U.S. and Canada, you can: During their first two years (whether at UC Berkeley or at another college prior to admission as a transfer student), architecture majors complete a range of courses designed to prepare them for more advanced work. During the second two years, students complete any remaining general education requirements plus the college’s upper-division requirements. See the Bachelor of Arts in Architecture webpage for a full description of the major requirements. Detailed course descriptions can be found on the Architecture Courses webpage. At any time during their college career, students are encouraged to take electives in and outside of CED. See the Degree Programs section of the Department of Architecture website for information about the Master of Architecture, Master of Science in Architecture, Ph.D. in Architecture, and M.A. in Design (Visual Studies) graduate programs. The undergraduate degree in architecture is not a professional degree and is not recognized by the National Architecture Accrediting Board. However, in addition to offering a sound and well-rounded education, the undergraduate degree in architecture provides for pre-professional competency for entry-level employment in architecture, for the option of graduate work towards an accredited degree in architecture, or for further studies in a related environmental design field. The Master of Architecture is the only accredited professional degree offered by the department. For information about becoming licensed in California, see the California Architects Board of the Department of Consumer Affairs. See also the American Institute of Architects website. Whether you select a school that offers a 5-year accredited degree or one that offers a 4-year liberal arts degree depends on your interests and goals. In most cases, 5-year programs are accredited degrees that prepare students for a career as a licensed architect. Students generally enter the program as a "cohort" and take classes with the same students until graduation. Examples of 5-year programs include Cal Poly, Cal State Pomona, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture. "4+2" refers to a combination of a 4-year liberal arts degree plus an accredited 2-year master's degree. A liberal arts major in architecture offered by schools like UC Berkeley, UCLA, or the universities of Illinois and Michigan is generally broad, flexible, and interdisciplinary in nature. You will study the social, historical, and scientific aspects of architecture as well as the broader urban and ecological context of environmental design. At Cal, you will not only be taking classes with landscape architecture and urban studies majors, but you will be taking classes throughout the University with students from all backgrounds and academic interests. Cal also provides you with research and study-abroad opportunities as well as a huge range of enrichment activities. Here at Cal, you could have a major in architecture and a minor in Spanish or global poverty or structural engineering. You will be limited only by your imagination! Please see the AIA/AIAS Arch Careers website for an explanation of different types of architecture degrees and degree programs. An undergraduate liberal arts major in architecture prepares you for a wide variety of careers. It is common for CED grads to pursue careers in fields as diverse as medicine, law, design, construction, consulting, or teaching. If you are interested in careers in architecture, take a look at the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), produced by the U.S. Department of Labor. It contains useful information about the nature of the work, qualifications and training, earnings, and the employment outlook. The OOH also contains detailed information about architecture-related occupations. The UC Berkeley Career Center website links to several good architecture career sites. A portfolio is not required for admission. However, if you were unable to take articulated courses to fulfill the lower-division design requirements, a portfolio review may be necessary to evaluate whether you are sufficiently prepared for the upper-division studios. AutoCAD remains the most common software for producing architectural drawings, but it is slowly being replaced by a variety of other programs. For this reason, it is essential that you be motivated to regularly teach yourself new software skills. You will always be learning new programs, and there is no "correct" set of software to use. Many schools and employers will want you to know the Adobe Creative Suite, which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. These are indispensable, and you will be using these frequently in studio courses here. You will also gain experience with 3D modeling. At CED the most common program is Rhinoceros, but Modo, 3D Studio Max, Maya, form-Z, and Blender are all quite useful. Learning these will give you more flexibility to model your designs. A good software combination for modeling might be Rhino and either Maya or Modo. Don't think of these programs as distinct working environments, but rather as a set of tools that should be integrated with the design process. You should be able to model in 3D based on a sketch, and to use 3D simulations as aids for making physical models. You should also be aware that these programs are used in concert, not separately. For example, one might transfer files from Illustrator to Rhino, from Rhino to Illustrator and Maxwell (a 2D simulation program), from Maxwell to Photoshop, from Photoshop to Illustrator, and from Illustrator and Photoshop to InDesign. Knowing how to transfer work between programs is as important as knowing how to edit the work within any given program. Landscape Architecture
The undergraduate curriculum in landscape architecture centers upon creative and ecologically tuned design, and introduces students to the breadth of knowledge common to the profession. See the LAEP website for a full description of college and major requirements for the landscape architecture major. An undergraduate degree from CED prepares you for a wide variety of careers. It is common for CED grads to pursue careers in fields as diverse as medicine, law, design, construction, consulting or teaching. If you are interested in careers in landscape architecture, take a look at the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), produced by the U.S. Department of Labor. It contains useful information about the nature of the work, qualifications and training, earnings, and the employment outlook. The OOH also contains detailed information about landscape architecture-related occupations. The American Society of Landscape Architects website includes a variety of career exploration resources, including a survey of recent landscape architecture graduates. The UC Berkeley Career Center website includes information on landscape architecture occupations. Urban Studies
The urban studies major is organized around core courses in the Department of City and Regional Planning and electives in the College of Environmental Design and in departments across the campus. Such a structure reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the major. Students have the flexibility to design the major to best suit their interests. The core courses introduce students to the tenets of urban planning (CY PLAN 110) and to the key theories and analytical frameworks in urban studies (ENV DES 100). Other city and regional planning courses train students in the different sectors of urban studies and planning, from housing and community development to urban economics. To get a flavor of environmental design, we also expect our students to take both lower-division and upper-division courses in the college. In their senior year, students are encouraged to complete a capstone experience, be it an urban planning studio (CY PLAN 116), a self-guided thesis, or an internship. See the DCRP website for a full description of college and major requirements for the urban studies major. You can also download the urban studies major handbook from this site. The minor in city and regional planning trains students in a variety of majors in the practice of urban planning. It is focused on the professional character of planning. The urban studies major is interdisciplinary. While urban planning lies at its core, the major also allows students to choose courses in keeping with their interests, which may range from urban design to social theory to environmental justice. Our alumni have been successful in many different careers. Quite a few have gone on to graduate school — in city planning, architecture, public health. Others are engaged in the practice of urban planning. Yet others are involved in public interest and nonprofit work. Some are busy in business-oriented careers such as real-estate development. If you are interested in a career in urban and regional planning, take a look at the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), produced by the US Department of Labor. It contains lots of useful information about the nature of the work, qualifications and training, earnings, and the employment outlook. The OOH also contains detailed information about planning-related occupations. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning website includes information to help you determine whether Planning is the career for you. The UC Berkeley Career Center website has a good collection of links to urban and regional planning career sites. There is no single path to graduate school. Some of our urban studies majors choose to work professionally for a few years before applying to graduate school. Others prefer to go directly from an undergraduate experience to a graduate school. During their senior year, urban studies majors have the opportunity to hear from career center staff, their peers, and from alumni so that they can make the most appropriate choice. While urban studies majors are not given priority in admission to UC Berkeley's Master of City Planning (MCP) program, they don't face any particular disadvantage either. Our urban studies majors have been successful in gaining admission not only to our MCP program, but also to graduate programs at UCLA, MIT, Harvard, and the London School of Economics. Careers
An undergraduate degree from CED prepares you for a wide variety of careers. It is common for CED grads to pursue careers in fields as diverse as medicine, law, design, construction, consulting, or teaching. However, if you would like to learn more about careers specifically within environmental design, check out the following resources: An internship is a great way to connect your academic experience with the professional work arena. Many CED students take advantage of the opportunity to complete an internship and some even create their own internships. For more information on internships, see the Career Center's website. Licensure
For information on landscape architecture licensing or career options, visit the website of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The California Architects Board website also provides information on landscape architecture licensing, as well as links to a number of different sites, including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), and more. For information on architecture licensing requirements for every state, see the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) website. For information about becoming licensed as an architect in California, see the Department of Consumer Affairs website. See also the National Architectural Accrediting Board website for information on accredited architecture degree programs in the U.S. Financial Resources
See the Financial Aid Office website for the most up-to-date estimated undergraduate student budgets. Studio courses require lab access and project materials. Contact an adviser for more information on these costs. Following are some of the many financial resources available to UC Berkeley students: |