Degree Requirements for Master of Architecture
Residency
Those who have not yet studied in a department of architecture and are admitted to MArch at Level I require 3½ academic years of residency to fulfill the degree requirements. For students who have taken architectural design at an accredited architectural school and have been admitted to MArch at Level II, the residency requirement is normally 2½ years. For MIT Bachelor of Science in Art and Design students who gain early admission to the MArch program, the minimum required residency is four regular terms.
Faculty Advising
A faculty advisor with a design background will be assigned to each MArch student before the first term of registration. This advisor will monitor the student’s progress through completion of the degree.
Subjects and Credit Units
The MArch is awarded upon satisfactory completion of an approved program of at least 164 units, 96 of which must be H-level subjects, and an acceptable thesis. Those who have not yet studied in a department of architecture must complete a program of 318 units, 96 of which must be H-level subjects, and an acceptable thesis.
Subjects required for the 3½-year program include:
- Six architectural design studios (4.123, 4.124, 4.143, 4.144, 4.155, 4.156)
- Architectural Design Skills I and II (4.105 and 4.106)
- Four Building Technology subjects (4.641, 4.642, 4.463, 4.464)
- Three subjects in History, Theory and Criticism (4.665, 4.645, 4.607)
- Two Visual Arts subjects (4.303 and one VA elective)
- Three elective subjects that form a concentration
- Professional Practice (4.222)
- One urban studies elective
- Three free elective subjects
- MArch Thesis Preparation (4.189)
- Thesis (4.ThG)
MArch Curriculum Chart (PDF) download
Credit for Previous Academic Work
MArch students who have successfully completed the equivalent of one or more required architecture subjects outside MIT (or within MIT as undergraduates) may be given advanced credit for those subjects by submitting a petition for curriculum adjustment. Petitions are reviewed by the MArch Program Committee, which is composed of one faculty member from each of the four discipline groups, and acted on in the first month of the semester. Depending on the subject for which MIT credit is requested, students may substitute an elective in the discipline group or substitute a free elective.
Students admitted to Level II receive two semesters of studio credit with the letter of admission. It is assumed these students will have completed a curriculum roughly equivalent to the MIT Level I at their previous universities. The Program Committee reviews transcripts for these students in the summer before they enter and make recommendations for any necessary curriculum adjustments. Students and faculty advisors are notified of these recommendations before Registration Day.
English Requirement
All students whose first language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test (EET) prior to registration at MIT. Even students who satisfy the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement for admission may be required to take specialized subjects in English as a Second Language (ESL), depending on their EET results. These subjects do not count toward the required units but will prove helpful to students who need to develop the skills necessary to write a thesis.
Policy on Incomplete Subjects and Thesis Semester
MArch students may have no more than one incomplete in a required subject when they register for thesis (4.ThG). This incomplete can be no older than one term (received the term prior to thesis registration).
Students who have incompletes from several subjects or incompletes from earlier terms will be denied registration until those subjects are finished and graded. This policy applies to incompletes in subjects required by the degree curriculum or needed for units toward the degree.
Academic Audits
A chart indicating progress through the academic requirements will be maintained as part of each student’s file. The administrator of master’s degree programs will distribute this audit to students at the end of each regular term and to faculty advisors on Registration Day each term.
Concentration
The concentration required within the MArch curriculum is a sequence of at least three elective subjects that cohere around a defined set of educational goals. The intent of the concentration requirement is to provide structure for a student’s own exploration of MIT’s resources. The concentration often provides effective preparation for the thesis.
Concentration affects the student’s curriculum beginning in the second term of Level II. Each student must complete a concentration form and present it to his or her academic advisor on or before Registration Day of the second term at Level II.
The statement on the concentration form must
- identify the student’s issue or proposed focus;
- describe how the set of subjects coheres and how the concentration might lead to thesis;
- list as many subjects as possible that seem relevant.
Academic advisors will discuss and approve concentration proposals on Registration Day of the student’s second Level II term. A copy of the concentration proposal, signed by the academic advisor, must be filed with the administrator for master’s degree programs. The academic advisor and the administrator for master’s degree programs monitor each student’s progress in his/her concentration.
Thesis Preparation and Thesis
The core of the MArch thesis is architecture design. Students enroll in Preparation for MArch Thesis (4.189) during their next-to-last term of registration. The result of this 9-unit subject is a thesis proposal.
The MArch thesis committee is composed of three members. The thesis supervisor must be a permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty with an architecture design background. The second and third members may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional, or a faculty member from another institution.
Co-thesis supervision is permitted as long as one of the supervisors is a permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty with an architecture design background. The other supervisor may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional, or a faculty member from another institution.
MArch students are required to register for 36 units of thesis (4.THG) the final term.
The thesis proposal, including a thesis proposal form signed by all the thesis committee members, is due the first week of the term in which the student registers for thesis.
The MArch thesis review schedule includes deadlines for content review, schematic design review, public mid-review, penultimate review, final review and final thesis document.
The MArch degree is awarded after all the degree requirements have been met, and after two copies of the approved, archival-ready thesis have been submitted to the headquarters of the Department of Architecture by the Institute deadline for master’s theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar. Students must adhere to the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.
Quick Links
English Evaluation Test (EET)
MArch Curriculum Chart
Petition for Curriculum Adjustment
Concentration Form
March Thesis Proposal form
MArch Thesis Review Schedule
Academic Calendar
Specifications for Thesis Preparation
