Boston Architectural College

The BAC is the largest independent college of spatial design in New England. Architecture and design is all we do, so the people who come to study, teach, and work here are crazy about design. All of our professional degrees are accredited so you can earn your architectural licensure or interior design certification after graduation.

The Boston Architectural College began as a professional club in 1889. In the 1940s, the curriculum was modernized to emphasize history, theory, materials, and methods. In 1971, we became the first accredited architecture program with a work component in the US. Since then, we've introduced pioneering programs in interior architecture, landscape architecture, and design studies.

One of the biggest reasons BAC students are drawn to architecture and design is that they are naturally creative and constructive. BAC students are always drawing, building, and tinkering. Whether digital or physical, you will be imagining things and bringing your ideas to life.

We go way beyond the internship at the BAC. Our students strive to work full time while they study, developing their careers ahead of graduation. You learn from experienced colleagues and take advantage of the resources at your firm.You build a professional reputation and contribute to real world projects. When you graduate, you'll know what you want to pursue and how to get there.

The BAC is right in the heart of Boston's historic Back Bay. Boston is one of the youngest, most innovative cities in the US—you can walk everywhere, and it's packed with architecture, museums, music venues, restaurants, colleges and universities, and public green spaces. Boston is a leader in education, biotechnology, and renewable energy and home to major international architectural firms. It's an ideal place to study architecture and design.

Part of our mission is to make the traditionally exclusive field of architecture more diverse. We are committed to a policy of open admission and accept applications on a rolling basis. Our student bodyincludes a large population of first-generation college students, international students, and minority groups.

The BAC provides excellence in design education emerging from practice and accessible to diverse communities.To be the recognized leader in the education of design professionals, connecting theory and practice and engaging educators, practitioners, allied professions, and the public.

The Boston Architectural College is committed to promoting a community that celebrates, affirms, and vigorously pursues inclusiveness in all its forms.

Excellent design integrates diverse skills and problem solving approaches to meeting client needs. Combining divergent ways of thinking, non-traditional approaches to solving problems, multi-cultural awareness, sensitivity to the needs of persons who may be different from ourselves, tolerance of ideas we may not initially understand, and openness to new ways of addressing needs is essential to achieving thoughtful, creative, innovative and client-centered design. Through multiple design disciplines, and through our insistence on learning from diverse ways of approaching design solutions, the Boston Architectural College expresses its fundamental commitment to being an open and welcoming community. We strive to effectively serve diverse clients in a multi-cultural world.

As the largest independent, multi-disciplinary college of spatial design in the United States, the Boston Architectural College (BAC) has opportunities to influence the future viability of the design professions.

Sustainable design professions require diversity and inclusivity in their approaches to serving clients. The BAC strives to increase diversity among those who study, work, teach and practice Architecture, Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and a wide range of allied fields.

The BAC's diversity vision is to be a vibrant, inclusive learning community where all members are respected, welcomed and enabled to thrive. As this vision is realized, the College will reflect diversity in its student body, faculty, curriculum, Practice learning, and in the ways that we teach and learn.

The Boston Architectural College is a nonprofit professional college dedicated to architecture and design. Centrally located in Boston’s Back Bay, we have been a distinctive part of Boston’s design community for more than 125 years.At the BAC, your design education happens both in the classroom and in the field. Alongside your classes and studios, you acquire vital professional experience through real-world employment and hands-on projects, earning credit and building compounding skills in both settings.

The BAC’s model of professional practice also makes it possible for you to earn while you learn, making your education more attainable. And our policy of open admissions means that anyone with the determination and drive to earn their degree is welcome here.

The Financial Aid office at the BAC is dedicated to assisting students in financing their educational goals. We recognize that studying at the BAC represents a significant investment in the future and are committed to helping students navigate the application process. The first step is always to fill out the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at fafsa.ed.gov. To ensure the best possible aid package be sure to submit your application by the April 15 priority deadline.

The Boston Architectural College was established as The Boston Architectural Club in 1889 by a group of both young and established local architects. The BAC's founders designed hospitals, churches, libraries, schools, theatres, and many notable homes in Back Bay and Fenway; started influential companies, including Peabody & Stearns and A. H. Davenport & Company; and boasted two future AIA presidents, R. Clipston Sturgis and Robert S. Peabody. One notable founder, Edward C. Cabot, served as the president of the Boston Society of Architects for nearly 30 years and designed the Boston Athenaeum.