Graduate Admissions
As the top-ranked public university for architecture and the built environment, The College of Environmental Design is known worldwide for innovation and excellence, committed to launching our graduates to be agents of environmental and social change. We offer six professional degrees and five academic graduate degrees, as well as opportunities for earning concurrent degrees within the college and with other Berkeley departments.
Why Berkeley?
As a Berkeley graduate student, you’re part of a diverse community of change-makers known worldwide for innovation and academic excellence. Our passion for critical inquiry, debate, discovery and innovation is informed by a deep commitment to contributing to a better world. We’re consistently ranked the top-ranked public university in the nation, and it shows: among our alums are five Nobel prize winners, more than 40 MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recipients, and founders of hundreds of successful companies.
On our 1,200-acre campus overlooking San Francisco Bay, you’ll find more than 20 libraries, countless interdisciplinary centers and institutes, art and science museums, four outdoor pools for year-round swimming, and resident Peregrine falcons in our bell tower. Every day, the campus is buzzing with activity: dance and music performances, lectures and symposia, readings and recitals, and — as the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement — teach-ins and peaceful political protests.
And the robust and engaging academic, cultural, and social offerings available on the UC Berkeley campus are just the beginning: Berkeley’s location in the Bay Area offers unparalleled opportunities. We’re just across the bay from San Francisco, where you’ll find thriving architectural practices, world-class museums and art spaces, and creatives of all types. Both the state capital, Sacramento, and Silicon Valley are just short hops away, putting you in a position to engage with policy-makers as well as entrepreneurs who are shaping the future.
California is the ideal laboratory for bold actions to make our world a better place. At the edge of the continent, California embraces a global perspective. With a population of 40 million, it’s one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse states in the nation. And the diversity of its natural and built landscapes — deserts, coasts, mountains, forests, cities, suburbs, exurbs agricultural regions — offers boundless opportunities.
California is also a bellwether of some of this century’s most urgent problems, from housing affordability, social inequities, rising sea levels, extreme heat, and wildfires. At Berkeley, we are committed to harnessing research, creativity, and knowledge to meet these challenges. We invite you to learn more about how a Berkeley graduate education can empower you to be a change-maker.
About our Graduate Programs
We offer six professional degrees and five academic graduate degrees, as well as opportunities for earning concurrent degrees within the college and with other Berkeley colleges and departments.