For Students Entering Fall 2023

For requirements for students entering in previous years, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

A candidate will be recommended for the Master of Architecture II as a post-professional degree upon satisfactory completion of a minimum of 80 units. MArch II students pursue the following 4 semester course of study:

Year One

First Term

  • 8 unitsOption Studio*
  • 4 unitsADV 9601 Proseminar
  • 8 unitsDistributional or General Electives**

Second Term

  • 8 unitsOption Studio*
  • 12 unitsDistributional or General Electives**

Year Two, Track A: Option Studios

Third Term

  • 8 unitsOption Studio*
  • 12 unitsDistributional or General Electives**

Fourth Term

  • 8 unitsOption Studio*
  • 12 unitsDistributional or General Electives**

or

Year Two, Track B: Independent Thesis (by application****)

Third Term

  • 8 unitsOption Studio*
  • 4 unitsCourse to prepare for thesis
  • 8 unitsDistributional or General Electives**

Fourth Term

  • 12 unitsADV 9301 Independent Design Thesis***
  • 8 unitsDistributional or General Electives**

Footnotes

* A minimum of 2 option studios taken over the course of a student's program must be offered by the Department of Architecture.
** Students are required to fulfill the following distributional electives:

       4 units of Discourse and Techniques electives
       4 units of Professional Practice electives
       4 units of Technologies of Visualization and Fabrication

An approved list of distributional electives is posted each term. Please note that you are not able to use one course to fulfill more than one distributional elective. 

A minimum of one half of the electives in the student’s curriculum must be fulfilled by courses offered at the GSD. Students are eligible to fulfill electives through cross-registered courses at other Harvard schools, MIT, or the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts. For more information on cross-registration, please see the GSD cross-registration info page.
*** MArch II students may opt to do thesis with prior approval from the department. Approval must be obtained by the end of the first year of studies. (A collaborative group thesis or a continuation of the work of an option studio are permissible with prior approval.)