Over the years alumni of the program have been accepted to 30 graduate schools, ranging geographically from Harvard to Arizona State, and most have successfully completed the graduate degree. Architectural Studies is known to be a tough major and its graduates are welcome applicants in all the schools that alumni have attended. Comparable programs are not known to exist in other publicly supported instituions. The University of Pittsburgh usually offers 17 courses in the history and theory of architecture in any given biennium. In the Department of the History of Art and Architecture two members of the faculty are full-time historians of architecture and three others teach one course each.
Coverage includes ancient, medieval, and modern Europe, America, China, and world religions.
Work in studio arts can be expanded beyond the four required courses in design, sculpture, drawing, and perspective drawing to comprise a second major. The major outlined below is that intended for students who do expect to pursue a career in architecture. For others, some substitutions may be made in consultation with the Director of Architectural Studies. In practice each student's major will be devised to serve his or her own individual needs and career goals, but the following description will be used as the model. Students are advised that prerequisites to a professional career in architecture include knowledge of calculus and physics.