Female architecture student standing at a booth learning about an architecture firm at the career fair

Careers

Architects as a force for good

Architects as a force for good

Our unique pedagogy fuels our students to seek career options in practice, academia, and public service.

Through a variety of programs, thesis reviews, lectures, and events, we host practicing professionals, architectural historians, preservationists, community leaders, and alumni all year, giving our students a marked advantage in the job market, plus inspiration, valuable practical experience, and personal connections to potential employers and colleagues.

During their five years here, students seek employment with important national and international firms through our vast alumni network and our supporting professionals in academia, architecture, urbanism, and development. During our annual Career Fair, students interview with these firms, often receiving multiple offers, and are launched into fruitful careers with one of these firms. Many of our students secure jobs before receiving their diplomas.

  • $934,309 return on investment 10 years after graduating with a B.Arch, at least $100,000 more than the top 19 programs in the country
  • 75 of the nation's top architecture firms attend Career Fair annually
  • $70-75,000/year starting salary one year after completing M.Arch degree (2023)
Headshot image of Scott Merrill

"I know that with Notre Dame students there is a fundamental sympathy for what our firm is interested in—urban design, the effective use of land, the humane organization of buildings, and a broad impact at all levels of cost. Notre Dame students temper civic virtue with a solid appraisal of reality. They are decent, smart people, and they want to be good and do good."

- Scott Merrill, Merrill Pastor & Colgan Architects

Worldwide Network

Our alums are working around the country and all over the world.

Image of Elizabeth Graziolo

“The University of Notre Dame is known for producing top-notch, classically trained young architects, and every year the principals of architecture firms that work in traditional styles make pilgrimages to a spring career fair at the Indiana school to vie for the new talent.”

- Elizabeth Graziolo, Yellow House Architects (New York Times September 1, 2023)