ACBA vs Traditional College
A traditional liberal arts education prepares students for a complex world by instilling a wide array of knowledge. Students can draw from this experience and tackle novel issues far better than someone without this skillset.
ACBA has taken this guiding principle and merged it with a focus on craftsmenship and the built environment. Our result is an educated artisan - someone who can be tasked with creating custom work tailored to the customer's desire.
Most colleges have a slate of required general education courses that may feel completely removed from a student's field. ACBA has taken those requirements and integrated them directly into our niche area. For example, rather than two semesters of "a science," ACBA students take two semesters of material science that focuses on why building materials fail and how to properly care for them. Rather than fulfilling a "history" requirement with something like Western Civ, ACBA students take two semesters of architectural history. This approach goes across the board for all of our general education courses, please download our catalog for more detailed course information.
ACBA vs Trade School
Anyone can follow a recipe and cook a respectable meal - that doesn't make you a chef. ACBA trains its students to become chefs in their trades. We produce students who can think outside the box, invent creative solutions to novel problems, and have the skillset to follow through. No matter the style, materials, or setting, ACBA students can find a workable solution to custom problems.
While there are a number of very capable trade schools with competent faculty, ACBA takes this to another level. Our faculty are primarly European craftsmen who have achieved master craftsmen status in their respective countries. Our students go through a highly rigorous curriculum that produces artisans who typically enter their 4th year with multiple job offers in hand.
It is true that you can learn how to become a craftsman by apprenticing or attending a trade school. The problem with those approaches is that, most of the time, you're trained on what is equivalent to a paint-by-numbers approach. Apprentices are very good at reproducing the exact products being sold by a shop during their apprenticeship, but the moment a client wants something that requires deviation from the pattern, they are lost. A cook is only as good as the recipe, a chef can roll with the punches.
What can I do after graduation?
We have designed a program that sets up graduates for multiple career paths. The simplest is that you are a college graduate with a degree and now all of those jobs that require a 4-year degree are open. But that's simple and any college can give you that.
You're also a journeyman level craftsmen. And what we mean by that is we look to the respective trade groups to see how they define a journeyman in their professional. Typically groups like ABANA or the Timber Framers guild produce requirements that a craftsman should be able to complete to be considered at that level. ACBA ensures its curriculum satisfies all of those requirements.
You're also a very competent project manager. Everyone has heard about the huge need for tradesmen in the US, especially what's projected over the next 10 years. Few have thought about the managers on those sites. Right now, companies are hiring business majors who have no experience building anything to manage job sites simply because there aren't other options. ACBA puts its students through an entire managerial sequence and our trade classes establish a huge portfolio of work that will set you up to move quickly upward along the corporate ladder.
And while most students who come to ACBA typically focus on the trade aspect, the white-collar fields shouldn't be overlooked. There are many terrific tradesmen who have thrown their back out, or fallen off a ladder, and are no longer able to perform their craft. Because you have the varied background provided, you won't be out of a job should misfortune strike.
Are there really a lot of jobs in these fields?
Don't take our word for it, check the Bureau of Labor Statistics projections over the next 5 to 10 years as the last of the Baby Boomers enter retirement. The fact is, there is a huge looming shortfall and all the US is currently doing is training the very low end of the ladder and praying those folks show enough promise to move up. ACBA, even at maximum capacity, cannot hope to fill the enormous need in this country.
One anecdotal example was a visit we had from the Office of the Architect of the Capitol. Three representatives met with our students this past Fall semester to encourage them to apply for all of the openings they have throughout all of the trade areas. This is the office that takes care of some of the most important buildings in our nation (Congress, the Supreme Court, National Botanical Gardens), and they are attending in-person to pitch to our students. Their current workforce is scheduled to be at over 70% eligible for retirement by 2026.
ACBA submits graduated student cohorts for employment verification on an annual basis. In our most recent annual report, ACBA submitted 7 Bachelor degree students who have graduated in 2018 with the result that 5 were verified as working in their field (71%). We have also submitted 2 Associate degree students who have graduated in the 2019 with both verified as working in their field (100%).
How many students make it through until graduation?
ACBA submits graduation charts through a few different mediums. The National Center for Education Statistics utilizes a system called IPEDS and ACBA is available here.
ACBA also submits graduation information to our accrediting agency, ACCSC. Our last submission looked at the Bachelor's degree cohort that entered in August of 2014. This was a group of 12 students and 7 of them graduated within 6 years of entry (64%). In the years since, ACBA has begun accepting larger incoming cohorts and hopefully these percentages rise!
ACBA also offers students the ability to take an Associate degree which some opt into during their time at the college. Because students opt into the degree path shortly before they graduate, it almost always maintains a 100% graduation rate. Our last submission to ACCSC saw 3 students who entered in August of 2017 and all 3 completed the program within 3 years (100%).
Ok, but what trade do I pick?
It's a really hard decision that comes down to your personal preference. Each trade area really has a unique personality, but really there is something for everyone in each trade. We would encourage you to come visit in person and see for yourself the work the students have done, and to speak with them in person.
In the meantime, you can browse through this overview of each area!