SoA Secondary Application

Secondary Application Materials for Bachelor of Arts in Architecture Program

Fall 2026 Admission Cycle: Freshmen and Transfers (entering UNC Charlotte for the first time in Fall 2026)

Admission to the School of Architecture (SoA) involves a secondary application process, above and beyond what is required to be considered for admission into the University. Applicants to UNC Charlotte interested in majoring in Architecture must first declare "Architecture" as their major in their general application (using either the Future 49er application or Common App).

The Fall 2026 Admission cycle opens on August 1, 2025, which is when that declaration may be made (currently, "Architecture" is not an option on the general application because the University is still completing its Fall 2025 cycle, and our program is no longer accepting Fall 2025 applications). Prospective applicants may use the information on this site about our secondary process and its required materials to begin to work on their materials before the cycle officially begins.

Our secondary process is designed to evaluate creativity and critical thinking, not professional skills. Undergraduate applicants to our program are neither required nor expected to have any particular skills or knowledge base because we provide our students with everything they need to pursue their interest in architecture. Our admissions process is therefore designed to evaluate curiosity, rigor, ambition, and passion, not an applicant’s exposure to specific architectural skills.

In order to complete our secondary application process, applicants must complete and submit these four items:

Exercise 1: Lines on Paper
Exercise 2: Paper Compositions
Exercise 3: Video Analysis
Resumé

In the below tabs, please see instructions for completing each of these items, instructions for how to submit the items (using your Future 49er Portal status page), and FAQs for the application process.

Fall 2026 Admissions and Deadlines Calendar for Freshmen and Transfers (entering UNC Charlotte for the first time in Fall 2026)

July 1, 2025

SoA secondary application process information released.

August 1, 2025

Fall 2026 admissions cycle for UNC Charlotte opens
Freshmen and transfer applicants may select "Architecture" as their intended major for Fall 2026
Students intending to enroll in UNC Charlotte for the first time in Spring 2026 should wait until they are admitted and enrolled in the University, and then apply to the Architecture program as an internal change-of-major applicant. The SoA does not admit students in the spring semester, and secondary materials cannot be submitted to your Future 49er Portal if you plan to begin your studies in the spring reviews.

Fall 2025 & Spring 2026 (multiple dates)

Open houses, Q&A sessions, application workshops, and student-led tours of the SoA available
In-person and virtual options available throughout the cycle
Dates to-be-announced later this summer
The SoA participates in all UNC Charlotte campus-wide admissions events (dates to-be-announced by the University)

November 1, 2025 (11:59 pm)

Deadline for Early Action admissions notification (Early Action decisions announced late 2025/early 2026); freshmen applicants only*
Early Action decisions may be: admit; denied; deferred for later consideration
All primary materials required by UNC Charlotte due by this date
Applicants who miss this deadline will be considered for regular admissions and notified on a rolling basis before April 1, 2026

* Transfer students are not eligible for an Early Action decision because: 1) UNC Charlotte's Undergraduate Admissions does not include transfer applicants in its Early Action process, and 2) the SoA does not review any applicant who has not yet been admitted by Undergraduate Admissions. However, the SoA still encourages transfer applicants to submit their secondary materials by (or soon after) November 1, 2025, and it will review accepted transfer applicants shortly after the University's decision has been rendered and in the order that their secondary materials are received.

November 15 2025 (11:59 pm)

All secondary materials required by UNC Charlotte and the SoA due by this date
Applicants who miss this deadline will be considered for regular admissions and notified on a rolling basis before April 1, 2026

February 1, 2026 (11:59 pm)

Final deadline for Fall 2026 cycle
All primary materials required by UNC Charlotte due by this date
Applicants who miss this deadline may be considered after May 1, if space allows

February 15, 2026 (11:59 pm)

All secondary materials required by UNC Charlotte and the SoA due by this date
Applicants who miss this deadline may be considered after May 1, if space allows

Spring 2026 (multiple dates)

Admitted student events for applicants admitted to the SoA
In-person and virtual options available throughout the cycle
Dates to-be-announced after Early Alert notifications
The SoA participates in all UNC Charlotte campus-wide admitted students events (dates to-be-announced by the University)

April 1, 2026

All applicants notified of their decision no later than this date
Some applicants may receive a notification earlier than this date on a rolling basis

May 1, 2026

Deadline for admitted applicants to submit their "Intent to Enroll" decision
Seats offered to admitted applicants to the SoA will be rescinded if no intention is declared

Instructions for Exercise 1: Lines on Paper

Prepare a stack of blank white paper (letter-size or tabloid-size printer paper is acceptable, but you may also use art paper; avoid paper with lines or grids). Make several drawings composed entirely of lines, using different types of pens and pencils (different colors and/or thicknesses). You may orient the paper horizontally or vertically.

Experiment with different techniques (long lines, short lines, many lines, few lines, using a ruler, drawing freehand, using different types of instruments, orientating the paper differently, etc)
Try different approaches on different sheets

Only one rule: be non-representational ... use lines to make abstract compositions, like the examples above by artist Sol Lewitt, not pictures of things. For example, do not draw a picture of a landscape or a house.

Make at least ten drawings, and select two that allow you to reflect on the effects of differences and similarities between different approaches to the exercise.

In about 100-200 words, write a reflection on your creative process while you were drawing and on how you selected the two drawings. Consider the following questions, or anything else that occurs to you:

What types of differences are evident in the two drawings you selected?
Do subtle or obvious differences appeal to you more?
How did applying different approaches to different drawings affect your creativity?
Did you find yourself being intentional or spontaneous during the process; in other words, did you make a plan and stick to it, or let the process lead you tp unexpected results?

Important: there are no right answers to this creative exercise. Don’t overthink your drawings or your reflection, or try to predict what we want. We simply want to see how you work and to hear how you think.

Prepare for Submission

Use a flatbed scanner or a scanning app on your smartphone to create digital images of your chosen drawings.
Create a one-page file in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or a similar program (letter-size or tabloid-size, horizontal or vertical orientation).
Insert the scans and enter your written reflection into that single-page file.
Export the file as a single-page PDF.

Consider the layout of the page carefully, and make sure your images are scan-quality (don't just take pics with your phone).

Instructions for Exercise 2: Paper Compositions

Using white cardstock paper (any size; 100 lb weight recommended for easier handling), make several 3D compositions by folding and/or cutting sheets of the cardstock in different ways.

Experiment with different techniques (one sheet, multiple sheets, different size sheets, folding-only, folding-and-cutting, varying complexity, etc)
Try different approaches for different compositions

This technique is similar to origami, but with a significant difference: the space that your paper composition defines is as important as the paper itself. In other words, don't think of the paper composition as simply a sculpture or an object. Also consider the space around the paper that is being defined your folding and cutting.

Make at least ten compositions, and select two that allow you to reflect on the effects of differences and similarities between different approaches to the exercise.

In about 100-200 words, write a reflection on your creative process while you were forming the compositions and on how you selected the two compositions. Consider the following questions, or anything else that occurs to you:

What types of differences are evident in the two compositions you selected?
Do subtle or obvious differences appeal to you more?
How did applying different approaches to different compositions affect your creativity?
Did you find yourself being intentional or spontaneous during the process; in other words, did you make a plan and stick to it, or let the process lead you tp unexpected results?

Important: there are no right answers to this creative exercise. Don’t overthink your compositions or your reflection, or try to predict what we want. We simply want to see how you work and to hear how you think.

Prepare for Submission

Place one of your chosen compositions on a simple background (like a black sheet on a table, or like the examples provided).
Take several photographs of the composition.
Select two photos of the composition that, together, effectively communicate its 3D qualities.
Repeat that process for your other chosen composition, so that you have four photos total (two of each of your chosen compositions).
Create a one-page file in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or a similar program (letter-size or tabloid-size, horizontal or vertical orientation).
Insert the images of your compositions and enter your written reflection into that single-page file.
Export the file as a single-page PDF.

Consider the layout of the page carefully, and make sure your images do not include distracting backgrounds.

Instructions for Exercise 3: Video Analysis

Go to a space outside of your home that strikes you as a powerful and/or effective space. Your chosen space may be a room, a building, a neighborhood, a street, a park, a city, or any space that you’ve experienced and can visit again. Take videos of the space from different perspectives, capturing the specific qualities that strike you as powerful and/or effective.

Consider how to include people in your footage (you, your friends, or the general public), in order to communicate how the space is occupied or used. Not every clip needs to have people in it, but make sure to capture some footage of people in the space. The films of Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine are great examples of how to show the life of a space (the image above is a still from their film series Homo Urbanus).

Edit your footage into a one-minute video analysis of the space, using your own voice as the narrator. In your analysis, identify why you selected the space and be specific about the qualities that strike you as powerful and/or effective. Consider discussing a balance of objective/physical qualities (size, form, color, light, texture, etc) and subjective/social qualities (how it feels and how it is used).

The maximum length of the video is 60 seconds! Videos longer than 60 seconds will not be viewed. Be mindful of how you use the time you have, and give special consideration to how you begin and end the video (your first and last impressions!).

Try to make a well-crafted and carefully made video, but we are not expecting professional-quality videos. Most importantly, be yourself in your video. We want to get you to know you better through your discussion of a space.

Prepare for Submission

Upload your edited video to YouTube (you’ll need to have a free Google account to do this).
Copy and paste the URL (its web address) into a document, which you will later paste into your application portal.
Important: in YouTube's Settings, set the “Visibility” of the video either to “Public” or “Unlisted” so that anyone with the link can view the video without special permission (the “Unlisted” setting is recommended because it keeps videos hidden from the public but allows anyone with the link to view it).
Verify that your video is not set to "Private."

Note: video files cannot be uploaded to the application or emailed to the SoA. Only YouTube links are accepted.

Instructions for Resumé

Although the main University application allows applicants to upload an optional resumé, the SoA asks all applicants to submit their resumé along with the other required secondary application materials on their Future 49er Portal status page.

This resumé should include any coursework, jobs, or extracurricular activities that may help the admissions committee to evaluate an application.

Instructions for Optional Portfolio

The SoA does not require a portfolio for its secondary application process. In previous admissions cycles, about 50% of accepted applicants included an optional portfolio with their secondary materials, and about 50% of accepted applicants did not include one, meaning that the inclusion of a portfolio is neither an advantage nor an indicator of a successful application. The admissions committee looks primarily at an applicant's academic record and the required secondary application materials.

Regarding content, note that evidence of drafting coursework and/or CAD skills are considered “professional skills” that are not evaluated during our review process, as the SoA Admissions Committee looks only for evidence of creativity and critical thinking skills. Architectural drawing that is part of a creative process is more relevant, and all work included in the optional portfolio should show evidence of your creative activities, which may or may not include architectural design.

Applicants who wish to include a portfolio with their application are asked to include creative work follow these guidelines:

PDF format (must be a single file with multiple pages, not multiple files)
Page size: Letter (8.5” x 11”) or Tabloid (11” x 17”), either vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) orientation
Page limit: no more than 10 pages, including covers
File size limit: 20 MB maximum

Submission Instructions

Instructions for how to submit your secondary materials in your Future 49er Portal will be posted here by August 1, 2026, when the Fall 2026 admissions cycle opens.

FAQs

When will I be notified of the SoA's decision?

All applicants will be notified of the SoA's decision on their application after UNC Charlotte's Undergraduate Admissions has issued its decision on general admission to the University.

Freshmen applicants who meet the Early Action deadline (see Calendar above for details) are likely to be notified of both decisions (from Undergraduate Admissions and the SoA) by December 19, 2025, but delays may push the notification date into early 2026.

All transfer applicants and freshmen applicants who complete their applications after November 1, 2025, will be notified on a rolling basis. Specific dates cannot be provided because they will depend on the number of applications received by certain dates, which cannot be predicted. Applicants who request a more specific timeline will be referred to this FAQ.

What is the acceptance rate for the program?

The SoA does not publish its acceptance rates because acceptance rates from previous cycles are not necessarily relevant to the current cycle, as the size and qualifications of applicant pool change year-to-year. Additionally, the size of the program changes year-to-year based on institutional variables and pedagogical developments.

Does the program have quotas for transfer students or out-of-state applicants?

No, the SoA does not have any quotas for transfer students or out-of-state applicants. All applicants are evaluated alongside each other for the same seats in our first-year class.

Will any specific courses or extracurricular activities help my application?

No, the admissions committee will look primarily at your application exercises, your general academic performance, and your overall extracurricular activities. No specific classes or types of extracurricular activities are valued more than others.

How do I submit my secondary materials?

Detailed instructions on how to submit secondary materials using your Future 49er Portal will be posted in the "Submission Instructions" tab above by August 1.

Can I submit my secondary materials via email or by using a link to a cloud server?

No, all secondary materials must be submitted through your Future 49er Portal and verified as complete in the Application Checklist section of that portal (if you do not see that section, you did not select “Architecture” as your intended major, contact admissions@charlotte.edu to update that).

What if I submit my secondary materials after the Early Alert deadline, but I submitted my main application to UNC Charlotte by that date?

Your application will not be considered for Early Alert (all secondary materials must be submitted by November 1 (11:59 pm) to receive an Early Alert decision.

What if I submit my secondary materials after the final application deadline, but I submitted my main application to UNC Charlotte by that date?

Your application will not be considered for Early Alert (all secondary materials must be submitted by February 1 (11:59 pm) to be considered for Fall 2026; if space allows, late applications may be reviewed after May 1, 2026.

How long should I spend on these exercises?

We suggest that you spend no more than a couple of hours on Exercise 1 and Exercise 2 (for a total of about 4 hours). For Exercise 3, we suggest that you spend about two hours capturing footage and about another two hours editing it.

I’m not sure I understand the point of the exercises, can you explain more, so that I know I am doing them right?

Our exercises are not tests or tricks, and there are many “right” ways to do them, including ways we don’t expect and can’t predict. Read (and re-read) the instructions carefully, do some practice experiments, and then just have some fun with them. We are looking for passion and potential, and we understand that critical thinking is an open-ended practice that different people do in different ways. We are open to your interpretations of our exercise instructions.

I’ve never made a video before, so how do I do Exercise 3 without any experience?

Video making is easier than it may seem. Use a smartphone to capture footage, and any basic editing software that comes with your computer to do the editing. Online tutorials can teach you the basics, which is all that is needed (we are not expecting professional-quality videos). Videos communicate a lot of information, even when they are done by amateurs.

Do you have tips for photographing, scanning, and/or manipulating digital images?

- - If you don’t have access to a flatbed scanner, use a scanning app linked to your smartphone camera instead of the camera app itself (this will produce a more scan-like image).
  - When photographing or scanning images, be sure that they are well-positioned, well-lit, in-focus, centered, and appropriately cropped (if needed).
  - Use a neutral-color backdrop for your work (avoid patterns or bright colors).
  - All images should be sized at least 1024 X 768 pixels (landscape) or 768 X 1024 pixels (portrait). Smaller sized images may not exhibit necessary detail; larger may be difficult to upload.
  - All images should have a resolution of 72 dpi/ppi (dots/pixels per inch).
  - Save JPEG files as “Quality 10” images using a “Baseline Standard” option.
  - Always save an original copy of your image and create a back-up of each to ensure that you always have a record of your work.

Does submitting the optional portfolio increase my chances of admission?

No, the SoA Admissions Committee is not looking for any specific type of experience in their applicants, and it gives the same full consideration to all applicants who complete the required secondary materials. Additionally, in previous cycles, our records show that half of our accepted students did submit a portfolio, and half of them did not.

What are the format guidelines for the optional portfolio?

- - PDF format; name your file: “Lastname_SoA_portfolio.pdf” (must be a single file)
  - Page size: Letter (8.5” x 11”) or Tabloid (11” x 17”), either vertical or horizontal orientation
  - Page limit: no more than 10 pages, including covers
  - File size limit: 20 MB maximum

I have credits from another architecture program. Does the SoA offer advanced placement?

Applicants who have earned substantial credit hours in architectural courses at another institution, and/or who have significant professional experience in the field, may be considered for advanced placement into second-year or third-year Architecture courses after they have been admitted to the program. An admitted applicant may request consideration for advanced placement, once their decision is rendered. In all cases, advance placement decisions are separate from the admissions process and will not be considered until an applicant has been admitted to both UNC Charlotte and the SoA.

Although a portfolio is not required for the Secondary Application to the SoA, it is required to be considered for advanced placement; applicants may submit a portfolio following their acceptance to the SoA if they believe they may earn advanced placement.

What are the links to the SoA’s and UNC Charlotte's various websites?

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