NCARB By The Numbers

NCARB 2013 Annual Report

NCARB by the Numbers

During the 2013 Annual Meeting, NCARB released the second edition of NCARB by the Numbers, offering an inside look at the data behind the architectural profession. The publication revealed several positive trends including an increase in the number of NCARB Record applications by women; a drop in the time it takes interns to complete IDP; and a quantifiable drive from ARE candidates, the majority of whom complete the exam in less than two years.

Thanks to improved information systems, NCARB now has the ability to mine nearly 100 years worth of Record holder data to produce trend snapshots—placing the Council in a unique position to provide a clear and definitive source of information about the past, present, and future of the architectural profession. The inaugural 2012 edition received a MarCom Award, an international competition that recognizes outstanding creative achievement by marketing
and communication professionals.

"We’re thrilled to report that the data 'busts' the myths that have proliferated for years about how long it takes to complete the IDP or to achieve licensure," said NCARB CEO Michael J. Armstrong. "And we’re especially excited to share data regarding the ARE."

NCARB by the Numbers is designed to be a valuable resource for better understanding our evolving profession. DOWNLOAD

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The percentage of NCARB applications by women has increased since the last edition of NCARB by the Numbers. In 2012, 3,063 applications (39.9 percent of applicants) were by women, an increase of 1.6 percentage points from 2011.3

In 2009, the reporting requirement for experience (aka the “Six-Month Rule”) came into effect for all interns. As one of the biggest policy changes governing the reporting of experience, it’s only natural to want to see what effect it has had on how fast or slow interns progress through the IDP. We can see here that interns who completed the IDP over the last two years have completed it more quickly from the peak in 2010. The mean years between the start and end of IDP has dropped from 6.18 for 2010 completions to 5.33 for 2012 completions.

If we look at the distribution of completion times as a whole, we can see that it is heavily right-skewed. Twenty-five (25) percent of candidates completed the ARE in less than one year, 50 percent completed it in less than 1.8 years, and 75 percent completed it in 3.2 years or under.