Path to Licensure · A YALA Program
Finish the license. We will be on the path with you.
Nationally, more than a third of the people who start the Architect Registration Examination never finish it. Not for lack of information. For lack of a structure, a date on the calendar, and people who notice when you stall. This is ALA's answer: a study cohort for every division, a public wall for every pass, and a pin on stage the year you are licensed. It is run by YALA, ALA's community for students and early-career architects, and led by members who passed the same exams within the last two years.
How it works
01
Pick a division, book the exam.
Each cohort covers one of the six ARE divisions over eight weeks. In week one you book your exam date. The date is the finish line; without it, people drift.
02
Study with eight to twelve people who are taking the same test.
One 75-minute session a week on Zoom, led by an ALA member who passed that division within the last two years and remembers exactly what was hard. Shared study materials, one group practice-exam subscription.
03
Pass, go on the wall, get pinned.
Every division you pass goes on the I Passed wall with your name. The year you are licensed, you are called to the stage at the Design Awards Gala and pinned in front of the profession.
Study Cohorts
Six divisions. Six cohorts. Step in at any one.
Cohorts run back to back through the year, so you can take the whole path in twelve months or join the one division you are stuck on. Cohorts are free for Associate, New Graduate and Student members. Not a member yet? Join as an Associate and your first cohort is included.
- PcM Practice Management
- PjM Project Management
- CE Construction & Evaluation
- PA Programming & Analysis
- PPD Project Planning & Design
- PDD Project Development & Documentation
Enrolled candidates get the session dates for their division by email as each cohort is scheduled. Questions: ALA@licensedarchitect.org.
The I Passed Wall
Every division passed by an ALA candidate, with a name on it.
Passing a division is the kind of milestone that usually happens alone in a testing center. It should not stay there. Names go up here, with permission, the month the score comes back.
The wall opens with the first cohort's results. Passed a division recently? Send the division and month to ALA@licensedarchitect.org and we will put you up first.
Pinning at the Gala
Licensed this year? You are on stage November 5.
At the Design Awards Gala at Medinah Country Club, every ALA member licensed in the past year is called up and pinned before the awards are presented. The winners get their night; so do you.
Membership on the Path
Free as a student, $75 your first year out, $115 as an Associate.
Cohorts, the contract library, the CEU Tracker and every event at the candidate rate until the license comes through. The people you study with are the people you will see at Coffee with Architects and Open Studio: that is YALA.