The School of Architecture promotes a supportive environment for personal growth and professional development. The organization and content of the curriculum provides a stimulating educational program and aims to properly prepare students for a career of professional involvement and life-long learning. Faculty members teach and encourage students to think, carry out intellectual explorations, and make their own judgments regarding personal and professional directions.

Students develop leadership skills through participation in the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), the Dean's Council, Tau Sigma Delta, and the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS). They can also participate in broadened cultural and professional experiences through the Office of Cooperative Education, extended field trips, and foreign exchanges and travel. Students also have important opportunities for academic choice through architectural and university-wide electives, special topic courses, and individually selected thesis topics.

Graduates of the program are well prepared to enter traditional practice and to contribute effectively in a rapidly changing global society. Upon graduation, students elect to either stay in Mississippi to practice architecture or seek employment with firms located in cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC. Students are also encouraged to pursue graduate study. Over the years, S/ARC graduates have excelled in programs such as those at Rice, Washington University, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Cincinnati, Yale, Columbia, Syracuse, and Cambridge, England.