The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University is one of the world's most highly regarded and prestigious schools of architecture and has the only department in the Ivy League that offers the Bachelor of Architecture degree. According to DesignIntelligence, Cornell architecture students are the most desired recent graduates by architecture firms, especially in New York City. The department has one of the largest endowments of any architecture program, including a $20 million endowment by Cayuga County resident Ruth Price Thomas in 2002. The Master of Regional Planning (M.R.P.) professional degree program at AAP has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation, according to Planetizen's Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs.

Among the college's notable alumni are architects Richard Meier (B.Arch. '56), designer of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and Peter Eisenman (B.Arch. '55), founder of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City; artists Charles Ginnever (M.F.A. '59), Louise Lawler (B.F.A. '69), Susan Rothenberg (B.F.A. '67) and James Siena (B.F.A. '79); architect and planner Edmund Bacon (B.Arch. '32), and planners Paul Farmer (M.R.P. '71), Norman Krumholz (M.R.P. '65), and Robert Mier (M.R.P. '73, Ph.D. '75).