| chris, I don't have a lot of specific advice for you but I applaud your direction and think that you will ultimately achieve you goals.
My son is a recent liberal arts graduate. He's doing grunt work at slave wages at a wonderful firm with the idea of eventualy getting an MArch. He has a highschool friend who is about to graduate from a 5 year architecture program and will indoubtedly be a full fledged architect earning good money well before he's 25. Would my son exchange places? No way, he values his LAC education, he values the OJT and exposure he's currently getting and is looking forward to the next phase of his life.
First on MArch vs BArch: Too late for you to stress over this point. Many, many successful architects studied something entirely different for their undergrad degrees and attended architecture school after pursuing other careers. You should try to attend a MArch information session (usually held in the Fall). My son was told that the average age of the student body at Yale (or maybe it was Harvard, I forget) was 28. Life experience and intellectual depth is very important in these programs. Architects need to be exposed to ideas and buildings.
Yes, you may end up as a starting architect at the age of 35. So what? The principle of the firm that my son works for has an art degree, a law degree and an MArch. He has a very successful, award winning practice but he arrived there by a circuitous path.
My guess is that your life plans will coalesce at some point. Everything you are feeling, sensing about the environment, the global community, the interaction between design and human responsibility is exactly the direction that the field is taking. You will be able to tie it all together.
I happen to live in a developing country that has a rich history of traditional architecture and is experiencing a renaissance of environmentally friendly, low income architecture. Try to visit Indonesia on your travels. You could most likely get a position with an NGO involved in the rebuilding of Aceh.
The only point that I would question in your long term goals is the idea of doing your MArch at night while working. The MArch is an very demanding, exhausting program. I'd suggest plunging into a full time program -- or maybe a coop program -- even if it means taking out some loans.
Not sure how dire your undergrad grades are (how lacking?) but I believe your life experience and intellectual drive can compensate. You will need a knockout portfolio, driven more by creativity than actual artistic ability. You will also have to take the GRE which may help compensate for a lackluster GPA.
Good luck and let us know how you do. |