Is Architecture School worth it?

momrath
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:05:40 +0000

Architecture, among all the professions that require specific training, is not a direct route to an assured big income. Compared to law or medicine for example the investment in time and money in schooling, internships and licensing may not pay off in eventual income. Of course, there are a handful of architects who make a whole lot of money (starchitects) and plenty of architects that make a comfortable living, but if you were to prorate educational investment to income, law, medicine and even business would come out ahead.

The elephant in the room is obviously that career and life satisfaction is not necessarily proportionate to income. As a gross generality, I would say that many architects are happy with their career choice – and I’ve observed this in architects at a wide range of income levels.

There are two routes to becoming an architect. One, the Bachelors of Architecture BArch or BArch/MArch starts from day one of the student’s undergraduate career. Two, the Masters of Architcture (MArch) builds on top of a BA or BS in architecture studies or any undergraduate disciplines.

The non-architecture undergraduate degree can be in a related field, like studio art or art history, or in a completely unrelated area. Many students in MArch programs, have some work experience, again, either in architecture or another related or unrelated field.

Both routes turn out successful architects. The first which is faster (and therefore cheaper) is appropriate for students who are 100% sure that “architecture school is worth it.” The second is for the student who hasn’t settled on his/her career path or wants a wider undergraduate education.

There are many related career choices for a person who has a degree in architecture but doesn’t want to practice: real estate development, museum management (the new director of the Miami museum is a architect), architectural consulting, preservation, teaching, environmentalism. For a student of architectural studies, i.e., a more general BA degree, the same general options apply.

Along with food and clothing, shelter is a universal human need and architecure touches on all of our lives in diverse and complex ways. I think that’s why architects love their jobs.