Master of Architecture

quarter2004
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 17:18:28 +0000

My experience with the quarter class scheduling system and MARCH degree at SCAD.

I attended SCAD from 2001 to 2004 studying architecture in the Master of Architecture program. Since I was a student with an undergraduate degree in a related discipline, I needed to go for 3 years to meet the requirements. For anyone considering to go to Scad I can provide some first hand experience that can help anyone make their own decisions of where to go to college. I am going to list the major things that someone should consider before going to SCAD.


SCAD has the quarter scheduling system. A quarter system class scheduling system is a lot different than a semester system class schedule. A quarter system academic year is three quarters: fall, winter, spring. A full time class schedule is 3 classes. This sounds reasonable but each class is 2.5 hours long. Studio classes are 5.5 hours long. If you schedule a studio class and a regular class back to back you are in class all day. In architecture studio classes. we spent a lot of time discussing our own projects or other students projects with the class which limits your own time of getting your projects completed.


To make up the time, students have to spend long hours into the night to get their projects complete. Eichberg Hall where the architecture department is located at SCAD was open 24/7 when I was there. Students had to do a lot of all nighters because the quarter system class periods are too long.

I personally did about 100 all nighters in 3 years while attending SCAD. I look back and consider that torture. I would never go to a quarter system college again. All nighters become a very painful experience after a while.

Another downfall of the quarter system is that professors have difficulty maintaining a class for 2.5 hours. I had some professors at SCAD cancel class after about 1 hour of teaching. But I paid for 2.5 hours of class time. SCAD is very expensive.

I also think the quarter system is not flexible. You cannot take extra classes over full time like you can a semester system.

I went to a semester system college for my undergraduate degree. Class periods are only 50 minutes long 3 times a week or 1.5 hours long 2 times a week. Since the class times are shorter I had much more time after class to do my work. I only needed to do 1 all nighter and that was because I was taking extra classes over full time. I was able to take 1 or 2 classes over full time each semester in order to study business classes outside of my major and complete the required elective classes for my major.

When I got my first job at an architecture firm in Maryland in 2004 after graduating from SCAD, I was working in an office with intern architects from other institutions such as Drexel and Catholic University. Those intern architects were very experienced with the software programs Sketchup and Revit. At Scad, I never heard of Sketchup or Revit, so it took me a while to gain experience with Sketchup and Revit like the other interns. Scad’s first electronic design class was Microstation. Unfortunately, most firms do not use microstation. So, taking that class was less useful to me.

Working at architecture firms also made me realize that there is not enough class instruction/preparation on construction document production. Intern architects have to compete with people who go to trade schools to learn drafting. Students who go to trade schools for drafting receive more training in drafting than intern architects. I have gone to interviews at architecture firms and was given an AutoCad practical. So, these architecture firms have high expectations for employees to be very knowledgeable and productive of AutoCad and will hire someone who went to a trade school for drafting and knows AutoCAD really well over an intern architect with weak drafting skills.

I began taking the Architecture Registration Exams in 2011. I have taken 4 exams so far and passed them all with 1 try. The Ncarb website posts pass rates for the exam divisions from different states and architecture colleges in those states. Pass rates for SCAD students are not that great ranging from 49 percent to 76 percent in the different divisions in 2012. Pass rates for Penn State University ranges from 71 percent to 89 percent in 2012. Penn State is a semester system college.

To any student considering going to college, I highly recommend going to a semester system college.

I think the quarter system is a fundamentally flawed educational system. Don’t go to a quarter system.

I regret going to SCAD for that reason.