I'm always curious about the estimated salary average for specific graduate studies in architecture. I take a look at the salary poll and am interested when seeing that "ivy" schools tend to push the salary bar a notch. but i'd like to see more examples and comparisons between graduate schools. The ranges in the salary polls seem so wide sometimes (roughly 30gs! damn!). Wish people would include more information of what they did or did not do prior to being employed (possibly more information on inspiration/experience points like traveling, extra studies, etc)
There was an interesting letter in Harvard Design Magazine, months ago (with the Holl/Acconci Storefront for Architecture building on the cover). It described how the Rem-influenced students at Harvard where earning much less than their Notre Dame counterparts with a more traditional design education. The letter is worth reading...
It also gave a salary comparison, which was a sizable amount.
The Design Futures Council did a salary comparison for architects/designers across the board and the differences were vast. While the intern architect pay was relatively tight between highs and lows the more experience and promotions ones gets the wider the pay margins get. I wouldn't find it surprising to see the salary poll show two people, same education and experience, with one making $50k and the other $80k. Pay has more to do with location of the firm and the type of work they do than what college you went to. Sure and Ivy degree or BArch/March might make a couple bucks diff up front but in the long run it's probably a wash.
"A" has a good point. You want good $, go into a firm that services developers vs. design oriented firms. The pay difference is tremendous. It IS literally a 30k difference.
I don't think graduating from an ivy school would increase your salary at all (or decrease for that matter.) One advantage might be to get interviews at places because of what's on your resume. (e.g. some more conceptually driven design office might have a higher respect for Ivy league education, but certainly not always the case.) Once you're being considered for employment, however, I don't think any firm really cares where you went to school, they'll be much more interested in how much experience you have.
Sadly, 95% of firms really have no use for the kind of conceptual thinking you do in school, Ivy or otherwise, so I can't think of any firm that would hire 2 employees with identical work experience and pay the ivy leaguer more than the state school grad. A firm that might value an Ivy league education (in terms of value of conceptual design ability) is likely to pay less that a more developer driven firm.
That's not to say you will be penalized in any way for going to an Ivy league school, or that it's not worth the effort or money, it's just unlikely to translate into a higher salary.
Nov 29, 04 8:37 pm ·
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Experience, Salary, Graduate studies.
I'm always curious about the estimated salary average for specific graduate studies in architecture. I take a look at the salary poll and am interested when seeing that "ivy" schools tend to push the salary bar a notch. but i'd like to see more examples and comparisons between graduate schools. The ranges in the salary polls seem so wide sometimes (roughly 30gs! damn!). Wish people would include more information of what they did or did not do prior to being employed (possibly more information on inspiration/experience points like traveling, extra studies, etc)
hey are you aspiring to be an architect? i am. if you are, aim me. .
sashimi46
There was an interesting letter in Harvard Design Magazine, months ago (with the Holl/Acconci Storefront for Architecture building on the cover). It described how the Rem-influenced students at Harvard where earning much less than their Notre Dame counterparts with a more traditional design education. The letter is worth reading...
It also gave a salary comparison, which was a sizable amount.
The Design Futures Council did a salary comparison for architects/designers across the board and the differences were vast. While the intern architect pay was relatively tight between highs and lows the more experience and promotions ones gets the wider the pay margins get. I wouldn't find it surprising to see the salary poll show two people, same education and experience, with one making $50k and the other $80k. Pay has more to do with location of the firm and the type of work they do than what college you went to. Sure and Ivy degree or BArch/March might make a couple bucks diff up front but in the long run it's probably a wash.
"A" has a good point. You want good $, go into a firm that services developers vs. design oriented firms. The pay difference is tremendous. It IS literally a 30k difference.
I don't think graduating from an ivy school would increase your salary at all (or decrease for that matter.) One advantage might be to get interviews at places because of what's on your resume. (e.g. some more conceptually driven design office might have a higher respect for Ivy league education, but certainly not always the case.) Once you're being considered for employment, however, I don't think any firm really cares where you went to school, they'll be much more interested in how much experience you have.
Sadly, 95% of firms really have no use for the kind of conceptual thinking you do in school, Ivy or otherwise, so I can't think of any firm that would hire 2 employees with identical work experience and pay the ivy leaguer more than the state school grad. A firm that might value an Ivy league education (in terms of value of conceptual design ability) is likely to pay less that a more developer driven firm.
That's not to say you will be penalized in any way for going to an Ivy league school, or that it's not worth the effort or money, it's just unlikely to translate into a higher salary.
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