Just go pay your fee to become an Associate AIA, slap it after your name and call yourself "Building Designer" and you are done!

There are two ways to get into architecture in Canada. You can apply for a Master, often 3years given your non-arch bachelor's, then commence the internship program. This will most certainly involve a design portfolio. The University of Toronto accepts non-arch applicants and would best be able to guide you through the portfolio requirements.

The other option is through the RIAC syllabus programe.  This is a form of replacement of the traditional bachelors/masters requirements and uses work experience in lieu. Although the process is much longer (10years), you can work full time and learn at your own pace. The education is of a much lower quality than the Master & undergrad studios however.

I've had many colleagues and students much older than I when I was in school... Architecture attracts people from all walks of life.

poop876, it takes a little more than that to be a "building design" in Canada and Associate AIA means nothing up here.

LOL, I know...it was more of a joke!

This puts a smile back in me. 

I really really really want to be an architect besides the setbacks I have read on this site.  I am willing to go through shit but having the satisfaction of sitting at my desk, building and designing, one day. 

I want to be like Howard Roark but not be such as an asshole to people. I am willing to collaborate if it helps the design. 

Do yourself a favor and pick another career. By the time you get to the point of being employable you'll be competing with people half your age who will literally work for nothing.

Have you looked into a Master's degree in "supply-chain management ".  Several top-tier schools in the US offer programs.; their graduates tend to do extremely well. 

I want to be like Howard Roark but not be such as an asshole to people.

um.  when you get to be an architect, you'll be all the asshole without any of the design independence.  kind of picked the wrong aspects of mr. roark.

@Miles Jaffe Do yourself a favor and pick another career. By the time you get to the point of being employable you'll be competing with people half your age who will literally work for nothing.

I don't care. I just want to be an architect because I want to pursue my dream and if it leads to hardship, I am willing.

I think I am too old to be one, I don't really have a portfolio and I will be getting a loan, so I just want some direction from people who are in the business to know if I have a shot

Why did you even bother to ask?

I wanted everyone's opinion but lacked the insight.

welcome to the field:

http://archinect.com/forum/thread/121794930/is-this-normal-stuff-to-happen-in-architecture-firms

Just a heads-up that architects look to fields like supply-chain management in order to get themselves a raise. Architecture is not lucrative for most.

That said, I started my masters at 29 and 6 years later, mostly I'm enjoying my new career. It helps if you don't have a family to support, but school loans have imprisoned me and prevented me from pursuing other options I'm also interested in. Good luck.

So then do most architects go in to this field because of money or the pleasure from work?

Stoetzels, I've been around for a long time and I don't think I've ever met or known an architect that said they went into this to make money, at least not real money. To make money at anything you need high energy and high energy comes from passion.... literally nothing stops you and if you have that there is money in it. On the other hand understand that architecture is a tree with many branches and it's almost impossible to predict where you will end up, so doing it for pleasure becomes a prerequisite otherwise you will fall from the tree.... just too many branches.... pays to love climbing trees.

I don't really know anything about what you do, but remember it's going to be a square-one start-over... as we age we gradually lose patience for things... how's your patience? Are you a passionate person? Does "No" mean "Go" to you? If you've got it, go for it, but if what you seek is fun...to find a creative outlet in your life then truly consider an unlicensed track and do it as a subset to something else.

I was just pulling your leg. This is a great field, rich clients shower you with money to do cool stuff, endless opportunity, lots of dough which of course means the best of everything including babes. Go for it.

The post highlights one of the many failures of the architectural education establishment. There are scores of MBA programs taught in the evening and on weekends by very well-regarded universities, but such programs are rare in the architecture field. Why? If the loan money was not available and the schools had to rely on working graduate students to cough up the tuition out of income from their current day jobs the situation would change overnight.

Stoetzels, most people go into architecture b/c they have a skewed idea of what an architect really is and what one does. The movies and modern culture have hoisted "architect" to a god like status. In the end most ppl in this career field realize that they are just a slave in the modern day building industry....it is best to think of a career in architecture like building the pyramids. You think you will be directing where the large monolithic blocks go...Nope, you're the manual labor to place those blocks, and if you don't do it, someone behind you will happily make their life miserable to do so, b/c it is honorary...

as volunteer said, if we put up financial gates rather that gates based on competency, we'll bring in more interns who can live off their parents while working for free.  it's all about the economy.

of course i do think the problem of the cost of education increasing at such dramatic rates should be fixed, and that loans are the main cause of that problem, but that's not the architecture industry.  education should be affordable for those who are willing and able to learn.

howard roark is just as much a fictional character as dumbledore or voldermort.  i don't know why you would base such a significant life decision on becoming an ayn rand character when you could become a great and powerful wizard.

If you have fantasies to act out, I recommend video games. 

Seriously though, if you really think you want to be an architect, see if you can go hang out in an architect's office for at least 3 days so you can see for yourself that it is pretty mind-numbingly boring and nobody is smiling.

When I started I gravitated to CD's, loved building in my head stick-by-stick, the mind-numbingly part, the people I saw suffering were those that thought they were born to do schematic design... with only about 15% of the total project fee being schematics there is only about a 15% chance you'll do them.... agree that the other 85% can get mind-numbingly but it's 85% of what architecture is...... blame the fairy's for the fairy dust.

sucess in architecture is...

30% hardwork

30% connections

30% luck 

10% raw talent.  

most of what determines success is really uncontrollable.  thats why the field is so difficult.     

and 5% math

If the OP wants to do this I am all for him being able to go to classes in the evening, keep his day job, and pay as he goes. He graduates with no debt.  Even better would be the RIAC syllabus program, especially since he has already done the undergraduate thingy. I just don't want to see him buried in debt and without a job. He should also reflect that the Ayn Rand character is based on FLW, who many here would not consider an architect since he never finished his exams. 

Carrera, people that only do schematic design exist, they are called developers. 

@miles:  "By the time you get to the point of being employable..."
 

I'd say this is a few years after OP matures enough to realize that the Fountainhead is a ridiculous book.

I would become a railroad baron if I could just finish Atlas Shrugged, so dang long!

I still don't know who John Galt is?

http://www.archdaily.com/605319/jean-nouvel-seeks-legal-action-to-distance-himself-from-philharmonie-de-paris/

real architects problems

Mostly everyone here speaks of architects as slaves. I am disappointed somewhat. I always thought from observing buildings in N.Y and Chicago and other cities, that how was this achieved, the design, the scale, the details, that an architect had conceived it. I was impressed and led me to pursue this field. 

I am going in, in this field with this set of idea: When I become a licensed architect, that a firm will hire me, I'll have my own office, a view from the top, the liberty to work on my own, on my own schedule, get paid and walk in wearing oxford shirts and sweaters sleeves tied outside, that I would build, build, go to bars, chicks would ask me what i do, I'd say, I am an architect, that I would travel, write for magazines, speak at seminars, help the poor with a better and economical design, and lastly the contentment when passing by my work.

Am I wrong?

A. Troll. Sorry I wasted my time.

I am not a troll. Please,

Stoetzels, sure, you can do all that and more but it'll be hard to find the time when you're drafting washroom elevations 8hrs a day.

i think he's got it about right

You mean to tell me, as an architect, I can:

Get laid

Have my ego stroked

Do and say whatever I want

Act however I like

Have my employer assumes all risk

AND get paid for it!

I am going in, in this field with this set of idea: When I become a licensed architect, that a firm will hire me, I'll have my own office, a view from the top, the liberty to work on my own, on my own schedule, get paid and walk in wearing oxford shirts and sweaters sleeves tied outside, that I would build, build, go to bars, chicks would ask me what i do, I'd say, I am an architect, that I would travel, write for magazines, speak at seminars, help the poor with a better and economical design, and lastly the contentment when passing by my work.

Am I wrong?

Nope. 

ha, found this online

Maximum trolling! Congrats.

that a firm will hire me, I'll have my own office, a view from the top, the liberty to work on my own, on my own schedule, get paid and walk in wearing oxford shirts and sweaters sleeves tied outside, that I would build, build, go to bars, chicks would ask me what i do, I'd say, I am an architect, that I would travel, write for magazines, speak at seminars, help the poor with a better and economical design, and lastly the contentment when passing by my work.

I actually think all of these are more or less obtainable - although a couple things: typically only partners have offices - and usually this is in the larger, more corporate, firms.  and second - tying your sweater by the sleeves looks silly - unless you're on a yacht.