Not to deviate from your original question, but I'm new to architecture, I just started my B.Arch degree. But how is a B.Arch not accredited? I thought that was the driving force behind a B.Arch, that they're accredited?

I took time off between my BS arch and going to get my M.Arch and it was the best decision I've ever made.  Aside from my personal anecdote, I think that the location and firm that you would work for would determine how beneficial it would be.  Spending all your time locked in a cubical doing AutoCAD hand railing details for a stadium wouldn't make it worth it but if you have a supervisor who invests in teaching you space planning/codes/detailing materials/integrating structure, then it'd be more beneficial than grad school.  

dhummel, my mistake. I'm studying for a B.Des. You are right in that a B.Arch is accredited. A B.Des is not.

SpatialSojourner, right, of course. If I was pursuing work, I'd ideally like to find something in the Chicago area and it would hopefully not be just a CAD-monkey position. 

Chicago area - suburbs or downtown? Either?

B.Des - from WUSTL or UMN? Neither?

Take some time off. Try to find a smaller firm where you can get active mentorship. Go to grad school when you figure out what you want to specialize in.

 

That's just my experience though.

Go get some experience.

It will help you focus your M.Arch on your interests. My experience was also that those that worked before doing their M.Arch were more efficient when they went back to school. 

Just give yourself a time limit (1-year, 2-years, etc) and stick to it. 

BR.TN

Downtown ideally, and neither. It's from the University of Central Florida. The program is relatively young, but I'm an Orlando native so it just ended up being the most cost-effecting choice.

 

tduds and James Petty, thanks for the feedback. I have another year or so before I would need to start making more serious preparations to leave Orlando regardless of what my post-undergrad decision was, but I think I'm leaning towards getting work experience first after weighing what I've heard here and from some of my peers and professors. 

eop993, I was a transplant to Chicago out of school with an unaccredited degree...

Process:

Work on your portfolio for the next year until you get to the point where you're confident there is some objective beauty within it. Only include your best work but try to make that magic happen during your last three semesters, unfortunately there will be a period where you rush to get it done, perhaps around late December of your graduating year and definitely again in early May. Get your portfolio "perfected" during your senior year's winter break, then apply with that in January and February, follow up in March and April, then add your final semester's project in early May and re-apply in mid-May if you still don't have a job. Most corporate firms secure their new hires by mid-March or April at the latest, but mine was late February. I applied in December, interviewed in early February and signed an offer by the end of the month. 

Portfolio Content:

For the sake of getting a job, beautiful diagramming in both the development of your initial concepts and your projects' final presentation could be the most important thing you'd want to demonstrate. The second thing to spend time on is your projects' final renders, simply to captivate your interviewer. You can use a modeling program like Sketchup or Rhino for your massing model, then bring it to life in Photoshop. As an undergraduate, I don't think any other computer programs are necessary to use or learn and your employer won't expect you to know Maxwell or Grasshopper or Dynamo, they'll just be more interested in you if you do. Firms need you to know Revit, but understand that if you self-taught yourself Revit in school you'll re-learn most of it in the office because each environment uses Revit so differently. If an interviewer asks you about your Revit proficiency and you've only used it in school, I think the perfect response is, "Well I've used it all the time in school but a few of my mentors have told me that Revit is used on an entirely separate level in an office than it is in school. I believe I'd be able to learn anything there is to know in a very short span of time, but I think I'd need to spend a weekend with the program to acclimate myself to your office standards."

Diagramming shows your interviewer exactly how you mend your internal thoughts with a "verbal" (visual) description. It's kind of like an architectural SAT score for your interviewer because I think your skill at diagramming and conveying ideas to a stranger factors into your commercial potential as an architect. It's another way to show your interviewer that you belong in the same places they do.

Rendering shows them how attentive you are to detail and if you're knowledgeable on the way your building is materialized or naturally lit, plus how you envision people using your space. It simultaneously shows your interviewer that you could've probably been a good acrylic painter too. Both diagramming and rendering rely on someone's natural talent, which can't be taught in school, which is why I think it's especially valuable. Employers can teach someone how a building is assembled and constructed (because school doesnt), but they can't teach them how to be a divine artist. It seems a building's assembly and construction methods are really important during your first 10-15 years in the field, but once you hit 20+ years in it seems that your natural talent and creativity is what will allow you to excel beyond your peers because your competitors will either have talent or they wont and by then all of you guys will know how buildings are made.

Students always ask about putting Revit/BIM/CAD drawings in a portfolio, such as material assemblies, details of material transitions, or curtain wall and stick frame sections. Tough call on that regarding large firms - I got a better job out of school without any BIM or CAD drawings than any of my friends who did have them. My portfolio simply showed 3 of my undergrad projects, their ideas, investigative tendencies, their prospective goal and creative visions, then I refined the layout for six months until they were presented very well. My first job was at a large firm who paid well, and I was only expected to know that technical side enough to be able to legibly read someone else's detail because large firms have full-time technical specialists with 10-20 years of experience. Oftentimes you'll just copy one of their intricate drawings and make minor edits to it in 2D. This is common at most large firms, and no firm will expect a recent graduate to be better at this than anyone currently on their staff, however they may greatly appreciate your independent ability to do so.

Where to Apply:

In your shoes I think Gensler in Chicago would be your most likely employer. I say this because you'll have an unaccredited degree from out-of-state with almost no professional network and your B.Des degree will make you seem more fluid to them in your placement. Implicitly this is a bad thing but explicitly it means you can get a job in downtown Chicago. I mean this as in your degree could get you hired as an industrial designer, environmental graphic designer, interior designer, or architectural designer, but if you only want to work on architectural projects, this fluidity will hurt you because that specific arch dept seems to hire less, but it could get your foot in the door. It's pretty common that one of those four departments will be hiring at some point throughout the year so all four of them together seem to be continuously hiring. Their office is also one of the best on the inside. Your first step is to search "University of Central Florida Chicago Gensler" on LinkedIn to start figuring out your first leads to pass on your resume. Forget about submitting online applications to the database because you'll benefit so much more if you network your way into it. Apply to the online databases if you're required to or they request it after your informal attempt, but keep it old school. I hand-delivered printed cover letters, resumes and portfolios and tried to shake a couple hands every time I would walk into a new office.