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MArch without 1 year work experience
Hi,
Is it possible for me to study MArch course immediately after the BA Architecture course? I am worry if it will be difficult for me to find job if I dont hold a 1 year work experience.
Also anyone can give some advice about study MArch without 1 year work experience? Will it be difficult? I have just graduated my BA Architecture and gained a first-class degree.
Many individuals go straight into graduate school without taking time to work after receiving their undergraduate degree.
works both ways and it's up to you to decide what is more important;
Go right from BA to MA prevents you from making/saving money between degrees. You'll also be greener than some due to your lack of professional knowledge.
Working a year or two gets you money, life experience and a taste for the profession. It'll be difficult to leave it all behind and drop back into school if you're settling down.
School is easy.
M.Arch is even easier.
Work is hard.
More people working everyday with out a B.arch let alone a M.arch in this field
many of mu coworkers have a BA from Berkeley, then go straight into M.arch programs - seem to maintain a better sense of design idealism and not get pounded by working in an office for a few years
You appear to be a UK student. It is possible but it is up to the specific Uni - try to make certain you get experience next summer then should be fine.
With a 1st most schools will take you and generally still have open apps till 15th Aug-1 Sept.
hi Ted, yes I am a UK student. do you mean a summer internship or a gap year?
Never do nor call yourself an Intern. Your a part 1 grad. Why don't you want to work before your part 2? It will make it easier.
Thank you for reminding, i will keep in mind the intern thing. And the reason is because i am an international student and i need visa sponsor, most of the companies i applied for dont have the ability to do that, and the one having the ability is highly competitive :( I have get a job offer back in my home country but I dont think it will count toward my RIBA work experience so I decided to continue my study.
Do you think it is possible to find a summer experience/practice work after the first year of the MArch? What do you think?
Summer between the 2 years you can work visa-free and there is a min. amount of time which will count (3-4 months). One of the 2 years can be abroad but you should need to have someone RIBA in the office to sign off your PEDRs. A few of my Part 1s did get their 2 visa with the threshold I think 22,000. In London you can get the higher wage. On the UK Visa web site there are loads of practices that sponsor tier 2 - don't bother with practices that aren't listed unless you have a track record there or know someone -
You should try to apply to programmes where you could do the practice year as part of the programme either a 3 year part 2 or look at Cardiff MArch where first year is in Practice - again coming in with a 1st you will get into any school you wish - If you would have chosen a 5 year programme from the start such as Dundee or Cardiff you could have your year out under your tier 4 visa so with no restrictions to salary - it is the way to go - look into https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/architecture/march/collaborative-practice -- If you just want to carry on to Part 2 - two schools I like are Queens University Belfast and University of Dundee - both top Unis with small cohorts and top teaching.
Hi TED, it seems like I have not heard of the 3 year part 2 course before. Is it a 2 year course with optional placement? If it is the case I might try to apply for job in the summer! About the school choice, I am actually going to Glasgow school of Arts, it owns a good reputation and the employment rate is consistently high :)
GSA is a good course. With the 5 year programmes they are actually 3 + 1 + 2 so you get a 6 year visa with the year out covered by tier 4. Others do it in the year 4 as placement such as Bath so compact the whole part 1-2 to 5 years total. Personally there are many models of Part 2 out there and suggest not doing ones that are just 2 years design studio if you can avoid it.
I went straight in to M.Arch after graduation. If I were to go back and do it again, I think I'd like to have worked for 1-2 years first.
I feel that studio projects would have been a bit more fleshed out with exposure to real projects and construction systems, and I would have known what I actually wanted to focus on and develop.
Doing M.Arch right after undergrad felt like Studio 2.0 instead of some new eye-opening experience. It's not horrible doing it straight after Bachelor's and I'm doing fine now, but in hindsight, I think that's what should have happened for me at least.
agree
I know people who went straight into their masters after their bachelors degree and started working right after that and are doing just fine, nothing fancy or revolutionary just solid 9 to 5 at some office or the other. They seem happy. I worked, researched, built and travelled after my bachelors and did an internship abroad before starting my master thesis. I am happy too.
So without work experience you won't get to experience what working in architecture is actually like. Experience what working is 9-5 day in and out for the rest of your life. (Instead of getting 16 weeks off a year you now get 2) The experience of just seeing what working is like can definitely change your perspective on what degree will help take you where you want to go in life. I'm glad that I still have the MBA option open for me, it's crazy to see close to 30 somethings who went straight into a masters program and are saddled with that debt see the real world of architecture for the first time and the reality of low wages AFTER getting a masters. Whoops, tough lesson in researching what you invest your time/life/money into.
agree.
You can do the Part 2 straight after the Part 1 but most people take out a year between, but there is very little reason why you cant do your two years experience after the Part 2 instead. In terms of getting a job as long as you can do Revit you will have no problem unless you live in the sticks somewhere in which case Autocad is a must. You will be a CAD monkey for the first five years of your professional career (at least), unless you start up on your own, most likely drawing car parks!
Its up to the individual Uni's. The year out was waved during the 2008 crash as no one can get work. Your work in Part 2 will benefit from the work experience so if you can do the year before going back.
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