Hi all, I am an architecture student that has a year and a half left in my program with a Bach. of design in Architecture and minoring in CM from the University of Minnesota. As I've gone through the program I've noticed that while I do have a creative mind and do love design, I am much more practical in the sense that I know what it takes to build a lot of what we design in school and that much of it isn't even feasible! I come from a construction background having done that for two with interning with a civil engineering internship for two summers. I have heard that the money is much better in CM and the job market is much more demanding. I want to eventually get into the land development business and work for a large company. I feel this would help make me more marketable and jump start my career to a good job right away. I understand that the schooling is longer but when I put into account the time and money I would invest in architect grad school, I feel like it evens out or is even less. In the end It would probably be a 6-6.5 year total for getting both degrees as I got into switching late. A couple CM professors said that having both degrees would make me very useful in a company. Along with this, I don't want to be behind a desk all my life and I want to be a valuable asset when it comes to being realistic when designing. Any feedback helps a lot!
Just get the one degree and start working. I work in CM and only have a bachelors in architecture. Companies and managers seem to only want real world experience and don’t care about degrees and it sounds like you are already ahead of the curve with your internships. Universities have fooled all of us into thinking that you must have their overpriced curriculum to get a meaningful career. Not true, I know a geography major at a very high profile construction company who now is a senior estimator. Get to work and start making some moola, no more debt!
You can learn construction management by getting a job with a Construction Management/General Contracting company. Your pay will be much better than if you start off working for architects, even without having worked for architects in the past. Look for a Project Coordinator, Assistant Project Manager or Project Field Engineer title - they are all essentially the same thing.
Next, it is VERY surprising but developers do not care if you know about construction or design, they only care if you know about finance/investment. You would be better off trying to find a way to double major in architecture and finance/investment or cutting your undergrad short by not double majoring and going for an MBA after with a Focus in Real Estate. An Architecture undergrad and an MBA is a deadly combination and is a sure path to success in development.
Best of luck!
Oct 18, 18 10:18 pm ·
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Double major in CM and Architecture
Hi all, I am an architecture student that has a year and a half left in my program with a Bach. of design in Architecture and minoring in CM from the University of Minnesota. As I've gone through the program I've noticed that while I do have a creative mind and do love design, I am much more practical in the sense that I know what it takes to build a lot of what we design in school and that much of it isn't even feasible! I come from a construction background having done that for two with interning with a civil engineering internship for two summers. I have heard that the money is much better in CM and the job market is much more demanding. I want to eventually get into the land development business and work for a large company. I feel this would help make me more marketable and jump start my career to a good job right away. I understand that the schooling is longer but when I put into account the time and money I would invest in architect grad school, I feel like it evens out or is even less. In the end It would probably be a 6-6.5 year total for getting both degrees as I got into switching late. A couple CM professors said that having both degrees would make me very useful in a company. Along with this, I don't want to be behind a desk all my life and I want to be a valuable asset when it comes to being realistic when designing. Any feedback helps a lot!
Just get the one degree and start working. I work in CM and only have a bachelors in architecture. Companies and managers seem to only want real world experience and don’t care about degrees and it sounds like you are already ahead of the curve with your internships. Universities have fooled all of us into thinking that you must have their overpriced curriculum to get a meaningful career. Not true, I know a geography major at a very high profile construction company who now is a senior estimator. Get to work and start making some moola, no more debt!
You can learn construction management by getting a job with a Construction Management/General Contracting company. Your pay will be much better than if you start off working for architects, even without having worked for architects in the past. Look for a Project Coordinator, Assistant Project Manager or Project Field Engineer title - they are all essentially the same thing.
Next, it is VERY surprising but developers do not care if you know about construction or design, they only care if you know about finance/investment. You would be better off trying to find a way to double major in architecture and finance/investment or cutting your undergrad short by not double majoring and going for an MBA after with a Focus in Real Estate. An Architecture undergrad and an MBA is a deadly combination and is a sure path to success in development.
Best of luck!
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