Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
University of Southern California (USC)
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Kansas State University
Architects should NOT base their career decisions on "GLAMOUR or FAME."
Applying for an architecture program just because it came from a famous university or it is well known and covered with prestige is usually a bad idea. You have to consider your strengths first and select the university that offers a program that can maximize your strengths.
Pursuing a glamorous goal in the field of design, such as developing a prototype for a Martian city or creating a new kind of building information modeling software, tends to be competitive. The people with the most solid backgrounds and in particular have lots of experience in the "less glamorous" portion of the field are the only ones who succeed.
It is choosing what college to go to is not as critical as it is portrayed in popular culture. Focusing too much on one institution because it's "prestigious," you might overlook others that might be the best fit for your strengths and weaknesses.
One should never be too focused and stressed on achieving prizes and awards. Instead, focus on making incremental progress in your chosen research field in architecture and make contributions. This process will make the recognitions take care of themselves.
In conclusion, it can be worth researching why a university or a program is famous. This information might help you decide whether this program or institution might be a great interest to you and make sure to focus more on the strengths of the architecture program or university that resonates with your talents and skills.
I’m a dolphin.
right, because BAC = Harvard.
People can base their career decisions on anything they choose, apparently the coffee situation at a potential employer is very important.
The Coffee situation is totally important!! Almost the most important. If they provide bad coffee than I would have to find a new employer, really cant lower my standards on the coffee situation. If it could be piped into my space than those are extra points in the pro / con list.
IMO bad coffee can be offset by close proximity (within 1-2 blocks) of a good coffee shop. The first office I worked in, everyone brought their favorite beans to share in lieu of baked goods. It was a great setup. At another office, we switched off making daily coffee runs for everyone around 3 PM everyday.
I base my career decisions on the groupies I can get. So far I got my wife - that's a rather sweet deal especially since she makes more money than me. 8-)
Be careful. Unless you're in one or two particular states, you only get to marry one groupie at a time.
I still remember the early years when my wife made more money than me. She works in education which is one of the most notorious professions for being underpaid. That says a lot about our profession.
citizen - I live really close to Utah so it's all good if we decide to go that direction. ;)
says the "princess"
Meet Glamour and Fame.
Do NOT base career decisions on them.
That's why I don't run my own studio...
What architect's idea of "a glamorous goal" is developing a prototype for a Martian city or creating a new kind of building information modeling software? The former is an occasional studio project of some offbeat adjuncts in some architecture schools but hardly the goal of any practicing firm, and the latter is maybe the dream of some software developers but few if any architects. OP: what's your goal in writing this? It's confusing as it reads as maybe a warning to prospective students, or maybe a rationale for having chosen a school that you perceive to be lacking in prestige, or...?
Thank you for responding to my post constructively and taking the time to write your comment. Many prominent architecture firms are dedicating a portion of their human resources to design for planet Mars and not just “adjunct professors.” Please check the following links: Foster + Partners: https://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/mars-habitat/ SEArch+: http://www.spacexarch.com/marsxhousev1 BIG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iCHJA8Oz8A And more, you can search for yourself to see the firms on Google. I also met a licensed architect in California who focuses on creating a BIM software that will beat Revit. He built a team of architects with other allied professionals for creating this tool. Please see the following link for preference: Website: https://www.modumate.com/ Investment: https://medium.com/launchcapital/our-investment-in-modumate-d36680da530d More info: https://triplebyte.com/company/public/modumate My post is not a warning but a simple reminder to build a solid background before tackling the hardest problems in a specific field of architecture design. These hard problems appear to be “glamorous” because famous architects/architecture firms are jumping.
It was Eric Mendelsohn as a Berkeley architecture professor/lecturer in the late 40's who assigned his class to design a martian city. We got to do that in a design class at San Jose State univ.
Most students just design cities on Uranus.
I agree with you, "code." I think all architecture schools should include a Martian or space exploration design subject to prepare their students for the future.
I agree OP. Sometimes its based on what you can afford too.
I am motivated by my looming mortgage payments and my mean wife.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIKnTKEI66I
princess, you make a good point. hope to see your generation solve pressing world issues, both design wise and politically. we have exhausted all the architectural isms and as phillip johnson said decades ago, "all the cards are on the table". perhaps the way to make a name for yourself in this era, is to think more like an engineer, like corbusier suggested in the 1920s.
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