How do you define worth? Financially, it's more than likely a losing proposition, especially if you have student loans to repay. It can be incredibly rewarding though, especially when buildings come out of the ground and renovations take shape. 

The pay isn't bad, but it doesn't match the amount of education, and professional experience required to practice. You're looking at 6+ years of education for the professional degree, 3+ years of 'supervised' professional experience, and 6 exams to call yourself an architect. When you compare that to law and medicine, and look at the pay across all three, architecture seems like a losing proposition. Personally they all offer similar levels of self-sufficiency and specialization.

What kind of patience do you have? The first 3-5 years out of school, while worthwhile, were not nearly as enjoyable as it is now at 8+ years of experience. I don't want to say starting out is bitch-work, but you're certainly low on the totem pole. It's a field that is incredibly hard to be 'naturally talented' in, it's much more driven by quantity and type of experiences. 

What other majors are you considering? One thing that drove me towards architecture was the fact I couldn't do it as a hobby. I was otherwise interested in photography. 

Ultimately, I'm extremely happy I chose architecture, but a huge driver for that is I went to a school where I left with a Master's degree in 5 years, after a shit load of work. I've been lucky with the opportunities I've gotten, and have made the most of them too. I think ultimately, if you're serious about perusing architecture you need to spend the next 2 months lining up a summer internship at an architecture firm, and then do some serious work and soul searching over the summer. Don't think about the work you're doing, look at the Project Architect's, Project Manager's, and Principals lives and ask yourself if you want that life. 

Read:  Architect? by Roger Lewis.

Sam, if you love architecture it's a great thing to study. If you don't, then there are easier ways to find a safe career with medium income potential. You'll struggle to justify the effort involved unless  you really care about the result.

I'm very happy in my job excepting ordinary frustrations like high pressure projects and office politics. At 15 years in I get paid well (comparable to a school administrator or university professor). But I don't think I would have kept up at it during the most challenging periods of school and early job changes if I wasn't always focused on the objective of designing buildings to get built.

So there's no universal answer to your question - it all depends on you: your talents, commitment, and curiosity. For the right people it's a good career, but for the wrong ones it's an unrewarding slog. Think what it is you like about architecture, and look up the biographies of architects you admire.

it is not worth it if you take on more loan debt than your first year's salary.

otherwise, relative to other professional options, just like all careers, it has its ups and downs, but can lead to a solid middle class life. and as a bonus, you with some interesting and broad skills that can translate to other interests and hobbies.

The Profession of Architect is a solid middle class profession, there are exceptions for those who are architect/developers and the few who become design firm executives but most people will be able to have a middle class lifestyle.  The comparison to Law or medicine is a bit off, lawyers are not making a lot of money year to year, especially if they are not partners or recent graduates (6-12 years post graduate) Law school graduates make close to or even less than a typical recent graduate in architecture. Doctors have higher earnings but they also have a lot more debt, and it takes many years before they get past their education, residency and exams before they start to earn a living wage.

If you like designing buildings then architecture is what you should do.

Over and OUT

Peter N

I think what I wish I could tell my younger self is: Yes it is very important to enjoy what you do. However, part of that is making sure what you do is secure, has many opportunities and keeps you financially stable. Architecture simply does not do this compared with most other jobs. It is HIGHLY dependent on the business cycle and the sector you are in. You need a constant stream of new investment to keep a firm running, their is no maintenance work. This creates cycles of extreme uncertainty that pit employees against each other and into a mentality of accepting low wages and working conditions to remain employed. Due to an oversupply of interested people, opportunities are really only given to the top 10%, the other 90% become drafters and project administrators, is that really what you are going to school for? To be a Project manager or a drafter? If so that brings us to the last aspect. Income. You can make more money in almost anything. Teachers make more and they get summer breaks. And if you really are okay with being a project manager why not be a project manager for tech or bio tech or anything where there are bonuses and stock payouts. Because while many people say money doesnt matter. They are wrong. Money is not everything and chasing it will leave you hollow but making good money, enough to feel as though all your expenses are covered and you have extra to experience life with, that is huge in terms of reaching a secure and happy life. Also jobs are jobs. A job can be engaging if you are free to operate independently and have ownership over your work and success. However, a job with little pay, high critical and micro managing bosses is a jail sentence no matter how "creative" it is.