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Pratt Institute
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Question about master degrees outside the US
Hi,
I'm currently entering sophomore year starting this September; I haven't declared a major yet, which is also the reason why I'm posting this here, in the hope to gather some inside information. My particular issue is not whether I should choose architecture or something else, but rather when I should choose architecture. Architecture is probably the professional direction I will be going for, however, I really want to study interaction design prior to a master in architecture to expand my area of knowledge. I know there are enough schools in the US that provide master degrees for students with non-architectural backgrounds; the problem is, I'm not very keen on staying in the US after my bachelor. I would like to study in Europe or Asia, specifically Northern Europe (Netherlands, Denmark, GB maybe) and Hong Kong, Singapore.
This is where it gets tricky, after extensive research I haven't been able to find out if I need a professional bachelor in architecture to enter a masters degree in architecture in a country other than the US, or if they even acknowledge an American BArch. For instance, I've heard that German universities have very strict standards that American Schools do not fulfill. In that case, doing a BArch in the US would be pointless and I can study interaction design, then do a second bachelor in another country.
In summary, I would like to know if there is such a thing as a professional MArch for people with a bachelor in a different field outside the US?
Thanks!!
Here's the thing, in the USA we have two kinds of masters... I and II. The first one, which is for people without the architecture background is 3 years of study and the second is for people wishing to continue their architectural studies and is 1-2yrs. In the States a professional Bachelor of Architecture is a 5 year course, mixed in with other university level courses such as science, math, language, etc.
In Europe on the other hand, students study architecture for 5 years. The first 3 are for the Bachelor, then some take a year off to intern at an office, and then return for the last 2 years to complete a Master. It will not be easy to get into the master level courses without previous study in architecture, and they will ask you to take all or some of the bachelor level (probably...though I don't know what kind of things they teach in interaction design...is this a Bachelor degree as well?) Further to that there are only a handful of english taught master courses-and almost no english taught bachelor courses in Europe. Language esp in places like Germany will be a big issue.
So to answer your question, I would do the BArch in the USA from an accredited university and then either try to double major or do a concentration in the interaction design. With a professional degree in the US, you can do your IDP and then take the ARE's and become licensed. If you want to do a Master in Europe (ie in the Netherlands) this will lead you to professional registration directly on this side of the pond.
Anyone I know with a degree in something other than architecture (unless its directly related to building sciences like landscape arch, or urbanism) is required to do further courses at the bachelor level to be able to enroll in a master. Here is the wording from a Dutch school: Requirements: A good university BSc degree in a main subject closely related to the MSc programme to which you are applying.
How close is interaction design to architecture? Maybe you can email some schools you're interested in and ask them?
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