what kind of career path do you want to be on?  Some require a master's, others do not

What are the different career path and which requires master? Do you mean by design oriented vs corporate firms? Or like traditional arch firm vs developer firm. I have been I guess on the traditional arch path? Started as junior designer given more tasks and as I see my project manager work they all into business side of archi. Little in actual design. I guess my firm is pretty corporate. So is it true that if I want to go into more design oriented firms I would need that master to advance my career? Or can I do it with just work experience and achieve the same result. Thanks for the responses!

hey dary410, can i check with you what MS arch nonprof degree are you talking about specifically?

i've looked at some 1-2 year ones. Berkeley has a MS Architecture for 2 year has concentrations in sustainablility..building science..design etc. UMichigan has a 1-1/2 year MS arch with track in digital technology.. design..etc. So is Carnegie Mellon. USC has a master of building science. i think Uwashington or oregon has some too.

but i donno how valuable these shorter programs are.

teaching is one thing that most places would require a masters

I have heard some specific firms require it, but have not experienced that myself.  Maybe big firms that get a ton of applicants a day would add it as a requirement just to weed their way through.  I would hardly find that to be a driving reason to get a masters though, since most firms dont care

if you have been working for 3 years, and are eligible to get your license without it, and have not come across any reasons for needing it, you most likely dont.

Is there anything so far in your career that you would like to have done, or would like to specifically pursue?  If so, take a closer look and see if a masters would help, and see if the potential costs would make it worth it.

thanks.. marmkid. i just want someone with more experience to confirm that I probably dont need a master. do you mind sharing what professional experience/path you have?

the reason i am thinking about a master.. for the shallow part.. is a sense of closure like people in another thread has commented about and i wanted to be competitive in the future. I also am interested in sustainable design/building science. I have gotten a LEED AP. I am debating if i can just pick up those stuff i'm interested from work and from my own readings instead of taking a year or two to do a nonprofessional MS. if higher education is cheap or the way it was before all the economic crisis or even arch job outlooks are better than ever.. i wouldn't have such a hard time deciding if it's worth it or not.

i have a masters, but only because my undergrad degree was unaccredited.  I needed a masters to be able to get my license.  Otherwise i would not have needed it and have not been asked about it since

I am not sure about what other thread you are talking about or how a masters would give you closure?

I think, for the most part, you can gain the most valuable sustainable experience through work experience, if you are able to work somewhere that emphasizes that.  I dont know how a masters, if it can even be specialized in sustainable design, would be necessarily worth the money spent on grad school, along with the time lost in work experience.  That would take some serious number crunching

A lot would depend on what school you are thinking of also.  Some schools, through strong alumni networks, could lead you to getting the kind of job you want.  It could open doors that might otherwise be closed to you.  But you would need to know this ahead of time to make that decision, as well as put in the appropriate amount of work into making those contacts while at school.  A masters could be worth it in some situations, if you put in the extra effort to choose the right school and take advantage of everything it offered.  But again, its not something that just having the masters on your resume would justify the time and cost involved.

i think in terms of connections.. they are the schools that i would not be able to afford or justify the cost. its a tough decision to not going to a master program but i believe that's what makes the most sense to me at the moment.
 

thanks for ur well thought out comments marmkid. i appreciated it a lot!

I am not sure why you have such a strong desire to go for your masters in the first place though

family reason... personal shallow thoughts of must getting one cuz everyone i know is getting one... always like to learn new things....want to take a break from work.. etc.

for rglar archi-career the only reason i can imagine wanting the degree is to get the pro accreditation so a licence will be easier and you won't need to worry about traveling/moving.  other than that experience is much more useful than more education in my book.

if you do want to get into the building science side of things it makes sense to study it a bit.  that sort of knowledge can be gained trough experience too but much easier to sit in a class and focus on the learning for a year or two than to spend ten years in an office trying to soak up the same...

I didnt see any reasons that would seem to make going through the process of going back to school worth it.  Peer pressure because you know a couple other people getting one seems like a terrible reason to lose a couple years of experience while racking up debt.  Maybe take a look at why your friends are going back to school, and see if that applies to you.  Perhaps they are going back for reasons that dont apply to your situation.

Taking a break from work is also potentially not really a good sign, depending on why exactly you want to take a 2+ year break.  If its because of the current job market where you are stuck working on things you dont necessarily want to, thats one thing.  Going back to school may help you then get the type of job you would prefer.  Just make sure you focus your grad school and studies in that direction to make sure that happens.