A client of ours was very impressed with the process so after selling his business he enrolled at IIT in Chicago. He's 45.

are you kidding, carbuncle??? 32 is by not means too old to study architecture.

Your visual arts + stanford humanities degree will surely get you into a good and meaningul m.arch I program no???

architects become famous only after 50, so you will have to work lesser years before you make it big :)

it's gonna be tough, but... why not? if you're motivated and you feel like doing it, sure you'll be able to make it.

who is too old for what?

good luck !

I have no experience with the American System in terms of the specifics of entry into a program, however, you are not too old for architecture. In fact, I think you'll find that you wont be the oldest person in your classes. If you are of the opinion that you are destined to do architecture, then you should'nt let any doubts about your age stop you.

When I was still studying [3 years ago] one of my fellow students was a 42 year old former used car salesman [amongst other things]. He was good, because in architecture [and specifically architectural education], its all about attitude.

yeah, actually, i envy you. i should have worked as a wookie stunt double till i was at least 30. then there would only be 20 years of bottom (technically top) of the totem pole bs to deal with. :)

GO FOR IT!

Schools love students with life experience, ie old geezers. Typically, older students are the ones that excel and are looked up to by many younger students. Just wear your best dentures at crit time.

32 is now considered old? I guess I'm on the downward sprial since I will be starting my MArch this summer and will be 30 soon. Man-why didn't someone tell me?
I don't know about you-but I don't feel old. Maybe you are doing something wrong?

I am 33 and have 10 years of graphic design experience and am currently in school for architecture. You are never too old to do what you want to do with your life.

Oh, you kids are so kind. Thanks for the support, archinect cheerleaders!!!

My concern comes from hearing over & over that architecture school--and the practice--is an all-consuming, tiring, grueling hell, involving 90 hour weeks, etc. etc. (C'mon, is it true? Anybody care to differ?)

Now I'm pretty spritely, but do need to rest this tired old bones.

Please come forth and testify if you are an architect/student and manage to get 8 hours of sleep.

Also, if you have managed to juggle arch school with family and social life and other late-lifer stuff like mortgages.

Show me it is possible, if you dare.

If you do, I'll make you some tea and knit you socks....

It's only three years, right? And how is 32 old? I say you're about right. If you want it, you'll make it work. The part about the school gruel is only partly right, you can make it work without all the needless studio hours. Lots of those students mess around a lot.

philip johnson was thirty four years old when he returned to harvard for his architecture degree and things seemed to work out pretty well for him.

also, from personal experience i can say that several of my classmates were older, i.e., well into their thirties or forties. some of them were very talented and others less so...but they all seemed to survive nonetheless

best of luck to you

my mother enrolled at UC DAAP when she was in her forties, and my sister and I were in grade school -- and she wasn't the only person that age in her class. first year interior design students were in the same courses as the architects, for the most part, and she seemed to manage fine with the workload. in fact, she always said that having a family made her manage her time better, so she would return to studio in the mornings with her models and drawings finished and find her classmates sprawled all over the studio and pizza boxes everywhere and meanwhile she had already gotten two kids off to school and had a decent night's sleep. she left the school halfway through second year not because of time issues, but because she was tired of being lectured and disparaged in crits by smart-ass professors her junior. but the other women her age (also with a kid) finished the program and the students seemed to give them their due respect.

i did architecture school without all-nighters. just go out less, drink less, and get working early in the morning. its all about efficiency. i found that working 5hrs in the morning got a lot more done than working ten at night.
(there are other reasons to work late, though - see the recent thread on staying up late)

Same boat. Kid, house, life, so I got an AA in architecture from the local CC and started working for a small firm for office exp and plan for my own practice soon. I worked in automotive design studios since I was a kid so the enthusiasm and passion for designing and building were there. It's never to late to shift gears, just don't double clutch and you'll get there quicker.

if you take into consideration the good work habits and responsibility that you have developed through your studies/career path, then you will have no trouble getting through architecture school. it takes some talent upfront, and if possible a narrowed focus as to what you intend to 'get' out of your education before you attempt to study.

get ready for a pay cut to go along with your new-found elitest ego.

wow, thanks everyone. really valuable insights--especially hckybg and joe. the idea that family helps us to prioritize and manage time is something i NEVER thought about. (though my own mama did say that having kids made everything clear for her.) and thanks agfa8x for pointing out that efficiency is indeed possible.

I had seizures this semester and lost three weeks and was still able to catch up with the young twenty somethings. I work, they party, chat, do a little work...they are young and learning alot about themselves that someone in their thirties has already gone through.

If its something you want to do, do it. You will do just fine.

I also think it has to do with personality - it's hard to imagine before you experience it, but architecture school combines technical schooling and time consuming tasks with creative endeavors in a way that leads some people to work like crazy (myself included). I had a previous masters in philosophy and never spent 14 hours straight working on anything or pulled an all-nighter, but as soon as I started architecture school I had no problem spending 5 hours in a row drawing rectangles in the lightest line weight possible (lost 10 pounds the first 5 weeks because I wasn't eating). Anyways, as the others said it's entirely possible to get the work done during normal hours if you are disciplined and have to do it - but there will also be a lot of people who live at the school and are willing to work crazy hours (and a lot of it is socializing as well). I wouldn't have loved it so much if I hadn't had that experience, but everyone is different...
I would be more concerned about how much money you'll owe and how much you'll earn when you're done if you're going to be supporting a family (see the million other posts about that topic here...)

Everyone's pretty much covered the impt points. But, yeah, go for it. I started my MArch at 35.

started MArch at 30 after working in offices for a few years. Age added perspective to the work that made the education much more valuable and assume it will be the same for you.

There were many students my age and a few older and never felt out of place. My first child was born in second year and didn't add any conflict or stress to school at all, even though I did have a few all-nighters here and there. A super-supportive wife helped with that mind.

Do it ... I'm going to architecture school in the fall ... and I'm 33!!!!!

interesting point made above about the relationships and time spent as developing yourself... the friends i've made in school will last me a lifetime. its almost as if i didnt really exist as an intellectual being before college. it may be a bit of a concern for you if you tend to take work home and work reasonable hours and such. you may not make those 4 in the morning type connections with your studio mates, thus you will quickly become out of the loop in terms of studio relations. some may even resent the fact that you arent present during the long nights and weekends, yet you seem to show up with the same /better work. through my experience, only a few 'older' classmates 'made it.' it was mostly because they made an effort to be included with the rest of the group.

I'm 24 and applied to architecture school here in Waterloo, Canada. I wondered if I was doing the right thing and if I'd be the oldest first year student. But during my interview I saw a number of applicants who I'm confident were over 40. good luck with your education in Architecture. I'll be starting my journey this September.

like everyone has said, if it's what you want to do, go for it. i just graduated an march program and the three thesis awards all went to students over 30, two of whom did not have a previous architectural education. they were all great projects, and i am not surprised that they came from those with a bit more life experience. in my opinion, architecture is a collective art/science, and success often comes to those with more to collect from. maybe age is coincident for some, but there must be some correlation.

32 elderly? kidding?
go for it, just approach it with as much openmindness as you can manage.

good luck!

make sure you get studio space that will accomodate your walker and is close to the bathroom.

i dunno... i'm elderly, and i'm ALWAYS considering architecture.... ;)


always, ALWAY, go for it

It's all time management. In undergrad I pulled all nighter all the time, many in a row.
In grad school, I got used to getting to the studio by 730-8am and leaving about 12 hours from then. Sometimes I'd stay up all night, but only a few times in 3 years. Most people did things randomly, came in later, and had to pull more all nighters.

It is all time consuming, though. So everything else will be second, at least as far as time goes. Manage it well, though, and you'll be able to take days off when you want to.

This question is kind of funny...32 in archland is young! Esp. for grad school. Anyone under 27.33 is seen as iffy (i.e. too juvenile.) You'll be one of the respected ones and taken seriously by the faculty and other students. You'll have automatic seniority in the pecking order of the group--trust me. Besides, honestly, many, many students start arch grad programs at age 27+ so you'll be in the ballpark age-wise with the middle age percentage. And my feeling/opinion is that many 27-35 year olds look interchangeable. Some 32 year olds look 25 and some 27 year olds look 35. You catch my drift...

A squeaky 22-year old will probably (well, actually it's a 50/50 probability) be just that--a squeaky wheel with kiss-up-ability who wants "a career" for purposes of mortgages, 401K's, premature social (in the 35+ group) acceptability. You know? These are the folks who are one step out of the IT clan who b-line into anemic careers and whose parents would probably prefer them to be engineers or in the medical field but arch is okay because it is a liscensable skill and therefore provides a semblance of direct job training (though in arch this direct aspect is tremulous--not dissing degrees/school just acknowledging that it is not such a spec. training-to-field-type degree, though there is a lot of correlation in my opinion, just not as much to some observers.)

Okay that was a mouthful!

One more thing--how can you say "useless Humanities field from Stanford"? Huh? Did you get an undergrad degree because of its usefulness? Are you feeling bitter or something? Hey, I believe humanities degrees are amongst the MOST useful degrees. You want to know why? In humanities degrees you get that intellectual distance that allows you get perspective to make good DECISIONS which is what the practical world is all about and driven by (ie the mind in charge of the matter directs the course.) UNLESS and I reiterate UNLESS you had one of those crap type of class sequences that was full of Hegelian synthesis and postmodern deconstruction in which case I am sorry and I prescribe a daily dose of poetry--Yeats, Rilke, Geothe, and anyone else with a soul and a mind. Let go of all the garbage if that's what it was--unmentionably erroneous materialist garbage, ney, low-level poison that annhilates over time, invisibly) and start reading all the greats, all the passion-filled wisdom brewing geniuses free from social fetters, those who are free like Poe and Wallace Stevens and all the other towers of Western Civilization. God be with you!

Good architects have a habbit for peaking in their 60+. Death is the only way to stop the glory.

carbuncle juncle - a lady should never discuss ones age in public. Trust me. You're not to old, it's an old persons game.

Architect years are like dog years but reversed...

An architect's career doesnt start to peak before 50... Alot of architects are working til they're pretty much croaking... In the MArch program I was at, more than half were at least 27 or 28, plenty of people in their 30's, and at least one was over 40...

At 25, I was basically an architecture infant...

i say go for it. 32 is the 22. the only problem is that people will think you know more than you do. which can be a plus or a minus. and your bosses may be younger than you which can be an issue as well.

Where is Dr. Kavorkian when you need him?

Old professor of mine used to say: an architect's career is a marathon, not a sprint ... so it doesn't matter when you start as long as you're patient.

But shiiit, why do things move sooo slowly???

i think he's in his third semester doin a correspondence march from his jail cell. he's got plans man. big plans.

i'm starting grad school next fall, 27yrs old. I just finished a second undergrad degree.