I was wondering if anyone out there has stretched out there grad school education. My situation is that I have already been working (interior design a number of years) and I am tying to get some feed back on the possibility of working and at the same time of going to grad school for architecture.
I have visited a few schools and based on my transcripts and experience .They mentioned a 2 or 2 ½ year program would be for me(varied at different schools). I also informed these schools if there was a way that I can take classes a head of time (that where transferable..approved) in order to shorten the time of schooling.
If any one has had a similar experience or has taken this path of this sort to there masters I would love to your experience and of course any pieces of advice that you may have….it would be greatly appreciated.
I got the 2 ½ year number form visiting IIT they looked at my work and transcripts and it so happens they are trying a new system for there m.arch program that takes into account the individual rather than throwing a blanket over m.arch candidates. They are proposing to really look into the student’s background and assess if they need a full 3 or 3.5 or 2.5 years of schooling(depending on the program they are entering).
The 2.5 years they mentioned to me was a possibility yet they said to get back to them in April when they have a better grasp of this new concept they are working with.
I understand the “filling the requirements” and I do not want to try and rush through the schooling it will just be at a different pace. It might take longer for I have to work…
this has been discussed before, so you might search for previous discussions.
i had my b.arch and went straight to work. i went back to school to pursue a masters after 12 yrs working. if it works for you, it's great. since you're a little more mature/experienced, possibly more settled, and possibly more aware of what exactly you want to accomplish, you can make your path based on this more informed point-of-view. i, in fact, was able to craft my masters to pursue specific things that drove me to want to do graduate school in the first place.
your experience also provides you some leverage to try to wrangle some nicer offers from schools. in my case that meant a graduate assistantship which not only got my tuition waived but gave me a decent income while i was in school.
regarding working while in school: that worked for me for one semester but, as i got more and more engaged with my master's project it became less reasonable for me to continue to give 10-20 hrs a week to my office. ended up having to quit in order to fully focus on what i was doing in graduate school.
Apply to as many schools as possible (I did seven) to increase your chances and give you better options. Some schools will give you more credit for your undergrad degree and experience, others will treat you like your a dope because you don't have a BArch. I agree with others, you will likely have to do an architecture "boot camp" of a month or so in the summer and then a three year program.
And as Steven said, ASSISTANTSHIPS! More schools increase your chances at an assistantship. I've found a lot of schools offer this to the new guys to entice you into the program, then do not extend it to the second or third year. However, grad students do all the grunt work on campus, so you could easily get a part time job at the library, print lab, laser lab, whatever. Scan the schools for what they offer. I got mine because I had so much prior experience -- maturity counts. If you're assertive and do your homework, you could get the sweet deal like Steven and go to grad school without loans!
Many in my grad program are working 10 or 20 hours a week. Ten is do-able, 20 is difficult, 30 is nearly impossible, IMHO. My classmates who work 35+ hours cannot take a full load and hop along two classes at a time. Studio could crush you depending on the prof/program and trying to put in hours at the office will be a serious stressor.
Final year of grad school is a bitch and you will be consumed with your thesis. This is something to keep in mind if you intend on working all the way through.
Finally, if you want it, do it now. I mucked around about grad school for three years and finally went for it. I could not be happier. In fact, I am easily the most grateful student in the college by evidence of how much time I spend in studio. I work on stuff that I like and can ignore what is boring, since grad school is so specialized. DO IT, you will not regret it!
I have 4 1/2 years of Interior design classes under my belt yet I graduated with a B.F.A
Steaven Ward, Jackalope great input!!! I will definitely consider the options you have mentioned. I am also try to get a better grasp on scholarship /grant info.
The working while in school thing, I know I will have to do yet at this moment I dont know how much.
Is there any one out there that was able to use there work projects towards there masters (independent study or part of there thesis).
I went back to grad school to do an MArch after doing a BA and MA in English Lit, working in Internet development, and building my own house. There may have been a couple of courses I could have pursued advanced standing in, but I chose not to. I took summer courses and, assuming thesis goes according to plan, will be finishing in 3 years.
There's a lot to be said for taking time out and doing other stuff before doing an MArch. Architecture is so all-encompassing that everything is useful, regardless of whether you get credit for it or not. Good luck!
d 4, I suspect many of the working grads will encompass a real world project from their office into a thesis. Its a very smart thing to do.
However, your thesis question will be too broad to use only ONE project from the office because it will not provide you with enough information to build a good thesis question. If you have a lot of experience and access to, say, mixed use developments, that may work with a thesis on "New Urbanism development in Chicago suburbs" (just an example). If you've got just one building project with residential/retail, it would not be enough. Depends on the climate of your thesis program. I think ours is tough on the students, you may have better luck.
Check out "Architectural Research Methods", Linda Groat and David Wang, to find out more about the architectural thesis.
Independent study seems to be an elusive thing. To do this, you will need a prof who is willing to be your mentor and you'll have to prepare a syllabus and convince the arch. college chair that its a worthwhile pursuit. He/she will want to see what you're producing in terms of drawings, models, a book, whatever the end product is. IMO, this is a very do-able thing, but most students do not pursue it for whatever reason.
Disclaimer: I am not in my thesis year right now, but our program has a prep course which gives me all kinds of insight, plus I'm on a thesis review committee for my friend.
Jackalope, all the things you have brought up are all worth looking into. I have some ideas in which I would like to pursue and eventually expound on with a thesis(it would require a lot of resources for different disciplines). I think where ever I end up it is up to the department to decide whether they will approve my ideas for real world projects/ independent study. That brings me to my next question…scholarship info.
There is really not a whole bunch out there to research for architecture scholarships. I am sure I am wrong I just got to keep looking and see what schools have to offer, provided I meet up with the requirements lol. If any one has some info that would be great!!
Feb 19, 07 3:33 am ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
feedback and experiances on going back to grad school after working for a while
I was wondering if anyone out there has stretched out there grad school education. My situation is that I have already been working (interior design a number of years) and I am tying to get some feed back on the possibility of working and at the same time of going to grad school for architecture.
I have visited a few schools and based on my transcripts and experience .They mentioned a 2 or 2 ½ year program would be for me(varied at different schools). I also informed these schools if there was a way that I can take classes a head of time (that where transferable..approved) in order to shorten the time of schooling.
If any one has had a similar experience or has taken this path of this sort to there masters I would love to your experience and of course any pieces of advice that you may have….it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you a head of time!
Your right J
My mistake 3 years not 2
I got the 2 ½ year number form visiting IIT they looked at my work and transcripts and it so happens they are trying a new system for there m.arch program that takes into account the individual rather than throwing a blanket over m.arch candidates. They are proposing to really look into the student’s background and assess if they need a full 3 or 3.5 or 2.5 years of schooling(depending on the program they are entering).
The 2.5 years they mentioned to me was a possibility yet they said to get back to them in April when they have a better grasp of this new concept they are working with.
I understand the “filling the requirements” and I do not want to try and rush through the schooling it will just be at a different pace. It might take longer for I have to work…
Thanks j
this has been discussed before, so you might search for previous discussions.
i had my b.arch and went straight to work. i went back to school to pursue a masters after 12 yrs working. if it works for you, it's great. since you're a little more mature/experienced, possibly more settled, and possibly more aware of what exactly you want to accomplish, you can make your path based on this more informed point-of-view. i, in fact, was able to craft my masters to pursue specific things that drove me to want to do graduate school in the first place.
your experience also provides you some leverage to try to wrangle some nicer offers from schools. in my case that meant a graduate assistantship which not only got my tuition waived but gave me a decent income while i was in school.
regarding working while in school: that worked for me for one semester but, as i got more and more engaged with my master's project it became less reasonable for me to continue to give 10-20 hrs a week to my office. ended up having to quit in order to fully focus on what i was doing in graduate school.
Apply to as many schools as possible (I did seven) to increase your chances and give you better options. Some schools will give you more credit for your undergrad degree and experience, others will treat you like your a dope because you don't have a BArch. I agree with others, you will likely have to do an architecture "boot camp" of a month or so in the summer and then a three year program.
And as Steven said, ASSISTANTSHIPS! More schools increase your chances at an assistantship. I've found a lot of schools offer this to the new guys to entice you into the program, then do not extend it to the second or third year. However, grad students do all the grunt work on campus, so you could easily get a part time job at the library, print lab, laser lab, whatever. Scan the schools for what they offer. I got mine because I had so much prior experience -- maturity counts. If you're assertive and do your homework, you could get the sweet deal like Steven and go to grad school without loans!
Many in my grad program are working 10 or 20 hours a week. Ten is do-able, 20 is difficult, 30 is nearly impossible, IMHO. My classmates who work 35+ hours cannot take a full load and hop along two classes at a time. Studio could crush you depending on the prof/program and trying to put in hours at the office will be a serious stressor.
Final year of grad school is a bitch and you will be consumed with your thesis. This is something to keep in mind if you intend on working all the way through.
Finally, if you want it, do it now. I mucked around about grad school for three years and finally went for it. I could not be happier. In fact, I am easily the most grateful student in the college by evidence of how much time I spend in studio. I work on stuff that I like and can ignore what is boring, since grad school is so specialized. DO IT, you will not regret it!
d 4- do you have a B.S. or B.A. or B.F.A in interior design? because it can differ a lot
I have 4 1/2 years of Interior design classes under my belt yet I graduated with a B.F.A
Steaven Ward, Jackalope great input!!! I will definitely consider the options you have mentioned. I am also try to get a better grasp on scholarship /grant info.
The working while in school thing, I know I will have to do yet at this moment I dont know how much.
Is there any one out there that was able to use there work projects towards there masters (independent study or part of there thesis).
I went back to grad school to do an MArch after doing a BA and MA in English Lit, working in Internet development, and building my own house. There may have been a couple of courses I could have pursued advanced standing in, but I chose not to. I took summer courses and, assuming thesis goes according to plan, will be finishing in 3 years.
There's a lot to be said for taking time out and doing other stuff before doing an MArch. Architecture is so all-encompassing that everything is useful, regardless of whether you get credit for it or not. Good luck!
Graham
d 4, I suspect many of the working grads will encompass a real world project from their office into a thesis. Its a very smart thing to do.
However, your thesis question will be too broad to use only ONE project from the office because it will not provide you with enough information to build a good thesis question. If you have a lot of experience and access to, say, mixed use developments, that may work with a thesis on "New Urbanism development in Chicago suburbs" (just an example). If you've got just one building project with residential/retail, it would not be enough. Depends on the climate of your thesis program. I think ours is tough on the students, you may have better luck.
Check out "Architectural Research Methods", Linda Groat and David Wang, to find out more about the architectural thesis.
Independent study seems to be an elusive thing. To do this, you will need a prof who is willing to be your mentor and you'll have to prepare a syllabus and convince the arch. college chair that its a worthwhile pursuit. He/she will want to see what you're producing in terms of drawings, models, a book, whatever the end product is. IMO, this is a very do-able thing, but most students do not pursue it for whatever reason.
Disclaimer: I am not in my thesis year right now, but our program has a prep course which gives me all kinds of insight, plus I'm on a thesis review committee for my friend.
Thanks for the word Grahmbarron !
Jackalope, all the things you have brought up are all worth looking into. I have some ideas in which I would like to pursue and eventually expound on with a thesis(it would require a lot of resources for different disciplines). I think where ever I end up it is up to the department to decide whether they will approve my ideas for real world projects/ independent study. That brings me to my next question…scholarship info.
There is really not a whole bunch out there to research for architecture scholarships. I am sure I am wrong I just got to keep looking and see what schools have to offer, provided I meet up with the requirements lol. If any one has some info that would be great!!
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.