I think B. Arch professional degree will take a minumum of 4.5 years even with the degree you have now, but I could be wrong.

If you haven't already done so, get some summer jobs at an Architecture firm, or on a construction site.

Good luck!

If you are interested in development there is absolutely no reason that you need a degree/license in architecture. you need exposure to money and that aint the field. you should go to law school. make some money and then get some of your lawschool friends together to do development. find what you like and hire someone to draw it for you and to stamp it. carry on.

I'd just go for a Masters in Real Estate Development. All of those plans sound like they'd put you deep enough in debt that there's a good chance you couldn't pay it off (unless you're a lottery winner or something).

here's something to consider for all you developer dreamer types. some of those genius ideas you got still need to get approved by the bank!

There's a map on the back of the blast doors, but you have to use a black light to see it.

Oh, you weren't talking about the TV show, were you?

Is advisement a word?

Get an MBA or a MRED like Rationalist said. You'll have money and be connected to architecture.

I third (or fouth or fith) the real estste route. You dont want to have to be dealing with all of the architecture bs (that is why you hire an architect, anyways)

I appreciate all of the feedback but it seems like there is a general distaste for architecture as a profession. Maybe i am an idealist but i believe my interest in development stems from my passion to generate projects from my dreams as an architect to a finished project as a developer. I speak humbly of course as i have no experience with architecture and wish to draw from those of you that do. Is it really that bad? Is it not worth the 4.5 years and 50,000 dollars i could possibly end up investing?

do you want to spec toliets and deal with building department bullshit all day????

We are giving you advice...many of us were once idealists in your position...

not to be an ass...but I am just saying that you asked a question and got 4-5 answers pretty quickly advising you to stay away from architecture as a profession (if you already have a business background and want to be a developer). Find ways to raise the capital and have an architect facilitate your dream....

This is what architects do. WE FACILITATE OTHER PEOPLE'S DREAMS. WE TRY TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN.

not to be an ass...but I am just saying that you asked a question and got 4-5 answers pretty quickly advising you to stay away from architecture as a profession (if you already have a business background and want to be a developer). Find ways to raise the capital and have an architect facilitate your dream....

This is what architects do. WE FACILITATE OTHER PEOPLE'S DREAMS. WE TRY TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN.

We were responding to your original post... "My career goal is to either be a city planner/developer with a focus on buildings as opposed to transportation or be a private developer." If those are your goals, then a MRED or an MUP would be the degree for you, and the things you would learn in architecture school (design, design, design) have little to do with this career path. Maybe during your MRED, take an architecture course or two as an elective, so that you can recognize good design and good designers when you see them. But there is no need to put yourself through a long, grueling, expensive degree if that is indeed your intended career path, because the degree simply does not relate directly to the result.

However, if this statement is more true, that your "interest in development stems from (your) passion to generate projects from (your) dreams as an architect to a finished project as a developer", then take a summer program or some evening classes at a respectable school, make some art, and put together a portfolio and go for a dual M.Arch/MUP or M.Arch/MBA program. But the two posts you've made seem contradictory- if you want to be a planner+developer, that's one path, and if you want to be an architect+developer, that's another.

Take the money you would have spent on school and instead rent a derilict storefront in an industrial part of town near a freeway, preferably one with a grill, fryer, hood and triple basin sink already. Start grilling sloppy burgers, sausages, and fries. Call yourself famous (your name here) or dirty (your name here). work like a dog for 2 years and when the cash is rolling in ( it will if you do it right) and you can leave the store to mind itself under ernesto's watchful eye, you will have to get into developing just to spend the cash your making off your burgers to keep it out of uncle's hands. Im not joking - fast food and dry cleaning are the 2 fastest ways to making $1,000,000.

Thank you all for your quick responses, it is very valuable coming from a school in which there are no career advisors for architecture. Especially rationalist, for clearing up the difference between a planner+developer and an architect+developer. I think i am more interested in the latter but maybe i should find a summer program to be sure. Any sugestions anybody?

How many developers have professional degrees?

You dont get a degree and then go and become a property developer. Typically, you start small [renovating houses, developing sites, small buildings] and then you work yourself onto other developments.

In my experience as an architect for a developer, for a couple of years now, you need the following knowledge:

Construction knowledge [the actual costing and construction process of how to build a building, from the site up]
Financial Knowledge [how to organise financial deals, how to use valuations of properties, loans, sales]

Architecture is a very small part of the development process. It is a good basis for entering into development however, particularly in the early stages where planning, design and negotiation with various authorities are concerned.

If you want to supplement this knowledge, learn some finance as it applies to construction, some quanitity surveying, some marketing.

There is an architecture firm in Philadelphia called Vitetta, and the principal isn't an architect, he is a business guy. Maybe this is the route for you.

i'll give you some personal experience. i recently was a pm on mixed used infill development. the developers have good taste. one of the guys made a fortune in industry and his wife is loaded as well. the other guy is a business type. they didnt go to architecture school but they are well educated, travelled and extremely intelligent.

to be absolutely honest, you will probably need to seriously choose between your two loves. the financing and development of projects is inherently quite a different activity from the design of a project. if you do believe that you're interest lies in the design of the project try one of the summer programs in architecture offered by columbia or harvard (i'm sure there are others out there, but those two just came to mind first). most people that i have met that are professional developers come from a business, real estate, or urban planning background. They will then hire construction managers and architects to complete their projects (construction managers usually come from an engineering background and manage the construction trades in delivering the built project, architects are trained specifically for the design of projects and coordination of engineering disciplines, they act as a means of developing a clear set of documents that are used for pricing, determining which trades will be necessary during construction and are instrumental in delivering a design that meets time demands and budget constraints without sacrificing programmatic and code requirements). The issue that you are bringing up is of the slightly skewed view that one can truly do it all (a great thought, but rarely the case) instead one must focus on the role that they will find most satisfying and will still enable their living needs and desires to be met....the thing about architectural design is that it rarely allows the time to truly pursue the type of networking required for development of a project from a financial point of view...and you can't expect to make as much in architecture as the other related disciplines. (sad but true)