Try a search on here, you'll get answers to all your questions. We are here to help ;-)

:)
Yep I've just searched + bookmarked like 10 topics on the Berlin question, Ill look for the rest later. Thanks!

take it from an architect who was once an idealist:

Become a finance major, make a ton of money doing soulless stressful and dogmatic work, then retire at 30 and take up architecture as a hobby.

--or--

go to school for architecture, make sh*t money doing soulless, streeful and dogmatic work, until you die.

hmmm both options sound great
How do you take up architecture as a hobby?

by being independently wealthy. there are those who are, and do just this.

think_goose, you sound inordinately stressed out for a junior in high school. you already have life mapped out through two degrees and post grad school?! first of all, chill out. you never know where life will take you, and having such pre-determined goals may only end up making you feel guilty if you find some divergent path in the future.

but besides that... the short answers are:

1, architecture is typically not very high-paying, although it usually makes for a solid middle-class income and can support you well. it pays better than many, many jobs but there is sometimes a high cost of education involved that can saddle some with debt for a long time. people with equal amounts of education usually make much more money (see: lawyers, finance types, even engineers, and doctors who of course have more schooling) leading to some bitterness on the part of the profession.

2, it seems to be for most people both a stressful and a rewarding profession. like in all things in life, there are many trade-offs.

3, the type of projects an architect might work on vary widely, from a bus shelter or an art exhibit to a whole town... the wonderful thing about a career in design is that it encompasses all sorts of things. i know architects who have worked staging plays. some are paid to design furniture, some, transit stations. it is a remarkably versatile career path and all the more valuable training (i believe) for its open-endedness.

4, in the past it has not been too hard to get a job at all, all over the world. currently it appears to be very difficult due to the loss of construction financing in the world markets. berlin has tended to be somewhat of a hotbed of architectural work in the past 2 decades. it is somewhat difficult to work in the EU without being an EU citizen but nowhere near impossible. It varies from country to country of course.

i think that's all you asked?

Oh, one last point. Bear in mind that you don't need a master's to become a licensed architect; you do, however, need an NAAB accredited degree, which is either a 5-year B.Arch (Bachelor of Architecture) or a Master's of Architecture (following a bachelor's of whatever you want). Search the threads for more information on the differences between degrees.

if you like architecture now, try it. manta's answers are good ones. all i'd add is:

get in, do first year, see where you want to go from there.

all good...

one more point, if you plan to go to europe you will have a hard time getting your education recognised without 5 years of architecture education, so wouldn't recommend doing anything but archi 5 yr degre or archi-undergrad (like bachelor of environmental design or whatever) followed by master of architecture.

What! I'm not gonna be rich! I've been lied to! I thought architects were loaded!

while you might not become a millionaire at 30, you will make a decent living as an architect

architects tend to speak in hyperbole when referring to their salaries

its not nearly as bad as people say

Thanks for all your responses! i never expected to be a millionaire by being an architect, a solid middle class income is fine with me :).