you could go into urban planning ..... something that you could bounce off with your political science degree plus military record....

b

cryzko,

Thanks for the reply. I have thought about urban planning and have friends in that field, but what they do isn't all that interesting to me.

The thing I enjoy about my freelancing in graphic design is the amount of creativity combined with technical expertise. I also really enjoy watching peoples' faces light up when I create something they really like. I like graphic design, but wanted to do something similar on a larger scale. I love looking at and evaluating architecture, not just shape and scale, but materials and use of space.

When I tell friends and family that I've been thinking about becoming an architect, they all kinda go, "Ah, that makes sense."

look into exhibit design/egineering. it might be easier to transition into plus not as vigorus as architecture.

heres a few exhibit houses to look at

george p johnson
exhibit works
dimensional communications
exhibit enterprises

work full time AND going to school, i soooo feel for you. Good luck with everything!
Though i would put that out.

sci-arc used to be known for non-traditional students and self-starters. i don't know what admissions is like there these days but, if it hasn't changed in character too much, it could be a fit.

if you can pull off ditching the full time work, you gotta.

I'd seriously look at architecture more closely. If you like graphics, consider sticking in that realm. As someone that has 2 degrees in arch and loves architecture, but hates the profession and has switched (successfully) to graphics/web/3D, I can assure you it is just as fulfilling and you can easily make more $$.

The other thing is your GPA. I could be wrong, but that will be a challenge to overcome. I'd consider taking easy classes in the summers, or extra classes to try to get that up. Tip over into 3+ area and you'd be fine.

try out a summer program in architecture at a school and see what you think. Harvard, UTexas, and several others offer them ranging from 6-8 weeks or so...it would give you some insight into architecture school, would help with material for a portfolio and get you close to admissions folks to talk with. Also it is a short term commitment to see if this is what you want to do...I won't lie-architecture school is not easy, but if you love it it is worth it.

GPA is important but NOT the only criteria. Portfolio, recommendations, statement of intent and life experience can be the determining factor.
Make an appointment with someone from the school you want to go to and go have a sit down discussion-show them your work and see what it would take. They might suggest some courses to up the GPA...but talk to the admissions people first-don't let archinect decide for you!

Don't waste your money with for-profit colleges like American Academy.

The CCA? I haven't heard anything about them in a while.

Everyone:

Thanks for the responses.

tinydancer:

That's a very good idea. I'm very interested in SCI-Arc's Making+Meaning program, it's 5 weeks in the summer and would solve the problem of me not having a portfolio nor architecture experience.

I'm waiting on a response from their admissions dept. on how much the course would cost.

Okay, so I checked into the 5 week summer program at SCI-Arc. It sounds awesome and will only cost me about a grand a week. (Yay!)

I was hoping for something cheaper, through one of the Cal Poly campuses, but they only offer that type of course for high schoolers.

UCLA has a similar 6 week program, but it's not any cheaper than SCI-Arc. USC's program is for high schoolers.

It would be worth it, I think, if it made me a much stronger applicant in light of my GPA.

On another note, do the items in my portfolio need to be something I've done in an academic or professional context or can it be something I've simply done for fun?

a grand a week?! Last time I checked, the Harvard GSD's "Career Discovery" summer program was something like $2000 for 6 weeks. And that thing is excellent.

GSD's program is $2760 for 6 weeks, but doesn't include housing, food, travel, etc.

SCI-Arc is $3200 for 5 weeks and doesn't include any other expenses either. The $5000 figure is my estimate for the total cost involved. It might be closer to $4000 if I can crash with some friends. But crashing for 5 weeks on a couch sounds neither fun nor good for a friendship.

RISD had a summer program that I found to be instrumental in my education (and where I truly fell in love with design).

Not sure what it cost, but they provided good housing, food, etc. Providence can be a lot of fun, too.


This is great option for anyone and will give you a portfolio in no time.



To answer your question - you can put anything in your portfolio, personal projects, etc.

if i could do it all over again i would have gone to law school. go figure.

The UT-Austin program looks really promising. ~$2500 including food and housing! Just need to get a cheap Southwest flight to Austin.

Plus the city of Austin is amazing in and of itself.

As long as your M.Arch is accredited by NAAB, you can get it from the cheapest and most accessible school you can find and still practice as a pro architect.

I've been looking at NAAB's website and they've been very helpful. I'm sure I'm not getting into any Ivies, or big-name state schools like Texas or UCLA, so I've been looking at schools like Buffalo, Prairie View A&M and Florida A&M. Although I would fall all over myself if I could work at Rural Studio at Auburn. Can anyone point me to any books or websites where I can find more examples of the kind of stuff they do there?

I know when I was thinking about law school, a big thing was "degree portability," where if you don't get into a top 5-10 law school, you'll probably have a hard time practicing outside of the state or metro area where you went to school. Does this apply to Arch school or are you simply judged on the quality of your work? North Dakota State seems to have an excellent program, but I don't want to live in the Dakotas after school.

why not just apply to cal poly and see?

Aside from that, I have no artistic or design training or experience.


that's why you are going to architecture school...

can it be something I've simply done for fun?

a big yes

as you know, that's a semester in cal poly...

Cal Poly SLO doesn't have a M.Arch program. Cal Poly Pomona does, and allows conditional admissions for those with less than a 3.0 GPA. I'm hoping I can kick ass on the GRE and use a summer session at UT or SCI-Arc to put together a nice portfolio.

So, I will be applying to Cal Poly Pomona when the time comes.

Good Luck-the summer program will definitely help and will let you see (a little) what architecture school is like. Make sure to go visit the school also and possibly talk to admissions to see what you can do now to up your chances. They would probably also have example portfolios to look at, etc.
The UT summer program is nice-I'm at UT now, never attended the summer program but saw it in action last summer. And Austin is a great city (though extremely hot in the summer!)
Best of luck to you!

Thanks TD. Don't spend too much time on 6th Street.

Does anyone know if these summer sessions award college credits, like ones I could use as electives for my B.A.? The admissions officer at SCI-Arc didn't know.

Make - "don't waste your time with...the American Academy"? That's pretty funny -- I believe you mean Academy of Art University (in which case I kind of agree); and you "haven't heard about the (sic) CCA in a while"? Well CCA is arguably stronger than ever, in terms of students, teaching, curriculum and administration -- not to mention the lecture series lately (this year its basically as good as anywhere: Nader Tehrani [Office dA] and Halim Suh, Joel Sanders, The Living, Jesse Reiser [Reiser Umemoto], Hernan Diaz Alonso, Alejandro Zaero Polo [FOA, postponed], Jurgen Mayer, Greg Pasqerelli [SHoP], Benjamin Ball [Ball Nogues], Howeler Yoon, Gramazio and Kohler, and Toyo Ito)...

bothhands, can you elaborate on your personal experience with CCA?