Hammed, I had a trip to Ankara a few years ago and loved it. Have you considered switching to Civil Engineering at the school there? If the industry turns around you can get a masters in architecture in minimum time at a later date; if not you will still be in the construction industry with an interesting job and be able to support yourself and your family. The coursework at METU, especially the last two years, seems tailor-made for serious architects and builders.

please remember that forums such as this one tend to have more posts about people having hard times/bad luck/terrible jobs, etc instead of people reporting in that all is great with their world - the views here are defeinetly skewed negative (but not saying that our profesison is perfect either)

good luck

+1 Cajunarch ^

There's plenty of good news, from people who enjoy architecture school.  Internet forums appear to be places to vent bad feelings, however, much more than to share good ones.

Yes, there are exceptions, always.  For those, you might read some of the student blogs.

You need to think outside the box.  Traditional arch practice is not the only applicable way to profit off your skills gained in school.  I can't stress this enough.  I absolutely love what I do and I feel that I am completely in control of my future and being fulfilled creatively more so than I ever expected.  I also know many friends that feel the opposite way because they bought into the idea that one must go through the traditional steps of professional practice.  Personally, the piece of paper degree means nothing.  All the value of the education is in the skills that you gain and the dreams that you create internally.  Those skills can be applied in many ways and can be very profitable.  You just need to imagine what you want to do and go for it.  Don't let conventions get in your way.  A conventional path will lead to a conventional career.  If that's what you want then that's fine too, but its not your only option.  I too had that mindset.  After graduation I felt like I was looking into a black hole.  Rather than accepting that as my only path I just started to stray in the direction that I wanted to go in.  I didn't pursue architecture as it is, but instead as I wanted it to be.  I have a long ways to go before I gain the success that I want for myself but I am on a path that I am in control of and making a comfortable living.  

"There's plenty of good news"

I'd like to hear them myself too.  Why are you directing the OP to the student blogs?  They're clearly concerned more with what happens after school than during it.  Schools great but reality afterwards......?

Are the salaries listed on salary archinect pretty accurate?  for the amount of years worked and the salary they're getting, it seems pretty grim to me especially with hefty loans to pay off.  but I could be wrong.  I'd like to be proven wrong.

Thinking of quitting after 1st year

Good, you will only have wasted one year.

@jla-x what is it that you do? can you tell us more about your path? I'm considering getting a master's in architecture because of the skills I can acquire and to refine and practice that way of thinking but I don't think I want to be an "Architect." 

Archinect mostly reflects the North American contingent; that is the predominant voice coming through here whereas you should research whether being an architect is profitable in turkey (or elsewhere that interests you). that is, of course, unless your plan is to actually work in North America. the world is not that homogeneous and its good to set things in their context. 

Architecture pays shit everywhere, relative to the time spent in school and the average effort required in professional life. The reason why the predominant voice of complaint on this forum comes from the US is that this is the country above all where not earning a "high enough" salary, due to how the society is structured, entails the most serious problem.

i don't know about you empea, but i do have architect friends working in the persian gulf countries, in china and elsewhere who are making enough to be comfortable and they didnt suffer that much to get jobs either. easy, where there is construction happening, there are architects making money. i also have friends practicing in europe (paris and london) who also didnt suffer that much to get their jobs and - being that architectural education there is less expensive for europeans than education is in the US for americans or anyone else- the ratio of tuition to subsequent salary is completely different. so, no,  you cannot generalize even if you would like to spread the feeling of malaise. yes, the world is more sick than before...but in some places, its sicker than in others.  

this is aside from any reservations about many things concerning a world wide culture of churning out buildings that is getting increasingly universal. like any other quasi-"missionary" entity, big architectural firms planting noncontextual buildings forged in a non-context around the globe are another face of colonization. 

Tammuz - I was unclear: by "shit" I did not mean actually miserable salaries so as to not eat and have a home, or for that matter to allow to live "comfortably", whatever that means. I meant a remuneration which in most cases is disproportionately low compared to the effort spent in a) years in education and b) the subsequent professional life. If you feel that this is generalizing on my part then fine. The fact that some people you know are well off is not the same as to say that everyone is. This is logical fallacy 101. I am not at all about spreading any feeling of malaise but simply give an informed opinion. Informed in the sense that I currently work in the US which is the fifth country to date where I have practiced in the AEC industry and what I said goes everywhere, with local variation. It is not the same as say

ing that everyone is unhappy or that money is everything. Just sharing my experience.

wow, i agree with tammuz; my experience in NA is not going to tell you anything about Turkey. if you think you MIGHT want to practice architecture in NA, you should get with RIBA - i think - and/or the Canadian equivalent, to find out how to do that. any other path for education seems onerous.