-graduated from Parsons school of design so i have a BFA in Arch design
-I've been working full time since graduating in Sept '07
I, like many people, am deciding between going to grad school along the typ route vs staying at work to gain experience and eventually a license in NYS.
Can anybody comment on the path of gaining licensure through experience? It seems i would have to work an additional 2-3 years to satisfy requirements for NYS.
What do you all think about what I'd be missing if i skip March? I feel going to Parsons undergrad allowed me to develop a solid basis for design skills/conceptual thinking.
I'm leaning towards working towards my license and fore going grad school esp given the economy. Having a salary and income is important where grad school i'm basically just going into debt. It seems like having a license woudl be useful for when my friends graduate from M.arch allowing us to potentially partner on projects where i bring solid working experience to complement the design chops they've gained at school.
i'm in a similar boat as well (working in NY with a 4 year degree) and have pondered the same question. I do know that if I plan to keep working (at a large corporate firm) the lack of an MArch would only inhibit me from attaining partner status - I look at all of the company's partners, and they of course have professional degrees.
If you work in a smaller practice, or start your own after getting licensed the long way without a MArch, I imagine you'd be at an advantage.
Any idea how long it takes to get licensed "the long way"? From the info i read, my 4 year degree gets me 7 out of 12 req credits. So that I'd need an additional 5 credits through working experience. 1 credit for each year of experience, but they don't count weekends, nights, or vacation...
Any idea how long it really takes in reality? I assume it's not just 5 calendar years...
i highly recommend, given the current and probable future economy, to stay employed and not incur debt. your on track for licensure, and gainfully employed during the Great Recession where unemployment rates in the industry some say is closer to 40-50%. my advice it to augment your design skills from mentors within your office, and if time allows create your own projects on your own time, similar to a masters program. you can even obtain syllabuses online from various schools, and use them as direction for your own course. if you do decide to attend a M.Arch program, make sure it has pragmatic courses, i.e. green design, good technical knowledge (key word 'knowledge' to gain), and that the instructors are engaging and attendance in the studios is evident. the last thing you want is to go into debt for an education where the studio instructor is only there once every two weeks...good luck to you.
Just make sure you are working in the direct supervision of an architect who is in direct employment as you are. You can't apply for the NYS license if your direct supervisor is an independent contractor/consultant to your firm.
Aug 16, 10 8:24 pm ·
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M.arch versus Experience/Licensure in NY
Some background:
-graduated from Parsons school of design so i have a BFA in Arch design
-I've been working full time since graduating in Sept '07
I, like many people, am deciding between going to grad school along the typ route vs staying at work to gain experience and eventually a license in NYS.
Can anybody comment on the path of gaining licensure through experience? It seems i would have to work an additional 2-3 years to satisfy requirements for NYS.
What do you all think about what I'd be missing if i skip March? I feel going to Parsons undergrad allowed me to develop a solid basis for design skills/conceptual thinking.
I'm leaning towards working towards my license and fore going grad school esp given the economy. Having a salary and income is important where grad school i'm basically just going into debt. It seems like having a license woudl be useful for when my friends graduate from M.arch allowing us to potentially partner on projects where i bring solid working experience to complement the design chops they've gained at school.
Thoughts?
i'm in a similar boat as well (working in NY with a 4 year degree) and have pondered the same question. I do know that if I plan to keep working (at a large corporate firm) the lack of an MArch would only inhibit me from attaining partner status - I look at all of the company's partners, and they of course have professional degrees.
If you work in a smaller practice, or start your own after getting licensed the long way without a MArch, I imagine you'd be at an advantage.
Any idea how long it takes to get licensed "the long way"? From the info i read, my 4 year degree gets me 7 out of 12 req credits. So that I'd need an additional 5 credits through working experience. 1 credit for each year of experience, but they don't count weekends, nights, or vacation...
Any idea how long it really takes in reality? I assume it's not just 5 calendar years...
pretty sure it is 5 calendar years, euforiia. think how problematic it would be for ncarb to actually take overtime and your vacation into account.
alright-- thanks for the feedback. I guess they differ in how they collect the information since NCARB requires you to report hours
i highly recommend, given the current and probable future economy, to stay employed and not incur debt. your on track for licensure, and gainfully employed during the Great Recession where unemployment rates in the industry some say is closer to 40-50%. my advice it to augment your design skills from mentors within your office, and if time allows create your own projects on your own time, similar to a masters program. you can even obtain syllabuses online from various schools, and use them as direction for your own course. if you do decide to attend a M.Arch program, make sure it has pragmatic courses, i.e. green design, good technical knowledge (key word 'knowledge' to gain), and that the instructors are engaging and attendance in the studios is evident. the last thing you want is to go into debt for an education where the studio instructor is only there once every two weeks...good luck to you.
Just make sure you are working in the direct supervision of an architect who is in direct employment as you are. You can't apply for the NYS license if your direct supervisor is an independent contractor/consultant to your firm.
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