For those who have done it or know about what it's like, give me your input.
I am thinking about taking a year off for my final year but a few things give me pause. I dont like the idea of graduating with completely new people and feeling out of place. Even though I haven't really bonded with a lot of my classmates like I wish I had, I would rather graduate with them then struggle to make connections in the final year and possibly not really make any.
But the benefits of taking a year off are, I get more work experience so I can feel more confident and maximize my education instead of barely scraping by with questionable projects.
I have until the summer to decide. What are your experiences?
Apr 15, 15 8:44 pm
If you feel exhausted and need a break for a year while gaining some in the world work... you should have a job already but the year off can be a good thing because you get yourself re-energized for the final year. However, you might not want to take a break too long. sometimes a 7-year rule may apply or similar such rule because if you take too long, you may have to follow requirements of a later academic year requirements for the degree.
Apr 15, 15 8:50 pm
I like to be clear that I am not suggesting for taking a year off but sometimes it is a good thing for some people. Some may suggest finishing up your degree.
I do not know whether you are doing a 3 year M.Arch or doing a 4+2 program. How do you feel about finishing the degree?
Do you have your financial stuff in order for next year?
Paula G
Apr 15, 15 10:03 pm
I definitely want to finish up my degree without a doubt (3 year MArch). I have sunk way too much money into it to not lol! Besides, I actually like the education I am getting but I am afraid I am missing out on opportunities because I am not as advanced as some of my peers (no background here). I don't want to just accidentally slide through school, I want to be able to control my destiny somewhat, or be deliberate, but I don't feel I have nearly enough experience to do that. I go to a really great school and it would be a shame to waste this final year.
I dont have my financial stuff in order if by that you mean a job. I am looking around for internships now but it is so competitive, it seems. I'm not even limiting myself to my area, I have nothing keeping me here and I can pick up after the semester ends and go literally anywhere. So I'm not too worried about that, but maybe I should be.
Apr 16, 15 12:19 am
Paula G,
Given this information, I would recommend you finish your degree. Here is why:
Having a degree from an NAAB accredited degree would put you higher on the stack. Generally, if you don't have an architecture degree, you will be placed below everyone with an architecture education. They'll sort the ones that meet the education requirement and rank them and then the first 10-20 would be considered for interview. Likely, you'll be placed below the cutoff because they aren't going to take any consideration of someone without a degree unless something catches their attention. You'll be more competitive for the jobs.
It can be difficult to get a job. If you don't find a job to start in summer break within the next month or two, you'd best complete your degree.
If you really need some input to help you understand stuff, feel free to ask questions.
I don't know enough of where you feel behind your peers? Can you elaborate on "not as advanced as some of my peers" ????
If I was to take that at face value, I would recommend you stop comparing yourself and your work to them. Stop putting energy in worry about making your work and competing against them. That's in fact a distraction that will hinder your progress. Focus on YOUR work, how you will communicate your design ideas, and focus on how you present and communicate your idea. Don't need to be flashy and colorful. The work needs to be clean, and communicates clearly. I've actually attended critiques and sort of partake in that sort of role and believe me, I seen some stuff with fancy backgrounds and stuff. Colorful but it was a little distracting, too.
Focus on how your design addresses the project program which you should know early on in the project if not on the on-set of the assignment being assigned. Take time to ideate (brainstorm) and then develop a criterion for selection which your project program will greatly define but also rank importance to certain criteria OBJECTIVELY but in the process you should before even ideating.... RESEARCH the problem. Understand and get at the essence of the issue. When you reach the point in time to selection process, you should be decisive but also willing to reiterate over from multiple sessions and tweak ideas.
Apr 16, 15 12:20 am
I would recommend the book "the UNIVERSAL TRAVELER" by Don Koberg and Jim Bagnall if you don't already have it. It is a soft-system guide to creative problem solving and the process of reaching goals. It can help you develop a systematic process to working on your studio project. Develop a game plan at the beginning of studio courses when you are assigned a project for the duration of the term. There is some key critical dates like mid-term critique review. In the first half of the term, you should have a plan to at least iterate through 7 stages of the design process in 5 weeks. Every so often, you may have to branch back to previous steps but you need to plan for that. In the first half the the term, no single stage should have to be branched back to more than 2 or 3 times.
Apr 16, 15 12:21 am
Final part:
The key point to be understood and it is very basic but can make a great difference and I believe is MOST important is for you to focus on your project. I bet you'll do much better and progress and understand things better by doing so.
Talk to your instructor as much as you can about the project and get their input.
You'll probably do well. You'll do yourself better by not investing energy stressing out over how your work compares to them. Instead, invest the energy to making your work better by making decisions that improves how your work communicates, conveys your design intent, addresses the problem and how you compose the assignment. Envision how it will look when you pin it up and take time to think it out.
I hope I driven that point home.
Other little details, we can walk our way through as we go. That would be my first and foremost advice is to get the distraction of worrying about how you compare to others out of your mind because then you get caught up in a trap dwelling on the wrong things distracting you from the goal.
SpatialSojourner
Apr 16, 15 7:11 am
That's tricky, I took off a few years between my 4+2 (well about to go back for my M.Arch 1). With only one year left on your degree, you're really really close! For me, taking time off from academia has been super beneficial, I've never had a problem getting job opportunities with my BS degree and the current market seems pretty favorable. I feel like my projects will be phenomenal with the insights into construction and all the time I've spent developing my skills outside of the workplace. That being said, it's been tough going back to school after "starting" a career - pay to go to school versus taking another year off and getting a nice bump in pay increase for experience gained... I ended up turning down all my schools last grad school season because I was really liking where I was in the professional realm.
So, if I was in your shoes (only knowing this limited info), I would work really hard in your time off for summer developing your skills (maybe post work and we can provide feedback as to what to work on and advise on how to take it to the next level) and finish your last year.
no_form
Apr 16, 15 4:47 pm
Just tough it out. You have 1 more year. It's stressful but that's graduate school.
If you take one year off you'll have to begin paying back loans. Most likely it will take you at least 2 months to find a job. So then you work for 10 months and save very little money. Will faculty give you recommendations/references for you during this year off to find a job?
Socially you also fractured connections with friends of two years.
For those who have done it or know about what it's like, give me your input.
I am thinking about taking a year off for my final year but a few things give me pause. I dont like the idea of graduating with completely new people and feeling out of place. Even though I haven't really bonded with a lot of my classmates like I wish I had, I would rather graduate with them then struggle to make connections in the final year and possibly not really make any.
But the benefits of taking a year off are, I get more work experience so I can feel more confident and maximize my education instead of barely scraping by with questionable projects.
I have until the summer to decide. What are your experiences?
If you feel exhausted and need a break for a year while gaining some in the world work... you should have a job already but the year off can be a good thing because you get yourself re-energized for the final year. However, you might not want to take a break too long. sometimes a 7-year rule may apply or similar such rule because if you take too long, you may have to follow requirements of a later academic year requirements for the degree.
I like to be clear that I am not suggesting for taking a year off but sometimes it is a good thing for some people. Some may suggest finishing up your degree.
I do not know whether you are doing a 3 year M.Arch or doing a 4+2 program. How do you feel about finishing the degree?
Do you have your financial stuff in order for next year?
I definitely want to finish up my degree without a doubt (3 year MArch). I have sunk way too much money into it to not lol! Besides, I actually like the education I am getting but I am afraid I am missing out on opportunities because I am not as advanced as some of my peers (no background here). I don't want to just accidentally slide through school, I want to be able to control my destiny somewhat, or be deliberate, but I don't feel I have nearly enough experience to do that. I go to a really great school and it would be a shame to waste this final year.
I dont have my financial stuff in order if by that you mean a job. I am looking around for internships now but it is so competitive, it seems. I'm not even limiting myself to my area, I have nothing keeping me here and I can pick up after the semester ends and go literally anywhere. So I'm not too worried about that, but maybe I should be.
Paula G,
Given this information, I would recommend you finish your degree. Here is why:
Having a degree from an NAAB accredited degree would put you higher on the stack. Generally, if you don't have an architecture degree, you will be placed below everyone with an architecture education. They'll sort the ones that meet the education requirement and rank them and then the first 10-20 would be considered for interview. Likely, you'll be placed below the cutoff because they aren't going to take any consideration of someone without a degree unless something catches their attention. You'll be more competitive for the jobs.
It can be difficult to get a job. If you don't find a job to start in summer break within the next month or two, you'd best complete your degree.
If you really need some input to help you understand stuff, feel free to ask questions.
I don't know enough of where you feel behind your peers? Can you elaborate on "not as advanced as some of my peers" ????
If I was to take that at face value, I would recommend you stop comparing yourself and your work to them. Stop putting energy in worry about making your work and competing against them. That's in fact a distraction that will hinder your progress. Focus on YOUR work, how you will communicate your design ideas, and focus on how you present and communicate your idea. Don't need to be flashy and colorful. The work needs to be clean, and communicates clearly. I've actually attended critiques and sort of partake in that sort of role and believe me, I seen some stuff with fancy backgrounds and stuff. Colorful but it was a little distracting, too.
Focus on how your design addresses the project program which you should know early on in the project if not on the on-set of the assignment being assigned. Take time to ideate (brainstorm) and then develop a criterion for selection which your project program will greatly define but also rank importance to certain criteria OBJECTIVELY but in the process you should before even ideating.... RESEARCH the problem. Understand and get at the essence of the issue. When you reach the point in time to selection process, you should be decisive but also willing to reiterate over from multiple sessions and tweak ideas.
I would recommend the book "the UNIVERSAL TRAVELER" by Don Koberg and Jim Bagnall if you don't already have it. It is a soft-system guide to creative problem solving and the process of reaching goals. It can help you develop a systematic process to working on your studio project. Develop a game plan at the beginning of studio courses when you are assigned a project for the duration of the term. There is some key critical dates like mid-term critique review. In the first half of the term, you should have a plan to at least iterate through 7 stages of the design process in 5 weeks. Every so often, you may have to branch back to previous steps but you need to plan for that. In the first half the the term, no single stage should have to be branched back to more than 2 or 3 times.
Final part:
The key point to be understood and it is very basic but can make a great difference and I believe is MOST important is for you to focus on your project. I bet you'll do much better and progress and understand things better by doing so.
Talk to your instructor as much as you can about the project and get their input.
You'll probably do well. You'll do yourself better by not investing energy stressing out over how your work compares to them. Instead, invest the energy to making your work better by making decisions that improves how your work communicates, conveys your design intent, addresses the problem and how you compose the assignment. Envision how it will look when you pin it up and take time to think it out.
I hope I driven that point home.
Other little details, we can walk our way through as we go. That would be my first and foremost advice is to get the distraction of worrying about how you compare to others out of your mind because then you get caught up in a trap dwelling on the wrong things distracting you from the goal.
That's tricky, I took off a few years between my 4+2 (well about to go back for my M.Arch 1). With only one year left on your degree, you're really really close! For me, taking time off from academia has been super beneficial, I've never had a problem getting job opportunities with my BS degree and the current market seems pretty favorable. I feel like my projects will be phenomenal with the insights into construction and all the time I've spent developing my skills outside of the workplace. That being said, it's been tough going back to school after "starting" a career - pay to go to school versus taking another year off and getting a nice bump in pay increase for experience gained... I ended up turning down all my schools last grad school season because I was really liking where I was in the professional realm.
So, if I was in your shoes (only knowing this limited info), I would work really hard in your time off for summer developing your skills (maybe post work and we can provide feedback as to what to work on and advise on how to take it to the next level) and finish your last year.
Just tough it out. You have 1 more year. It's stressful but that's graduate school.
If you take one year off you'll have to begin paying back loans. Most likely it will take you at least 2 months to find a job. So then you work for 10 months and save very little money. Will faculty give you recommendations/references for you during this year off to find a job?
Socially you also fractured connections with friends of two years.
Be strong. 1 more year. You can do it.