Archie School Help Please :)

College Majors
21

<p>nice list so far. thought id put my 2 cents in...
my background is, i just graduated high school and im going to architecture school at rice university. ive known i wanted to do arch since 9th grade so i spent most of high school "researching" colleges and along the way found out a ton of info on (as larationalist mentioned) tracks to becoming an architect and the different options.
so heres all my assorted advice and you can pick through for what you want out of it :)...</p>

<ul>
<li><p>first, i commend you on getting past copying and pasting the DI rankings as your list. it looks like youre really keeping an open mind with public vs private, type of program, etc. my recommendation with that is dont get too attached to any one college early on and dont base your decision solely on the archi school... the college in general has to be a good match too!</p></li>
<li><p>on the "type of programs" note, keep in mind its either a 4+2 or 5 but then before you can take the "bar" to get liscenced, you ALSO need 3 internship (IDP) years after the schooling. so, some awesome colleges work in some of that time :) (university of miami comes to mind... they're a 5 yr with one of the IDP years included in that) i also heard a rumor that washington state(?) - the one almost in idaho - has a 5 year prog. that the kids do in only 4 years, so maybe check that out</p></li>
<li><p>it sounds like youre in a lot of challenging classes in high school, so you want to make sure youre not going to want to shoot yourself if you were to go to some of the bigger state schools. (m not prejudiced against state schools or anything, but let me give you my personal experience...)
i applied to Arizona State (tempe)'s college of design with rolling admission and was accepted in october. (best feeling ever to know you have somewhere to go so i highly recommend doing at least one rolling.) but anyway my point is, since theres i 30? or 40? thousand students, i never wouldve even considered it without applying to their bartlett honors college as well. turns out its one of the top honors colleges in the country: small classes, smartttt kids, and equivalent to an ivy-education (with a much better price tag!) the thing is, it has its own corner of campus with dorms and cafeteria and if you want it to be it can be a completely closed off, 2000 person college. and thats what turned me off.
now also, my cousin goes to un-las vegas (after having done very well in a competitive public high school in the northeast and then 2 years of culinary school in new york) ...so this is generally speaking cause she is majoring in restaurant and hotel management, but she was stuck in a lot of joke classes and in some she didnt even take the finals and still passed. she also hated las vegas itself when she first went there.</p></li>
<li><p>it sounds like youre planning on getting a scholarship for swimming and/or water polo which means you would play varsity right? think again about being able to do that as an archi. i dont know a single B.arch student or even architectural studies major who could handle a varsity sport... i know at the very least while i stayed at rice, everyone was completely burnt out by april just with studio. i never say never but just reconsider your time commitments.</p></li>
<li><p>ok so i will say never... :) its never ever too early to work on your portfolio! read all the literature and recommendations you have about making one and for the drawings you really need to put 10 hours minimum on each one. (check out past ones -including mine hehe- in the big arch thread)</p></li>
<li><p>finally, the most important thing i can say is VISIT!!!! i flew to texas twice, once to interview in dec. and back to stay for that weekend with the archi kids. i dont know how big an issue money is for you, but for my family it was soo painful to part with that $700 (or so) altogether. (i also caught cold in december and fell way behind in calculus) but no regrets!! i think i can safely say i wouldnt have gotten in if i hadnt interviewed on-campus, and i would be attending u.miami if it werent for the second weekend so it was reallllly worth it.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>anyhow GOOD LUCK! and feel free to hit me up w/ any more questions!</p>

22

<p>Is there any precedent of a person as architect+developer? I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I've never heard of someone doing it, or even a team of people that are all of both descriptions.</p>

<p>The idea would be to conquer this line of compromise/cheapness that causes architects hired by developers to churn out cheap junk, designs that aren't up to their capabilities. It would also allow some control by an architect over a larger context of a section of a city, rather than just a single building.</p>

23

<p>yeah there are some architects who are developers as well. You don't hear a lot of them because being both an architect AND a developer is a tough job. But what some architects do is partner with a developer who shares the same focus. I know some developers out there who increase the value of the land by working with a good architect who uses good design (high density residential housing projects) to increase the value of the land. Good design really comes through cooperation between developer and architect I think. I know one design-build firm who does this---- modusdev.com</p>

<p>There are always those developers who look more towards what is more efficient economically, thus sprawling more and building cookie cutter houses on them. But I think developing good design structures on neglected urban lands and thus increasing the value and health of the environment (both physically and socially) will definitely help solve our sprawling problem and better use our environment more efficiently...not to mention ....good design can be economically efficient as well.</p>

<p>ah wow..that was long..just my two cents.</p>

24

<p>They're out there, just not as well known as the 'starchitects'. There are actually tons of little design & development offices out there, usually get started because some architect gets sick of hearing developers tell him that his ideas will 'never sell'. = )</p>

25

<p>wow that was tons of stuff.</p>

<p>Ya I have been hearing people say that its a lot of work to do all classes for achie let alone be doing a sport. </p>

<p>I just really want to get a scholarship for sports cuz my parents are loaded with money so I am trying to get my swim times faster and I have been especially since I joined a coed club water polo team the guys work harder than the girls do so it pushes me and already I have seen an improvment which means that much closer to scholarship. </p>

<p>I am trying not to stick to one college but since I really want to be an archie I want to go somewhere that I like the environment. (western U.S) so thats why I am sticking around here :)</p>

<p>Thanks so much for ur help!!!</p>

26

<p>Thanks, guys. Sorry I interrupted ur thread, H2opologirl. Definitely find that great environment. That's the most important thing. All-nighters suck a lot less if you like the people.</p>

27

<p>Be aware that being a Division I scholarship athlete is a full time job. You will have a diffcult time doing both your sport and a very demanding major such as architecture.</p>

28

<p>definitely. If you're on a water polo scholarship, a pre-professional program is more likely to accomodate that. Be sure to talk to the schools you're interested in and find out whether they offer their studio courses in the summer, whether they're strictly sequential or more flexible. Two of the girls in my courses first year were on water polo scholies, and had to drop architecture after first year because studio conflicted with practice, and water polo paid the bills. Ask the water polo coaches whether they had any other girls who had done an architecture major there, and if so, try to get in contact with one or more of them so that you can get an idea of how possible it is.</p>