<p>If accepted to William and Mary is there any way to pursue a career in architecture? I know there's no major for it... but is there a track I could follow to be qualified for graduate school? I know at some other colleges there's a design your own major where I could take other classes possibly in art history, studio art or engineering (as well as a few math/physics courses)that could prepare me properly. Is there any way I could do something like this here?</p>
<p>allnycolleges:</p>
<p>Many graduate schools accept students into their Master of Architecture program without an undergraduate degree in architecture. Although both my undergrad and grad degrees are in architecture, I had grad school classmates with undergrad degrees in history, economics, biology, and civil engineering. </p>
<p>Now that I have my own architecture firm, I have also hired employees with similar backgrounds.</p>
<p>Consider this carefully, however. If you want to qualify for an architect’s license to practice, you will probably need to enroll in a Master’s program that requires three or four years of study. My classmates who did not have an undergrad degree in architecture were required to attend grad school for at least 3-1/2 years. In some cases, they had to complete math and science requirements before they were allowed to enroll in the Masters program.</p>
<p>An alternative to a Masters degree is a Bachelor of Architecture degree. This is a five year undergraduate degree but it will allow you to qualify for an architect’s license. (A four year BA or BS degree will not allow you to qualify for a license.) If you prefer to go for this type of degree, you might find a program that allows you to transfer two years of undergrad credit. You also might qualify for undergrad financial aid–if that is an issue. </p>
<p>Either way, you are probably looking at three years or more of school following graduation from W&M.</p>
<p>Good luck. It is an incredible amount of work for a profession that does not offer many jobs right now. On the other hand, I really, really love what I do.</p>
<p>I know multiple people who have gone to grad school for architecture after finishing undergrad at W&M, so it is definitely possible.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular belief, many graduate programs don’t want a class full of incoming grad students all of whom have the same academic background. Law schools for example don’t want all of their incoming students to have majored in pre-law. While med schools have pre-req classes for medical school applicants they don’t expect everyone to have been a pre-med major or even a science major. No doubt architecture schools are no different and do not expect all students to have an undergraduate degree in the field.</p>
<p>If you’re admitted to W&M, we encourage you to contact the Charles Center. They oversee self-designed majors and can let you know whether or not there is a possibility of creating a design-type major here at W&M.</p>
<p>Thanks! This was really helpful.</p>
<p>toooldforcc and socceryguy had some great insights. Glad we could be helpful</p>
<p>I know I am replying to an old thread, but I was just researching this same question for my daughter. And to my surprise, W&M DOES offer a B.A. with an Architecture concentration within the department of Art and Art History, under the auspices of Studio Art. The requirements for this concentration are plainly spelled out in the Course Listings. And, frankly, they look prettty good to me! I have been searching to design-based programs within Studio Art departments and they are not so easy to find. I guess this is a relatively new development because, as an Alum myself, I glance through the course offerings from time to time. As a friendly piece of advice to W&M Admissions, why don’t you suggest to your colleagues that this opportunity to study Architecture be made more apparent to the prospective students who are searching for it? Looks like my DD may very well be applying to W&M herself now! :-)</p>
<p>We sent this question on to our colleagues in Arts & Sciences and got the response copied below. At this point, architecture is not a formal track or major at W&M but may become a track in the future. However, there are courses offered that allow students to explore the topic.</p>
<p>Architecture at William and Mary is not a formal major or even a track. Ed Pease an adjunct professor and practicing architect teaches architectural studio (offered under art studio) and we also offer a number (to be expanded) of architectural history courses (within art history). Despite the relative informality of this arrangement we have had good success in getting students into top architectural and architectural preservation programs. A few students who wanted more physics and math (an engineering emphasis) have designed their own programs.</p>