<p>Hi! I am currently a senior high school student right now and I am planning on getting my BS Degree as a Civil Engineer; then, get my Degree as an architect. How would that work? Or can I jump years ahead and take my M.Arch I and II? By the way, I have applied to both UC Irvine and UC Davis for Civil Engineering--the same major for CSU Fullerton. I am hoping to get into at least one of them.
Thank you!</p>
<p>You can get a professional architecture degree as your bachelor’s, but not every school offers it. It’s a B.Arch program (bachelor’s of architecture) and typically takes 5 years.</p>
<p>The alternate route, as you described, is to get a bachelor’s degree in one major, and go for the M.Arch I. The master’s degree typically takes 2 to 3 years, depending on how relevant your bacheor’s degree is. M.Arch II is not necessary if your intent is to work in the profession and not academia.</p>
<p>Not a bad plan; I almost did it myself back in the days… The M.Arch without the undergrad pre-professional BA Arch or BS Arch degree is 3 to 3.5 years, is pretty intense. Likewise in Civil Eng school you should focus more on classes that deal with buildings and structures rather than other CE staples like drainage, roads, and the such.</p>
<p>Take electives in drawing, CAD, and art/art history type as those will come in handy during M.Arch (plus that’s where all the artsy gals tend to concentrate :D). It’s not a bad idea because regular architecture does not go deep enough into structures, foundations, materials, and other fun stuff we Civil Engineer types learn. </p>
<p>There’s also architectural engineering, but not many schools offer it.</p>