Hello,
I moved to U.S six months ago and my English not perfect I am a senior student in high school. I want to be an architect and I don’t know how can I do this. Can you inform me about this?
Your local community college may have pre-architecture classes. And,
the community college may have an articulation or , transfer agreement with a state university, assuring admission.
For example in Maryland,
https://www.aacc.edu/programs-and-courses/credit-and-degree-seekers/architecture/
Welcome Eylul - I think we will have to know more about you to help. What state do you live in? Did you attend high school in the country you moved from, and will you be graduating high school in the spring of 2023? Have you taken/passed the TOEFL exam?
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Thank you for your information. I living in Tennessee, and I talked with community college, but they said to me “we don’t have transfer program for architecture.”
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Please explain why you want to be an architect.
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I believe architecture is either a five year program, or requires a masters. @mathmom ?
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Have you spent time with architects? To see the scope of their work? Architects work in many different types of areas, residential, commercial, industrial, for example.
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Are you a U.S. citizen or permanent resident?
I living in Tennessee. I came to U.S in my senior year and I will graduate may 2023. I didn’t get enough scores from English exam.
The usual educational paths to a first professional degree in architecture, starting from high school graduation:
- BArch (5 years)
- BA/BS in architecture-related major (4 years), then MArch (may be less than 3 years)
- BA/BS in anything (4 years), then MArch (3 years)
https://www.naab.org/accredited-programs/school-search/ lists BArch and MArch programs.
University of Tennessee Knoxville has both BArch and MArch programs. Applying to the BArch program is described at Apply to Bachelor of Architecture - UTK College of Architecture + Design . However, it looks like frosh admission and scholarships would have been more likely if you had applied before November 1. Final application deadline is December 15. If you scroll down the page, there is some information about transfer admission if you start at (for example) a community college.
I want to be an architect, because I am interested in this field and I believe that I will be successful in this field. I did not spend time with any architect in the U.S. Yes, I have permanent resident
How do,you KNOW what this field entails. As I said, architects do MANY different kinds of work. If you haven’t spent any time actually shadowing or at least talking to several architects here, I can’t imagine how you would know you will be successful in the field. You don’t even know what it entails.
At this point, you need to beef up your use of the English language. Most community colleges have courses that you can take for this at no charge.
I would strongly suggest you discuss your after college plans with your school counselor at your high school. Colleges require certain courses for admission. Have you taken all of those courses?
If not, starting at a community college really isn’t a bad idea.
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You also want to find out if you qualify for instate tuition status at the Tennessee public colleges. You haven’t lived here very long.
How much money can your family pay for you to attend college?
Thanks for your advice.
I agree that you should start with your local community college, build your English skills so you can pass the TOEFL exam, and work with the counselors to help you find the right programs for your interest in architecture.
You could also contact some local architects in your city to ask them if they need some help in their offices to get a better idea of what the work is about. It may take you a couple of extra years, but if you work hard and it’s your goal then you can do it! Good luck!
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Depending upon your age, you might consider asking to spend another year in high school. Some students, especially fall birthday boys, start elementary school late, and hence are 19 when they graduate. Some students fail classes in high school, and aren’t able to get all the credits they need in 4 years, and so stay for a 5th year of high school., and are 19 before they graduate. In many cases, when people arrive in the US from abroad, and enter high school without good English, they are put back a year, so that they have a chance to improve their English before they are graduated.
In your case, it’s obvious that you haven’t had the 4 years of high school level English that is required for a high school diploma, even if you had English as a foreign language in your home country. An extra year in high school would improve your English, plus it would give you more time to explore college options. The school district will likely recommend against this, because it costs them money to educate you for another year, but I believe that you are legally entitled to it. You and your parents should fight for this for you.
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As indicated upthread there is more than one path to becoming an architect. But generally in order to practice you will need a professional degree which can either be a B.Arch program (usually 5 years) or an M. Arch program which is generally a 3 - 3.5 year program following 4 years of a B. A. The B.A. can be in any field, but most Masters programs will have prerequisites like calculus and physics and you will have to provide a portfolio of art work showing that you can draw. It’s very important to have a good command of English, not only are there plenty of courses that will require writing paper, but you will be subjected to a critiques at the completion of every project where a your professors and bunch of invited architect will tear your project and apart and you will have to defend it. This is a pretty good documentary about a more pleasant experience. Architecture School (TV Series 2008– ) - IMDb I don’t know if it’s available anywhere.
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It sounds like you don’t have a portfolio together yet. I would recommend going the BA in whatever major you want/architecture and then applying to a three year MArch program. Many more schools have a BA in Arch program. You could also go to CC and then UTenn. You might need to start again from year 1 if you go into their BArch, but it’s another option. Good luck!
While you need to be able to communicate and present in English well, many students are immigrants, even at Yale and Harvard. while the foreign grad students passed their TOEFLS, they all had varying degrees of fluency. Your English at six months immersion is very good.
While one has to defend one’s project, a good professor is someone who can pick out the good process decisions and note the not so good ones. Yes, I’ve seen crying, but it’s a profession that can be almost intuitive at times and good teachers and mentors can do this while minimizing the tears.
I actually think the biggest problem with architecture school (at least the name brand ones, I think in this respect state schools tend to be more practical), is that what is valued in critiques bears no resemblance to what is valued in real life.
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This defense and explanation of projects needs to be done at the professional level. Not just in school.
From my experience I have not found this to be true. Classmates from when I was at name brand schools now work at Autodesk, large construction firms, various department of building agencies, in the restaurant world, etc. I’ve found that architecture, regardless if state school or Ivy League, will teach you skills and a thought process that will guide you for a lifetime.