<p>It may vary from state to state, but Texas firms are very aware of the ArchE program. Most of the bigger firms have quite a few ArchE graduates. Datum was started by an ArchE grad, Tom Taylor. I know that firms interviewing me, even 20 years ago, were impressed with my degree and curriculum. My first job out of school was in Maine, too, in a tough job market. Just sharing my experience.</p>
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So, you may have to explain what your background is a little more, and you might lose the interest of a few firms who don't want to take any risks (or, worse, who consider their architect clients to be little more than "necessary evils" and aren't interested in hiring anybody who values artistic vision... it's obviously usually not <em>that</em> bad, but most of us in the industry have been aggravated by architects at one point or another!), but those are the only real sources of my hesitation.
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<p>Perhaps ArchE curricula vary, but none of the ones I've seen teach architecture with an emphasis on the artistic side. They all seem to focus on the structural, MEP and construction aspects of putting a building up, but not the artistic. I think I saw one or two courses in the curricula about architectural history, but that was about it.</p>
<p>I do think the name of the major can be misleading for those who are unfamiliar with it. They may believe it's 1/2 architecture and 1/2 civil engineering, which it is not.</p>
<p>Since the selection of ABET accredited ArchE programs is somewhat limited, wuold my course work and options after college be much different if I chose civil engineering instead?</p>
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Since the selection of ABET accredited ArchE programs is somewhat limited, wuold my course work and options after college be much different if I chose civil engineering instead?
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<p>I think they'd be different in that you'd have what in my opinion is a more marketable skill set (even when they're not building new buildings because there's no money to do so, there's going to be work in civil engineering), but the only ArchEng programs that you're really going to want to go to are ABET accredited, so after looking at MaineLonghorn's list of accredited programs, I don't actually think that the accreditation part will make that much of a difference. And really, obviously, both paths have worked for different people. I work for one of the big monster firms and our main requirement is that people have a masters degree in structural engineering... while I'm not aware of any architectural engineers with the firm, I do know that we don't really care what your undergrad background was so long as you have that masters degree in structures.</p>
<p>So, do whatever floats your boat.</p>
<p>You can go into infrastructure if you're in civil engineering but not architectural engineering. You can go into MEP engineering if you're in architectural engineering but not civil engineering. The former gives you more options in a bad economy because in the latter, everyone is dependent on the building industry.</p>
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even when they're not building new buildings because there's no money to do so, there's going to be work in civil engineering
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What makes you think civil field is not vulnerable? An example would be state of CA handing out IOUs for payments to contractors as of Feb 1...</p>
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What makes you think civil field is not vulnerable? An example would be state of CA handing out IOUs for payments to contractors as of Feb 1...
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In a bad economy, the state of CA will still exist but the contractor may not...</p>