<p>Carolyn
Sorry it took so long to reply to your post. I was not online as much in the interim and came back to umpteen threads and posts (lotsa action the past few days on here with results coming out,etc.)...</p>
<p>So, first off, let me say that others on here likely would be a better help than me. I can share about my D with regard to architecture but it is not like she is in a BArch program or anything. It is not like she has ALWAYS wanted to be an architect. Even now, as a college freshman, it is a field she has an interest in and is likely to explore and see if she wants to truly become an architect. It is not yet a course set in stone for her. That is why, in fact, she is in a school where architectural studies is a major in a liberal arts setting, rather than a five year BArch program which is a professional degree program to which you commit when you apply (she was not quite ready to do that). So, someone who has gone that route might have better advice and/or might prepare in a different fashion or more intensely prior to college. </p>
<p>That said....here is what she has explored/done.....toward the end of tenth grade, she did begin to think a little bit about what she might want to go into down the line. She has never had this "I wanna be a _____ when I grow up" thing going. She was about to embark fall of junior year in a college search and so hand in hand she began to think about possible directions. She has always been very good at math and science. She started to think about both architecture and engineering. One appeal of architecture is that it is multidisciplinary in its nature and it combines several areas she either has an interest in and/or is good at....math, science, problem solving, computers, art, creativity, history/cultures, and hands-on stuff. While she does not think of herself as an artist per se, and may even not be that confident in drawing (though frankly is decent at it), she has taken several art courses in high school. </p>
<p>Then for junior year, when piecing together her schedule, she had one period per day with no course (or any she needed either) and she discussed with her GC how she might use that period each day for a year exploring something she might want to go into. And thus, she designed an independent study, under the supervision of a teacher in Industrial Arts, and she did it one period per day and he oversaw her work....it involved drafting, mechanical drawing and AutoCad. Our school does not have architecture classes (apparently some other high schools do). She ended up loving the work. I think she likes the hands on stuff and it just was really neat. During that same year, when she did some major papers, particularly in History, she chose to explore areas that dealt with architecture. I recall a major comparison paper that did involve that field. I also recall a major final paper and project that had to do with the designs for the World Trade Center site. She got into all of these things. </p>
<p>Then when planning her summer vacation following junior year, she was going to be away for a full month on a tennis tour of Europe, plus a one week family vacation to Cape Cod. She knew she had a two week span unscheduled prior to soccer preseason. She wanted to explore the field some more by doing an internship with an archtiect and thus seeing what this field is like first hand, considering at this point, she had knocked out engineering majors and had narrowed her college list to schools that had BA degrees in architecture (which is considered Pre-architecture as it requires a MArch to be licensed). As an aside, she is interested in some engineering courses that relate to architecture....these are sometimes called architectural engineering...and some are civil engineering. Anyway, though we live in a small town, there are NUMEROUS architects in this town....not sure why but for one thing it is a resort community and these architects not only deal with that but also many projects outside the local area. Some of these architects are pretty well known regionally. So, she wrote a letter to about four or five of the local architects introducing herself, explaining what she had already done in her independent study (skill wise) and of her interest in pursuing this in college and that she would love to intern for two weeks to learn more...both by helping in their office in any capacity and also learning from shadowing them at work. She then met with a couple of them in person. All seemed willing to take her. She ended up in a small office with a woman architect (who knows my D a tiny bit just as it is a small community, so my D's name or face was not a total unknown to any of these folks). It turned out so great as she actually gave her REAL architecture work to do, NOT busy work. I would say that maybe 5% of it was busy stuff like filing. But just about all of it was projects she gave her to do! She had her draw up floor plans for their office as they were getting new carpetting. She had her make a chipboard model of a house they designed for clients. She had her taking measurements at a site. She had her attend a playground design meeting with clients. She had her do some type of sectionals, I forget what you call them, on a computer, teaching her how to use their program which differed from the one used at school. She really did a bunch of hands-on stuff and enjoyed it. She would have done it for free but the person gave her a stipend for the two weeks. </p>
<p>When she wrote to colleges as to why she wanted to go into architecture as a possible major, she was able to articulate what she had done so far to explore this field. Also, when we visited each college, we visited the architecture departments, met with heads/professors, and students, and attended classes. She visited architecture studios and saw the work the students were doing which really gave an inside look into what that kind of work entails in college and it did seem to be of great interest to her. </p>
<p>She just was not ready to commit to a five year BArch program because it is not like she has truly studied architecture enough yet to know for sure it wil be her major or life's work. It is not like other school subjects like English or Math that you have done your whole life and can say, yea, I am positive I love that. She also did not want to be locked into professional degree program where 3/4s of your course work is in your field and decided for you. She still wanted liberal arts but a more normal major that is more like 10-12 of your courses. </p>
<p>So far at Brown, she is taking some courses with this in mind but again, not a firm plan yet...but she has taken Intro. To Engineering, HIstory of Art and ARchitecture, and will be taking the first level of Studio Art next semester. </p>
<p>IF she does go into this, there are semesters abroad in this field, summer programs (such as at Harvard) and RISD courses too. The summer program at Harvard is designed to give students an indepth exploration of the field as a jump off point to see if it is something they want to go into. I know college students can take it and I would have to look but MAYBE high school kids can too. It is through the Harvard School of Design. </p>
<p>Otherwise, I must admit, we never looked into summer academic programs in our family...so I can't help much. But I have a feeling there are ones in this field for high schoolers at Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, and other colleges. </p>
<p>Hope this helps a bit though we are not as well versed on this field as others here.
Susan
PS, I don't know if your son is contemplating a BArch program in college but if so, SOME of them, such as Cornell, require a portfolio for admission and if that is the case, then your son would have to have to develop an ART portfolio (not really architecture samples but more like art/drawing samples).</p>