Soozievt - Arch. prep

<p>Susan,
My son has become interested in architecture as a possible career. He's a high school freshman this year. I know you've researched this quite a bit --- I was wondering if you have any suggestions about courses, summer programs or other things he could do to prepare if he decides he wants to do this. He is very strong in math and has good art skills - what are things would he need? And, I remember your daughter had an internship in her junior year summer at an arch's office - how did she line that up?</p>

<p>Thanks ----
Carolyn</p>

<p>Carolyn,
I hope you don't mind if I add to this topic.<br>
I remember reading a leading architect stating the difficulty of finding students good at "both" math and art. That means your son is in good shape! </p>

<p>Summer Programs
My daughter attended the 5-week summer program at UT-Austin which was intensive. One of the projects was building a bridge - which she has to do again at her current art school! She said now she knows exactly how to approach the project.
When she was at the summer RISD she wasn't impressed with the arch program (she was there for sculpture but popped in to see what the arch kids were doing). The best thing about doing the summer program at UT is that it gives you a good idea whether it's really the profession you want to pursue. You might look into a local
state school and see if they offer a similar program. Also, the UT program starts taking students at the age of 16. One thing they stressed was draw and draw some more (sketches from life).</p>

<p>We have friends that are architects and she would have been able to intern with them if she wanted but she decided architecture wasn't for her and studied sculpture the next summer. One of your friends, school counsellor etc may know an architect he could meet.</p>

<p>Unsolicited advice while you're waiting for Sooz....</p>

<p>On the West Coast, SCIARC has a great rep but I looked at their site--they don't offer summer HS programs. USC does, though. That might be the best way for a young boy to determine whether he wants to pursue the profession--in a five year professional program or through a six year M.Arch.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/admissions/programs/summer//seminars_discover.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usc.edu/dept/admissions/programs/summer//seminars_discover.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>When he is a junior, he might consider a Cornell program: <a href="http://www.sce.cornell.edu/sc/jrsr/exp_arch.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sce.cornell.edu/sc/jrsr/exp_arch.php&lt;/a>. </p>

<p>Cornell summer students wouldn't be wildly different from their normal eighteen year old students.</p>

<p>Then, on the local summer-program side, there are two skills that might give a kid a boost toward success in Architecture school--beyond Art and Math. One is CAD and the other is model making. The more facile, the better. (Public speaking would be a third). In fact, I would say that a summer job in a model maker's office--or the model making department of an architect's office--would be a big career boost for a high school student.</p>

<p>Thanks Cheers and Mauretania. I know absolutely nothing about arch. except from what I've read here. He's always said computer game designer is his intended career but really when I think about it, he's always been fascinated by buildings and their structures since he was tiny guy. Of course, he's only a h.s. freshman so who knows --- he might end up being a professional fire eater on a street corner somewhere. I'll look into the programs you suggest.</p>

<p>Carolyn,
Here's a good site that should answer some of your questions:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.acsa-arch.org/highSchoolPrep.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.acsa-arch.org/highSchoolPrep.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Carolyn,
I found a book online (at Amazon) called Early College Programs by Robert Hydrisko
published in 02 but you can read excerpts from the book which shows a timeline of
recommended programs through high school. I wish I had know about this book earlier!</p>

<p>We chose the UT program because it was close to home so she could get comfortable with a college setting nearby. Also, it was cheaper than Cornell, Syracuse etc...</p>

<p>The University of Oregon has an intensive program which sounds very similar to UT but sounds more environmental-focused.</p>

<p>Wish I had known sooner about architecture opportunities because my S is good both in math and art, too. He's going into engineering but I think architecture would have been a better fit for him. I still wonder why architecture majors have to submit a different essay on their college apps. When S's HS had "career day", I don't remember him ever talking about any architects being there.</p>

<p>Tookie
It's not too late as many civil and mechanical engineers go on to become architects.</p>

<p>I think a lot of high school kids think "architecture" sounds like a cool thing but don't have much of an idea what that field involves. (No more than those who suddenly pop up these days with an interest in "linguistics" or a few years ago yearned to go into "investment banking" had a good idea what these fields entailed.)</p>

<p>It's wise for a high schooler who has this interest for undergrad studies to take one of those precollege summer programs (another not mentioned so far is at CMU). They also don't have to study architecture as undergrads to go into that field. In fact undergrad engineering is excellent background for an MArch degree.</p>

<p>They also might investigate more about the field by talking to working architects. I have a few in my family (MIL, BIL), enough to warn off my daughter given her particular interests (though she did go into another design field).</p>

<p>Here's another on-line link: <a href="http://architecture.about.com/cs/schools/bb/schools.htm?iam=mikesart_SDK&terms=architect%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://architecture.about.com/cs/schools/bb/schools.htm?iam=mikesart_SDK&terms=architect&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It's not too late as many civil and mechanical engineers go on to become architects.</p>

<p>I have seen a number of engineer majors transfer to architecture school--but engineers going on to get their masters in architecture? Can't think of one!</p>

<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>

<p>Thanks Susan. I doubt my son would want a five year program either - I'll keep Brown in the back of my mind for him. I appreciate all of your thoughts on this. Thanks everyone.</p>

<p>Carolyn: My D's best friend from summer camp attended the high school summer architecture program at USC and liked it very much. She is now in the architecture program at NYU--first year is spent studying in Florence.</p>

<p>bookiemom: I wasn't aware NYU had an architecture program. Could you tell me about it or post a link?</p>

<p>All I know is second-hand through my D, who communicates with this friend via email. My D said the first year is spent in Florence and then the students go on in NYC. Sorry--I don't know any more than that.</p>

<p>My son has wanted to be an architect since he could hold a pencil. He’s been drawing buildings, writing about buildings, talking about buildings his whole life. Having the opportunity to travel extensively worldwide helped fuel his passion.</p>

<p>He talked about starting off in an architecture degree program at a college like Cornell or Connecticut but in the end the appeal of liberal arts degree won out. Now, he’s drifting more toward art history (including the history of architecture), so who knows what will come next. He’ll most likely take an architectural drawing class next year. </p>

<p>I like this quote from a Williams grad who is now an architect:
Wesley M. Heilman II '58 ... "Get a good liberal arts education as [an] architect wears many hats. Take art courses particularly studio work to show basic design ability. Work in construction for the summer. Keep your eyes open. Learn to be a salesman, how to win a project. My duties included marketing, project management, personnel, director operations, board member."</p>

<p>Wait...</p>

<p>Why(if this is true) do no people with BSes in engineering go on to earn MArch...?</p>

<p>Thomas, I think some who have engineering undergraduate degrees do go on to MArch degrees. I know, for instance, at Tufts, a school my D looked into, they have Architectural Engineering in their engineering department and Architectural Studies in their liberal arts college and both routes were ones that could prepare you to enter a MArch program. Had she gone there, she was contemplating a major in Architectural Studies in the liberal arts school but maybe minoring in Architectural Engineering but you could do the opposite of that at Tufts. She wants an undergraduate liberal arts degree, not BArch or not a degree in architectural engineering, though she may take courses in both areas. But someone COULD focus on architectural engineering or civil engineering and then choose to go to graduate school for architecture. </p>

<p>Momrath...I agree that all those areas would be great preparation to be an architect as it is a very interdisciplinary field which is one of its attractions to my daughter as she likes many things. I also know an architect in my community who went to undergrad at Williams.
Susan</p>

<p>Soozievt: "I also know an architect in my community who went to undergrad at Williams. "</p>

<p>Now that's my ideal scenario -- my son as an architect in a scenic New England town builds a country home for Mom and Dad nearby. His current fantasy is himself as architecture curator at MoMA with an apartment overlooking Central Park and Mom and Dad in Bali.</p>

<p>Just a thought, won't it be fun if we're all still on-line in 5 years to see what these wonderkids are doing?</p>

<p>THanks everyone - this has been most helpful - especially momrath's comments. My son has many interests and many talents/strengths so that really was interesting advice.</p>