<p>My Daughter just started her 2nd semester. Her 1st semester was everything she had heard prior to starting and what KandKsmom just stated. Her project workload was overwhelming with mostly sketching and a minor amount of working with simple foamboard structures. She pulled endless all nighters and it wasn’t unusual she said to see 30 kids in the studio until 5:00am, night after night. Some would go back to their dorms to sleep 2 hours, shower and go back to studio to finish any minor details just prior to classes. The kids on her dorm room floor used to be shocked when they actually saw her in her room.</p>
<p>Now my Daughter has had me as a Remodeling Contractor/Certified Code Official for a background of exposure. From a little girl, I would always explain things I did and made sure to have her help me with construction related aspects, more so to get her interested and accustomed to use tools. Developing basic skills is always good to know so one doesn’t have to become wholly dependent on Contractors for small things these days.</p>
<p>Early on, I also saw she possessed a natural artistic talent which more than likely came from her Mom, an Art School grad. At 9 years of age, my Daughter brought me a drawing of a house which had fine details of the exterior finishes and landscaping. This was not something ordinary and was a total surprise. It was then that I planted the seed for her to become an Architect when she got older. Well, from that day on she carried that desire right on through to where she is right now, starting her 5 year B-Arch program.</p>
<p>My Daughter was an honor student in a small rural high school. She did not test that high for SAT ort ACT even though Math & Science were her strong areas but she also reads alot so is no slouch in that area. She did take Art and Technology courses to help fine tune her to start a portfolio which included sketching, drawing and ceramics that won various awards. From Tech, she learned Photoshop, Google Sketchup and even got a free student access to AutoCad Architecture to become savvy with.</p>
<p>During the summer between her junior and high school years, we were able to afford her a program which provided internship for 1 month with a large global Architecture firm in New York City. She absolutely enjoyed this and got to participate with actual work on projects, one of which was for a Sports Complex in Dubai. This was the litmus test to see if this was a career path that she would enjoy and it was all steam ahead from there.</p>
<p>KandKsmom made mention of two points, which I also detected, indicating you lack the passion for Architecture. With you having a good Math/Science background, Engineering could be a very rewarding career path by the time you graduate and in hope that our economy will have rebounded. Engineering degrees as a whole open endless doors of opportunity. I’m sure the studies for it are intense, but it is something that one can learn without having to have that artisitic passion that Architecture sort of demands.</p>
<p>Long-winded but I hope you find your path.</p>