<p>To be honest, I'm mixed between CE and Arch. My dad wants me to do Arch. since he always hear that the arch. is the boss and he is responsible of what's going on.On the other hand,I'm a good math physics person I do enjoy drawing but not the that extreme.</p>
<p>Any more explanations would be great.
Thank you</p>
<p>check out the architecture major thread; a lot of people have asked the question before and it’s been answered in depth.
but from what i’ve gathered, check out this scenario: the architect designs a building or landscape; he’s more so in charge of the aesthetics and making it “pretty.” The civil engineer would be in charge of making sure the building doesn’t collapse and is resistant to external forces.<br>
Also, architects don’t get as paid much as CEs do (I realize that we should do what we love, but you also have to consider the economy). On top of that, the process to become a licensed architect is a much longer time commitment than the process of working at a firm as a civil engineer.</p>
<p>It might help you to look at the coursework required for the different degrees. There are also a handful of schools that offer a degree in architectural engineering. Regarding salaries, when my son asked the AE department head he was meeting with what the difference was between the two careers he has told “About $15K to start.” 
Both the BArch and he B.A.E. are 5 year programs at my son’s school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help .</p>
<p>Yes I will view the posts regarding this topic.</p>
<p>Arch. E. is a four-year program at Texas. I liked it because we concentrated on buildings and didn’t take highway design or other CE subjects. It was also good because we had to take two semesters of architectural design. Those classes taught me to appreciate what architects do, and that I don’t have ANY architectural design talent, lol. I made a C one of the semesters (one of two Cs in my life). I went on to get my master’s in structures, and I was well-prepared for it.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks </p>
<p>I still have a question.</p>
<p>When we say that this person is a civil engineerer,is it necessary that this person must know about everything around this major.For example the structural engineerer , Can he be responsible in other than buildings in bridges,streets etc. . .</p>
<p>I think it’s possible that one civil engineer can work various projects. My grandfather did a lot of road construction but also worked on the construction of coal power plants. He was in a very rural area and had a lot of experience though.</p>
<p>Aha !</p>
<p>Andrew you used the word I think , I’m looking for a stronger word,thank you.</p>
<p>15inTbow nailed it. Architects design/draw what the building should look like. So they deal with aestetics and making it “pretty” for the client. Then the engineers take that drawing and try to figure out a way to make it realistically happen in the real world with the various forces/elements/things that effect buildings. The architects are the dreamers and the engineers are the ones that are supposed to make these dreams come to pass.</p>
<p>I looked into that stuff a while back too. I have visited firms from both fields. I’ve been to an architecture field firm and an engineering firm that had both civil and architectural engineers. I was only like 14 when I visited the architect firm but it impressed me a lot. Then I went to the engineering firm when I was around 16 and learned the other side of the argument. It turns out that usually you love one of the fields and hate the other. All of the engineers I talked to hated the architects and then it went vice versa. Engineers hated the architects because of their unrealistic goals and/or insistance in having the design be a certain way. Yet architects hate the engineers for inhibiting their creativeness. For example. One of the projects I was allowed to examine was a gas station for truckers in the south, like florida. The architects wanted some extra walls and what not but the engineers didn’t because they would have to comletely redesign the florrplans. The building was sitting on that crappy shrink-swell sand so all of the extra weight from the walls and extras the architects wanted would force the engineers to redo the foundations in a much more complicated way. So the architects didn’t care what had to be done they just wanted those walls. The engineers said screw how nice it looks the amount of work it’ll take to accomodate those walls is horrible. </p>
<p>The point I’m making with that story is your personality effects which one you go into. If you are a realistic person who always point out potential faults/problems in situations then you should go engineering. If you are more of a dreamer who doesn’t give a rats as about what it needs then go architect.<br>
Architectural engineering is supposed to be a bridge between the two but the arch engineer I talked to shifted to more engineering than he was architect through his work. He actually said the major was stupid because “you can’t sit on the middle of the fence. You aren’t specialized enough for either end of the spectrum”. But that was his opinion about architectural engineering. I honestly don’t know much more about it.</p>
<p>and a few more things you want to consider as others have pointed out. The process for becoming an architect is longer. Engineers generally make more, atleast initially. This economy is hitting architects hard while engineers are moving along just fine. Obviously I have an engineering bias but that is the opinion I garnered from my own experiences which I have explained. Hope it helps!</p>
<p>EDIT: and architects do a lot of drawings. Many of the architect schools I was looking at required a portfolio of drawings for them to run through during admissions. I enjoy drawing buildings, like it seems you do, but these portfolios wanted more than that. They wanted random sketches of random stuff. I was like I dont want to be an art major I want to build buildings! So architects have a strong art requirement. Engineers on the other hand have a strong math requirement.</p>
<p>GoOakland You Summed it up . . .</p>
<p>Thank you and thanks to all members participated in this thread.</p>
<p>I’ll go for Civil engineering , and to be more specific Structural engineering , which deals with building at the most top.</p>
<p>In civil engineering you have a toss-up chance of getting a job at graduation. In architecture, that chance is getting closer to zero every year. I’m not being facetious here. The unemployment rate for architects is just outrageous and very difficult to believe, and the chances of obtaining employment at graduation are dismal- like 10-20 percent.</p>
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<p>The intent is for you to show your creativeness and your visualization skills. An architect IS an artist, but instead of portraits, they do buildings.</p>
<p>GoOakland, awesome post. Reading your story makes it sound like architects are complete morons (hyperbole, don’t get mad architect people). I mean, it almost sounds like they don’t care if people die in their buildings as long as the building looks pretty for a while before collapsing on them.</p>
<p>It’s not their job to care. That’s why they hire engineers to worry about it.</p>
<p>GoOakland, I think most of your post is pretty good. A couple of points: </p>
<p>Architectural engineering is NOT a bridge between architecture and engineering. It is “the branch of engineering that deals with the construction of buildings (as distinguished from architecture as a design art).” It is not “sitting on the fence.” It’s a good degree because you study BUILDINGS and not highways, hydraulics, etc. as civil engineers do. You learn about architecture, plumbing, building materials, etc., so you’ll do a better job as a structural engineer (or some people go the construction management route). It is MORE specialized than civil engineering - that’s the point of the major!</p>
<p>And as I stated, taking architectural design classes made me appreciate more what architects do. Yes, it’s true that engineers bump up against architects frequently. My husband was the structural engineer of the Portland (Maine) Public Market a few years ago. The architect was from New Jersey and wanted a “light, airy” structure. The man didn’t seem to understand that snow loads in Maine are significantly higher than the ones he was used to, and his design HAD to be modified. But in the long run, the building came out really nicely, better than if my husband had just said NO to all of the architect’s ideas, and it won national awards. As engineers, we are fully aware that if WE were responsible for the architectural design of buildings, they would be very boring!</p>
<p>So can a Strucural engineerer deal with a football stadium and buildings ?!</p>
<p>Yes! I think aibarr’s company designs stadiums. Structural engineers also design bridges, transmission towers, equipment foundations, dams, etc., etc. Anything that needs to resist significant loads!</p>