Receiving Master of Architecture Degree
An architectural career is one of the most rewarding professions, creativity and innovation-wise. Unlike a typical, suit-and-tie, nine-to-five office job, an architect doesn't just stop working when he or she steps out of the office. Being successful in this career field requires a level of dedication and only the ones that are truly passionate about building design can ultimately survive the everyday demands of this profession.
An undergraduate degree in architecture, to a certain level, begins preparing a student for the trials and challenges of an architectural career. Gently easing into it with preparatory courses, an architecture major quickly reveals itself to be one of the most time-consuming and demanding tracks in college. During the first couple of years, more than a half of students who initially express their interest in architecture decide that this major is not for them. Those that are left to continue on usually make a decision to stay in it for a long haul.
After completing all of the requirements, an acquired undergraduate degree can open up a number of doors into entry-level positions at design firms. While many people decide to stop there and not go on to graduate school, many more choose to deepen their broad knowledge and research skills and apply to graduate schools to receive the title of "Master of Architecture." Before choosing this path, of course, one must be aware of the benefits and ramifications of continuing on this particular scholarly track.
1. What is the ultimate goal behind receiving a master's degree in architecture?
If money is your ultimate priority and if you are currently happy with your position at a design firm or if you do not require a higher level of education to advance to a higher-paying position, then it is worth looking for other reasons, if any, why graduate school education is worth your time. Most degrees require anywhere from one to as many as seven years in school and if you do not have a specific goal set when applying for grad schools, if may be worthwhile just not applying at all.
2. Are you self-motivated?
While in undergraduate school, many architectural projects were set up according to specific requirements and deadlines. Every student was expected to attain a certain level of excellence, as set by the curriculum and professors, and everyone was expected to read the same things, research the same buildings, participate in the same class discussions.
A graduate school is, mostly, what you make of it. Certain goals and restrictions are still in place as far as the amount of work that is expected from each student each semester or quarter. However, how deep you want to go into your field of interest is entirely up to you. Professors provide that backbone needed to get a solid start on the research and they often provide valuable support and encouragement, but if you don't put in your amount of work into your project, you will quickly find out that the only person who most readily suffers from the lack of enthusiasm and dedication is you yourself.
3. Are you willing to make sacrifices?
While most of your friends may be out drinking on Friday night, you might have to stay up in studio and resolve the latest project's elevations. While your crush may be out with someone else on a hot date, you might have to set aside your jealousy in order to concentrate on researching the latest biomimic techniques for a sustainable structure. Architecture must often come first, before all the social obligations. It is not to say that a social life cannot possibly coexist with your graduate studies in architecture, but it is to warn that, on occasions, a typical social butterfly-type personality might suffer more than the others from the lack of human interaction outside of his or her studio. If an active social life is a priority, then get the partying out of your system first, and come back to graduate school in couple of years.
4. Are you prepared to take criticism?
In undergraduate school, reviews can often be harsh, even brutal when it comes to judging students' final architectural projects. In graduate school, the art of critique is taken to a whole another level. As your design aesthetics and understandings mature, expectations of more skill, thought and reasoning are all grounds for more in-depth, more probing criticisms. You are now judged more as a peer than as a student, so while you may feel that you are now entitled to a certain level of respect, you should also be prepared to hear some stinging negative responses, if your design is lacking in any of its components, structural or conceptual.
5. Do you want to do work/research in an academic setting?
Many firms are very responsive to the needs of their employees who feel like they want to concentrate on a certain topic of research in architecture in their day-to-day work. Usually, if the firms are aware of such aspirations of their employees, they will try and accommodate their research-based desires and provide opportunities to work on projects that may, more or less, relate to their inquiries. If you feel like your firm is willing to give you the opportunity for creativity and allow you a level of freedom to do research, maybe this setting is more suitable for you than an academic environment. In other words, while without the benefits of obtaining an official title of "master of architecture", it is still possible to do the research and work comparable to that conducted in graduate school.
6. Are you willing to work in a collaborative environment?
This may sound like a basic question, but the truth of the matter is that a lot of graduate studios in architecture are highly collaborative and require a tremendous amount of joint work to complete a project. If you feel like you don't work well in a group setting or if you simply don't want to immerse yourself in a work environment with a bunch of strangers, you may want to find out about the nature of studio work you will be doing prior to applying to a graduate school. While curriculums differ from school to school, a great emphasis is most often placed on collaborative work as it is a basis for a real design firm environment.
7. Do you enjoy challenging work?
A trick question, as it may be, as challenging work to some can be engaging work to others, it is still a question worth asking before embarking on a graduate journey in architecture. A challenge can come in a form of looking at a seemingly simple problem is a new light and coming up with new solutions to a seemingly mundane problem. In architecture, there is always more to a given project than meets the eye. However, if you can motivate yourself and organise your time well, there are many rewards to be had as well.
The above points may have scared you into rethinking your next career step. Good - because they weren't meant to sugarcoat a graduate architectural experience and create an illusion that it is a mere walk in the park. Coming in terms with expectations and preparing a working strategy is a way of setting yourself up for a successful graduate career in the long run. Going in without expectations and hoping to wing it, on the other hand, may be as good as burning your hard earned money on the open fire. To restate it once again, an architectural career is a lot of hard work, but the friendships, connections, decisions and designs you will come up with while pulling your all-nighters will, without a doubt, change your life for the better and forever.
