I want to go back to school.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Well, I had originally written a long post about finding myself, things that have changed in my life, coming out of my shell, realising my purpose in life, and a drive to reach my goal that has been building up for the past five years or so…

But that was all background fluff. Suffice to say: I want to become an architect. I know what I have to study to get there, I want to study, I want to learn. I want to be.

I’m 27 years old, and my old high school marks are a disgrace (I wasn’t intrinsically dull, but I was arrogant and cocky and ended up screwing myself - stupid). I also didn’t take many of the required courses for architecture. I have no problem learning, and have the desire to learn.

If any of this helps: I want to design and build houses and/or buildings. I love using CAD programs, and I want to get hands on. Interior design is also of high interest to me. But mainly, I want to design and construct. I do not know or care what it pays, I just know what I want to do. I am ready to do whatever it takes, for however long, despite whatever hurdles, to make it work.

Now that I know who I want to be, what’s next? Colleges and Universities are different here in the US than they are in Canada - which is better? Are my high school marks going to be a problem, or are there admittance exams?

I know I’ll have to start at the academic bottom. It’s going to be a while yet, I still have to get a SSN, and I want to get a job. I’ve just begun my research. What do you think should I know, Dopers?

Mods, I stuck this in IMHO, because I expect a lot of anecdotal or personal accounts, and many opinions, which are welcome, but if there is a factual answer to this, please feel free to move it.

2

You sound exactly like myself! I was 25 (almost 26) when I finally decided to go back to college, and my high school grades were abyssmal. (2.6 or so)

I would suggest going to a community college. They don’t look so much at GPA, as long as it is above 2.0 I think. Your first two years will be cheaper, you can get your liberal arts and pre-reqs out of the way, and once you have a year of comm. college, they look at those transcripts rather than your highschool ones.

You will have to decide what university you want to go to and plan which classes you will take by which ones will transfer though. Not all do. Many comm. colleges have an AA degree or certificate in CAD or similar fields, but often the credits don’t transfer, so you would probably be better off with an AA degree plan to start off with, as most architecture degrees still have the general education requirements. You don’t have to complete the degree, as long as you have something like 32 credits (varies, IIRC), you can transfer with full consideration going towards your Comm College transcripts rather than high school.

Good luck! Just remember, it isn’t ever too late to go back to college. :wink: (I am just glad to see more people my age going back- I am 28 now, btw)

3

Thank you for the response, Epimetheus (oooh, I spelled it right without even looking! However, I probably pronounce it wrong). After I showed him this thread, my husband said he would help me look into some nearby community colleges.

One thing I noticed in my OP that might be misread by some and I wanted to clear up before I go to bed and forget about it:

I meant which is better: college or university - not US or Canada :wink: I’m from Canada, but I’m seeing that colleges and universities have different purposes here in the US.

4

Here, college is university.

Community college is like college for us, whereas university or college is our university. My wife keeps talking about when she was ‘in college,’ and it trips me up every time.

From a community college, you’d get what’s known as an ‘associate’s degree,’ what we’d call a college diploma.

As for what you should do school-wise, I’m afraid I can’t help you out.

5

I don’t know anything about architecture, but here are some generic thoughts:

  1. Work backwards: look at what a major university’s architecture program requires (if you plan to stay in Seattle, the UW College of Architecture might be a good start), then see how you can use community college as an inexpensive way of fulfilling its prerequisites and boosting your grades. It’s where you want to end up that matters, and a clear vision of the outcome you want will make you an attractive candidate to a university’s program.

  2. See what you can learn through MIT’s OpenCourseWare . You won’t get credit, but you can probably get a head start.

  3. You wrote that you want to design and construct. You’re doing this on your own already, right? A single room, a toolshed in the backyard, a model made of popsicle sticks and chewing gum, some CAD abstraction I wouldn’t know anything about…

6

Community College: Continuing education and a place to get an Associates (2-year) degree: MSCSE, RN Designation, etc. If you bombed out in high school and want a second chance and/or a GED, or if you’ve just been out of school for a while and want to get back into academia, this is the place to start.

College: Where you’ll get a Bachelor’s (4-year) degree. Prerequisite for Master’s & beyond. This is the kind of institution you’ll most likely get a BA/BS in Architecture. (Seattle University I think is a good art school).

University: Often a collection of colleges, the university caters to a complete array of education goals. Some continuing education programs available, 4-year Bachelor’s degrees, Masters, Doctorates & just plan granted research.

Bellevue Community College is an outstanding organization. Might be a bit of a drive for you but IIRC it’s the largest CC in Washington and offers the best selection of courses, well taught. Most if not all of the courses transfer to Washington colleges/universities so you can get a lot of the distribution courses (about 2 years if diversified study) out of the way for relatively cheap and then spend the next 2 years completing your 4-year degree at a college/university.

Start planning from the top. Get a better idea of what type of architect you wanna be, find out where you can get that education and ask that school what they want you to do. Private schools may just accpet you after an interview, others will want you to demonstrate an ability to learn–“go to the CC and get some classes under your belt and then give us a call.”

Good luck! And remember, if it doesn’t work out you can always jump a crab boat for a season of wild adventure in the Bering Sea.

7

Without knowing specific details, if you have some applicable work experience (you say you’ve worked with CAD tools) and maybe have a few community college courses with good grades, I should think you’d be able to get into a decent program (particularly if you included the first part of your OP as your application essay.) Basically, colleges (or at least professors) really like returning students (or whatever you call people who come back at an “advanced” age). Older students are there because they want to be, and it shows in their work and dedication. They do tend to be more mature and hardworking.

8

“Non traditional” students is what they call 'em. And Anastasaeon is most definitely nontraditional. :nudge nudge: KnowhatImean? Eh? :nudgenudge: ?

9

I’ve worked for architects and a (general construction) home builder. You might want to contact a few yourself - while higher education is a wonderful thing, it may not be as essential for this field as simple work experience, at least for getting started (and depending on exactly where you want to go with it).

The builder I knew was designing homes himself, without being an architect. And the architects I knew spent most of their time preparing working drawings, not designing. The guy who was hired as a gopher also did CAD drawings after he’d been there a while, I doubt he had a degree.

10

Good advice. Talk to a few people who do the work and make sure it is what you really want to do. But do go to school…even if it isn’t to be an architect in the end. You sound like you are searching and school can be a good place to put some things together. Nearly everyone can benefit from a few liberal arts classes.

I also thing the advice to work backwards is good. As I recall, architecture programs can be very competative to get into (back when I looked into it, it was two years pre-architecutre, then you applied for the program - with about 70% of the applicants making it - high school didn’t count, but your college grades sure did). Competative programs often don’t leave room for transfer students out of community colleges - or even other schools - they will take their own first unless you have something outstanding seperating you from their pack.

Community colleges - two year extensions of high school
Technical colleges - places to learn a tech skill like welding
Colleges - usually four year accredited schools. May be an extension of high school - may be much more challenging
University - offers graduate degrees as well as under graduate degrees. May be highly challenge. There are, however, some universities that are not challenging (I go to one - I like it - I’m not into challenging at this point in my life - or at least not a top tier school on top of two kids and a 40 hour work week).

11

My only concern about college and architecture (b/c I love school, truly) is the cost. Architects don’t make much money at all, and more and more of the CAD work is being farmed out overseas. Going deep into debt to study architecture may not be a good idea if you want to build homes.

I worked for a good, successful, established firm (we did the working drawings for a high-profile project with Taliesin). One day they announced 15% paycuts across the board.

I think licensed architects were starting out at 24k then (10 years ago).

12

First of all, some Colleges do offer Master’s Degrees, not just Universities.

But, more specific to your field, I think you should know that the criteria for becoming a licensed architect is becoming more stringent. You may need a five year degree or even a Masters soon. You should do some serious research about that. You should also know that some schools have programs that are very engineering oriented and some have programs that are very design oriented. Again, you’ll want to look carefully at the schools you are considering.

13

Here’s an old thread I started that might be of some use to you.

Stranger

14

fessie, Dangerosa, **Caricci ** - you guys all bring up some heavy food for thought. As I mentioned in the OP, I’m not concerned too much with how much I’ll be making, but of course, I wouldn’t want to take all the money I earned and throw it into a hole. Caricci, your post makes me realise that I still want to do this, no matter how I get there. I don’t want to sound cocky or arrogant, here, but I want to be among the best there is. I feel like I could do this. This isn’t a feeling that happened overnight, this is a feeling that has been building up and building up for some time. I’ve come to the conclusion that even if it takes me forty years to get there, I want to do it. I’ve never worked professionally with CAD programs, I use them mostly for fun. Everytime someone I show my work to says, “My God, that’s beautiful!” I think, “I can do better. I can do more.” Maybe it’s just the beginner’s drive talking. But without more knowledge, I feel I can’t progress properly. And I’ll never know if I can be among the best if I don’t get out there and do it. I’m prepared for a difficult journey, and I know there will be some heavy disappointments along the way. I know this. I *feel * this. But I still want it.

There’s a mighty lot to think about right now, and I think I’m pretty lucky, because right now, I have some time on my hands. When and if I do decide to go to school, it’s not going to happen for another year or two (unless we somehow win millions or something, despite the fact that we don’t play the lottery :stuck_out_tongue: We technically have more than enough money right now, but I’m a pull-my-own-weight kind of girl… pride thing, I guess. I’ll accept my husband’s financial help, but no one is going to be carrying me.) Anyway, in that time, I’m going to be devouring more serious books on the subject, talking to people in the business, hell, hopefully I’ll manage to get a job with a company once I get my SSN. I want to eat, sleep, and breath my field. I want to learn every detail.

Stranger on a Train: Thank you, thank you, thank you. The thread is very helpful to me. There are still things about school I don’t quite grasp yet, and it’s one thing to have someone explain them to you, and another thing to see them being discussed and used in context. All experiences, good and bad, help me balance things out. Experiencing them myself is a whole other game, but I’d like to go into it with realistic expectations. I have a drive, I believe I can, and all that good stuff - but I have to stay real, too.

Inigo Montoya: That last line was heard in my head in the voice of Will Smith, circa Fresh Prince of Bel Air. And made me laugh like a loon.

15

Ayne Rand, The Fountainhead

Good read, might give you some inspiration.