Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Engineering or Architecture

I came across your archcareer blog the other day and was hoping you could give me some advice. I am currently undecided between Virginia Tech and Penn State. I have been accepted to the architecture program at Penn State. However, I then was thinking about possibly going to Virginia Tech for engineering and then getting my masters in architecture.

I was thinking of going for mechanical or civil engineering with the ultimate professional goal of being an architect. I was just wondering a few things. If I did go for engineering, would it be smarter from an architecture standpoint to go for civil or mechanical engineering? I was always wondering if it would be worth going for a degree in engineering and then a masters in architecture, as far as job prospects and salaries, or if it would be smarter to just go straight to Penn State and go right into the architecture program? Thank you for your time.

_________

To best decide, you need to determine what you want.

If you want to just pursue architecture, attending the BArch at PSU may be the perfect choice for you, however, if you want the opportunity to pursue both engineering (civil or me) and architecture, VTech may be perfect. Both paths are good choices, but which do you want?

The engineering undergraduate degree with the architecture graduate degree will take you longer (probably 7 or so years) vs. the BArch at PSU will probably 5 years. This impacts cost.

When choosing engineering, choose what you would enjoy the most, but civil engineering is certainly more directly related to architecture, but so is mechanical.

As you are having difficulties, I suggest you do some more research on the career choices prior to making the institution choice.

Dr. Architecture

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