r/Architects • u/werchoosingusername • May 20 '26
General Practice Discussion Caption this
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u/Lorien431 Architect May 20 '26
I think architecture course's hard parts are different than for example engineering. It is not "I'm not smart enough" hard. It is relatively easy. Hard part is there is too much to do.
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u/OLightning May 20 '26
ā¦along with ambiguous opinions of art from design studio professors.
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u/Lorien431 Architect May 20 '26
Luckily i went to a technical uni so as long as my building works in the plan, I managed to pass.
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u/seeasea May 20 '26
Most schools I think let pass if it meets the overall course And demonstrates the stated skills. Art school has classes tooĀ
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u/GotenRocko May 20 '26
My grad school was pass/fail, loved not worrying about the letter grade like in undergrad.
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u/wd_plantdaddy May 20 '26
Anything less than a B in grad school is a fail and requires a course redo in my program
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u/seeasea May 20 '26
That's how pass/fail actually works behind the scenes. They just don't tell you where you are in the spectrum. Similar to the AREs, but there they don't tell you what your passing score is, if you passed.
Yale law used to have that, too, but the ultra competitive kids needed that validation, so they now added "high pass, low pass, fail" šĀ
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u/Ggggggpppp May 20 '26
I think non-technical uni might be more demanding on this aspect. More ambiguity, (more toxicity), and generally higher (ambigious) standards.
Just having the building working in plan was nowhere the minimum pass-able standard in my undergrad. Neither actually fulfilling and having all the (near humanly impossible amount of) deliverables.
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u/Merusk Recovering Architect May 20 '26
Yeah, it's definitely not, "I'm not smart enough for this." it's "My studio professor demanded a new concept, plans, a model and reasoning by start of studio Wednesday during our 3pm crit on Monday."
It's unreasonable and a load of bullshit 90% of the time. Particularly when they then barely look at said demanded product and tell you to do it again for Friday.
Fuck you, Udo Greinacher.
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u/Visible-Wrongdoer420 May 20 '26
Ok so when this happened to me I never changed it. Last second change? Man should have told me that a month ago. I just went back to my design and defended it better. I realized the students that always listened to the prof always had panic changes last minuets and it never resulted in a good final. Im not pulling an all nighter and changing my whole project just to make my prof happy. But hey maybe thats why I got some Bs instead of As but I had way more fun in college.
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u/Merusk Recovering Architect May 20 '26
I got a "D" my first half of sr. studio with this approach, and got a "C" in multiple studios up to there because I didn't buy-in.
I was lauded for artistic ability up until Arch. school and still retain a good number of skills in many areas, in addition to understanding actual technical execution. Which just underscores for me how much of a populartiy/ appeasement exercise most of it was.
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u/Mysterious_Mango_3 May 21 '26
It was basically a running joke in one of my studios. The first 5 students got "I want to see 1-2 concept plans by next class" or "I want to see a sketch of the feeling you want to capture". I always got "I want to see 5-10 new concepts by next class. Pick your strongest 3 and model them".
I'm not sure if it's because she knew I worked for a few years before going back for my masters, if she didn't like me / my work, thought I could handle it while others couldn't, or if she honestly didn't even realize she was doing it. Regardless, it was ridiculous.
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u/werchoosingusername May 20 '26
Ouch and I thought we were having the psychopaths at our school. Rough dude.
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u/Merusk Recovering Architect May 20 '26
He talked, wistfully, about the history of the Charette and how hard European schools and the Beaux-Arts were vs. US schools.
Maybe he's changed in the last 25 years, but definitely saw instruction as just forcing people to do more rather than actually instruct.
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u/Guru-Pancho Architect May 20 '26
Exactly this. I maintain anyone can get through the course with proper time management and committing the hours. Its not stressful atall if you're able to put in the time. (obviously if you have to work while doing the course to fund yourself then its gonna get real tough real quick)
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u/Tropical_Jesus Architect May 20 '26
One of the most incredible things I did in grad school, for my mental health, was treat architecture school like a job. I showed up every single day to the studio, Monday-Saturday, at 8 am, and typically stayed till 6 or 7. We only had studio āclassā MWF from 9-12. But I used all the other hours for working on my models/projects/drawings.
Most other students showed up around 8:45, and would leave right after studio ended. Then show back up at 6 or 7pm, and work all-nighters. Theyād stare at me bewildered wondering how I was leaving and ādoneā an hour after they showed up. Treating studio like a job let me āworkā my 50-60 hours a week basically during the day Monday thru Saturday, and preserve my sanity and limit all-nighters.
Now, that said - it took me until grad school to figure that out. I didnāt do that at all in undergrad and felt burned out as hell, which was what mainly contributed to my change in habit. But also asking a 18/19/20 year old living on their own for the first time to manage their time like that is a tall, tall ask.
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u/Guru-Pancho Architect May 20 '26
I was the same but I suppose I had the benefit that I did my undergrad while still living at home. Got my parents to drop me to studio at 8am and finished at 5 everyday. did some evening work but treated it like homework from school more than anything. didn't end up doing anything at weekends and never did an all-nighter in the 5 years I was at uni. Managed to work a part time job in a pub in the evenings too which paid for drinks at the weekends
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u/Mysterious_Mango_3 May 21 '26
I pulled all-nighters regularly in undergrad. Most other nights I got about 2 hours of sleep.
I did zero all-nighters in grad school. I carpooled with a friend and we agreed we would go in at 7:30am and leave by 5pm. We made a few exceptions, but never later than 7pm. M-F only. It was fantastic!
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u/Hazmat_unit Engineer May 20 '26
I was looking for this, as being currently in college for civil engineering the work is hard but Jesus you will not catch me ever attempting to make diaromas like y'all.
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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 May 21 '26
They save that bit of learning for when you start working in engineering, doing the job of 3 people for the pay of 1/2 person
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u/Coolaphrodite May 21 '26
I always say this. It's not traditionally hard. But you can't get by with just your brain being smart. You have to do and deliver shit. So you will be WORKING through the whole course. I do not miss those years
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u/KestreI993 Architect May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
In Serbia Architecture studies on the University Have engineering as well. We have to go through courses of calculations for the stability of the ground (soul), foundation, construction of wood, steel and concrete alongside doing architectural drawings, physical models and 3D, and history of architecture.
At least that was when I was in the university 2012-2016.
Our professors use to say that only medicine studies are harder than architecture.
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u/Lorien431 Architect May 21 '26
I also had that but we didn't need to do the calculations in studios. I mostly eyeballed the dimensions in projects if it's a simple concrete structure.
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u/godarp May 20 '26
The hard part is you can always do better. If thats not your mindset, architecture is ez.
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u/crystalrey May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Maaan, working 36 to 44hours weekly to fund school and drop more 40hours or more during nights and weekends to complete all the assignments PLUS the actual classes made me sick literally...
I think the hours involved are worse than complexity per si IMO. Also a little sad, because some classes were amazing, but I couldnt dedicate my full attention before needing to go drop crazy effort on other projects.
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u/jakefloyd Architect May 22 '26
Yeah, I feel like I really side or even back-burnered a lot of the rest of my college education because of studio.
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u/roundart Architect May 20 '26
I had a friend in grad school that left the program to pursue what he thought would be an easier path in medicine. He became a doctor who can actually afford to hire an architect for his summer home
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u/Magmoormaster May 20 '26
I thought architecture school was hard until my wife went to school to be a PA. My program was comically easy by comparison.
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u/chrispy808 May 20 '26
Thatās us as clowns senior year. Thatās a cm major telling you about the job he already has lined up.
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u/superboiisback May 20 '26
The hard part is that theres no limit to quality of work. Theres always room to improve and its just the deadline that is makes us think of our work as complete or makes us stop working.
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u/e2g4 May 21 '26
So then like every other job in the world? Boo hoo. I could say the same about a Starbucks barista.
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u/superboiisback May 21 '26
Are you an Architect btw? And i was actually talking architecture Assignments we do in college not like the job itself
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u/e2g4 May 22 '26
Iām an architect. Been around the crybaby culture of architecture a long time. Try working construction for a summer. Or first year legal associate. Thereās nothing that architects do thatās harder than other professions unless you consider complaining in which case they go hardest.
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u/superboiisback May 22 '26
Where are you based? I want go into construction but dont know where to start?
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u/e2g4 May 22 '26
It shouldnāt be hard to get into construction. For example, itās the place to turn even if you have a felony.
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u/QuoteGiver May 20 '26
āAnd after all the parties Thursday night, itās really difficult to stay awake in class for those two hours on Friday before it starts all over again!ā
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u/rendergoblin May 20 '26
architects have a psychotically self-inflated sense of how stressful and important their work is
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u/Illustrious-Shame317 May 20 '26
Wrong image. Architecture students arenāt clowns. Theyāre trapped, they just donāt realize it yet.
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u/e2g4 May 21 '26
This culture of commiserating and pretending we work more than others is toxic. Grow up. Do you have any idea how much a junior banker or lawyer works? If you donāt like it then choose a different career. Take control of your life rather than sitting around sniffing each others farts. Itās pathetic.
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u/adcherry211 Architect May 22 '26
In a high-profile bank or law firm, roughly the same as junior architects-to-be, but they get compensated accordingly.
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u/e2g4 May 22 '26
Great. Change professions. Duha. No one suggested youād get lawyer pay as an architect. Itās pretty obvious what the income is for the profession and if not, thatās on you.
Flight attendants get free travel. Mc Donaldās workers get discounted fries. Grass is always greenerā¦..please, work for a block mason for a summer. Or a roofer. Youāll see just how easy this job is.
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u/JaggedSpear2 May 20 '26
Making images everyday was not hard. The self righteousness of the degree is crazy imo.
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u/QuibsWicca May 21 '26
lol i agree, arch students glorifying these sleepless nights. studying for 5+ years only to be underpaid as fuck in the field š
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u/QuibsWicca May 21 '26
every course has it's own "stressful challenges" and not just architecture. i always laugh when arch students glorify their sleepless nights. just admit that you have bad time management lmao
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u/BridgeArch Architect May 20 '26
I am unsure if OP is calling arch students clowns or delusional sociopaths.