I am a sophomore in high school and i need help!!!

Question

ok so i have been thinking about college and career paths. so one of the ones on my list is architecture. However, i don't know the steps needed to achieve this.

i wanted to know what classes to take in high school, and steps beyond high school.

i really appreciate the help. Thank you!

Answer 1

I wanted to do Architecture in College and no one told me that you needed to have an art background! You def. need to take as many art classes as you can to build a portfolio, any good program asks for one. Also see if your school has any classes using CAD. Some good programs I know of are UVA, VT, RISD, NC State, thats really it, I obviously live on the East Coast!  

Answer 2

I myself am in the same boat you are in; however, I have been working on this since elementary school so I might be able to help. From what I have learned, colleges look for fairly strong math as well as excellence in other basic subjects. However, it really depends on whether you would like to attend a technical school, artistic school, or a liberal arts school. For a technical school(school that focuses creating architectural professionals), they look for excellence in math and science with some art. Artistic schools(schools that focus on the art of architecture) look for a great deal of art. For liberal arts schools(schools that give you a balance between the two) they look for excellence in math, science and arts. So, depending on your preference, take extra classes that appeal to your preferred schools. One great class to take, in particular, is AP Art History. AP Art History will, as I am told, be very appealing to all three different types of architecture schools. Also, keep in mind that some schools want to see a portfolio of your artistic works. If the school you are interested in does require a portfolio, you can work with your art teacher over the next two years to assemble this.

In CT, I have heard that Yale University is one of the best universities in the country for architecture. Yale has an architecture program focused on the artistic aspect of architecture. Also, in Massachusetts: MIT, Northeastern University, and Wellesley College. In Rhode Island: Rhode Island School of Design. For New York: Cornell University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SUNY-Buffalo, Barnard College, and Syracuse University. Also, Penn. State and Princeton are very good architecture schools.

If you want a list of good architecture schools, I would recommend purchasing the Fiske Guide to Colleges. This will give you a list of colleges that provide some of the best architecture schools in the country. Also, it gives you very detailed information on hundreds of colleges in the US.

Hope I helped! Let me know if you need some more information!

Answer 3

okay, for architecture, schools are going to want to know that you can handle the math and science requirements.

a lot will also want to see some sort of artistic/creative talent as well.

As far as what school to go to, i went to Carnegie Mellon and their architecture school is highly rated but I am not sure I would recommend it to you since every architecture major I know has taken at least a semester off dur to a nervous breakdown.

I would Princeton reviews counselor o matic.

Answer 4

Classes you should take:

Take a lot of art classes, especially graphic arts and drawing classes. Take precalc, physics and geometry.

Schools:

if you are serious about being an architect you must either earn a B.Arch degree or a M.Arch degree and it must be an accredited school by NAAB

I am from Boston so I can only tell you what school we have here that have undergrad in architecture:

B.Arch

Wentworth Institute of Technology

Northeastern

Boston Architectural College

M.Arch

Harvard

MIT

Northeastern

Mass Art

Boston Architectural Center

Answer 5

Wonderful you're starting so early! Just take the basic track in high school. In reality, unless the classes are AP/IP classes, colleges don't look at high school classes because you'll just learn a basic curriculum again anyway. Any Tech schools in your area or out of state are just peachy. If you can get the SAT/ACT scores to nab yourself a killer scholarship to a school that has your major or interest is even better! Ask a counselor at your school! Good luck.  

Answer 6

Agreed on the portfolio-building. If you don't have an architecture class at your school, art classes may help. My best friend went to University of Cincinnati's school of Architecture, one of the best undergraduate programs in the country, and I think the only reason he went there was because they didn't require a portfolio. You might want to check them out.

Carnegie Mellon is good, as someone else has already said, but Cooper Union is also amazing... and there's free tuition, if you can manage to get in. But I know for a fact that they require a portfolio. You may want to contact local architects in your area to see if they could use an apprentice/intern/office slave just to get some experience to make sure it's what you want to do, and to get a recommendation out of it later.