Don,
Yeah, don't even think about doing it for the money! It'll take you years
of working and then being offered a partnership before you'll earn what
a lawyer does only a few years out of school! From what I've seen, you
could never expect to do better than "comfortably." All the world's
greatest architects (whatever defines _that_!) will tell you they're not
rich, and some of the greatest died almost penniless (Sullivan and Kahn
come to mind. Wright had land and buildings, but almost no cash).
In terms of working hard, the office life isn't bad---if you survive the
schooling! Have you ever watched _The Paper Chase_ or _St. Elsewhere_?
They deal with training for law and medicine, but architecture education
has much in common with them. Expect to spend about 70-80 hours per week
on school, most of which is spent in studio working on design projects.
Last semester last year, I read about 800 pages of textbooks, wrote about
50 pages of research papers and essays, designed a library and a technologies
institute, and did miscellaneous graphics and photography assignments.
All while being married with 2 children.
As artchitecture students, we are either gods or absolutely crazy---I have no
idea which, though one my classmates insists he is a minor deity...
I just think I'm nuts....
But all in all, it's a wonderful field!
Mark
Yeah, don't even think about doing it for the money! It'll take you years
of working and then being offered a partnership before you'll earn what
a lawyer does only a few years out of school! From what I've seen, you
could never expect to do better than "comfortably." All the world's
greatest architects (whatever defines _that_!) will tell you they're not
rich, and some of the greatest died almost penniless (Sullivan and Kahn
come to mind. Wright had land and buildings, but almost no cash).
In terms of working hard, the office life isn't bad---if you survive the
schooling! Have you ever watched _The Paper Chase_ or _St. Elsewhere_?
They deal with training for law and medicine, but architecture education
has much in common with them. Expect to spend about 70-80 hours per week
on school, most of which is spent in studio working on design projects.
Last semester last year, I read about 800 pages of textbooks, wrote about
50 pages of research papers and essays, designed a library and a technologies
institute, and did miscellaneous graphics and photography assignments.
All while being married with 2 children.
As artchitecture students, we are either gods or absolutely crazy---I have no
idea which, though one my classmates insists he is a minor deity...
I just think I'm nuts....
But all in all, it's a wonderful field!
Mark