Question:
My daughter is a senior in high school and is interested in pursuing an education in architecture. A teacher recommended she look at arch eng since she is strong in math and science, and less so in the arts. She visited the Milwaukee School of Engineering which has an arch eng program and is now interested in attending there. I'm more inclined to suggest she pursue a traditional architecure degree. Does anyone have any comments on an arch eng degree? If she wants to head more in the eng direction, should she pursue a civil eng degree instead? I guess my main concern is the employment opportunities once she graduates. Any comments???
Answer:
If your daughter wants to become an architect, she should get a degree from an accredited architecture program rather than settle for an architectural engineering degree, which is basically civil engineering with an emphasis on the structural design of buildings. For example, I know a very talented man who became an architect with the arch eng degree, and though he could produce fine construction documents and details, he couldn't design his way out of the proverbial paper bag. His education hadn't given him any studio design experiences or cultural perspective to understand the issues involved in design. By the way, being strong in the arts actually has less to do with being a good architect than you may be assuming. Being good in math and science implies that she is a logical problem solver and a clear thinker, which are the most important qualities an architect can possess.
On the other hand, there are lots of structural engineers out there who might have become competent architects, but were more perfectly suited to structural design and generating calcs. She might be successful at either profession, actually.
Your concern about employment is warranted but there is little difference among architecture, civil and structural engineering. the starting pay in all three stinks and the demand is equally good or bad depending on the economy. The only difference is perception. Few know what a structural engineer is. Most have misconceptions about someone who has a degree in architure and don't realize what a well-rounded program it really is. Many think they know what a civil engineer is and you will often see ads for civils when an architect or structural would serve them much better. In other words, civils aren't pigeon-holed as severely.
