r/architecturestudent

Hey everyone!

I’m currently entering my 5th year of B.Arch and finalizing my thesis/dissertation proposal. I want to pick a direction that balances technical rigor, strong spatial design, and practical site feasibility without falling into a generic typology trap.

For some context, I’m 27 years old currently on my 3rd semester of community college. Instead of a high school diploma I had just gotten my GED. So my academic background is not traditional at all. This is the list of schools I’m potentially thinking about ranked in order from highest priority to lower (FYI, I am a duel citizen so there are US and Canadian schools here)

Toronto Metropolitan University
Dalhousie University in Halifax
University of Waterloo
Boston Architectural College
New York Institute of Technology
Portland State

TMU is absolutely my top choice as I have friends and family there already. I know the admission acceptance is heavily dependent on the portfolio so that makes me a bit nervous. I have a background of street art and murals and some other hand drawings.

BAC is one that I’ve been back and forth with. I think the open admissions is really cool and if it wasn’t for the expensive living costs in Boston, I’d do. Another thing with BAC is the fact that it’s a work while you study thing too, my studio projects might lack quality and idk if I’d be missing out on experiencing a traditional studio space in other universities.

One of the things that has been bothering me a little bit is the fact that I’m 27 and going down the traditional university route I wouldn’t be getting licensed until I’m close to 40. Would going to BAC be worth it to shave off those years of being in an apprenticeship or is the experience better to have?

I’m also going to be doing long distance with my gf as well, but that’s another conversation.

I guess what I’m asking is, is it worth chasing the fastest option even if the school is weaker, or should I hold out for the better program and just accept the extra years. And if anyone has firsthand experience at any of these 6 schools I would really appreciate hearing about it, Good or bad.

Hello, i'm a student from Ukraine who plans to get bachelor's degree in Ukrainian univeristy and attend one of the Polish universities to pursue a Master’s degree in architecture in 4 years. Which leading universities actually produce job-ready specialists, graduates who don't spend half a century looking for work, but instead land a decent position almost immediately after finishing their studies? After a brief search, I found options such as the Gdańsk, Warsaw, Silesian, Wrocław, and Kraków Universities of Technology( a.k.a. Politechniki)

Perhaps architecture graduates from these universities can help me make my choice. I have 4 years for preparing, so I'd be excited to hear your opinions.Thank you in advance!

Hi guys, can I ask if any of you are using a cracked version of softwares like sketchup, 3D rendering (enscape), etc. for architecture, especially during as a student due to lack of funds for a licensing subscription. Do these companies or have you received that you were tracked in using a cracked/non-genuine version? I feel like majority of us especially students use the crack versions..

I’m entering my third year of arch and the biggest advice I have seen here and on a lot of social media platforms is to network but I don’t get it who am I networking with?😭 as in like make friends with my classmates? The thing is about architecture is I have noticed no one in your major will want what’s good for you. Sadly in architecture, professors tend to compare you with other students a lot and I don’t know if they realize that this built a up insecurity within students that they end up secretly hating each other. What I don’t get here is how am I meant to “network” with my classmates in such conditions? In any other scenario like my part time job for example it really is easy to built a lot of connections as the competition is little to none plus most of my connections in my part time job come from costumers. But, I haven’t met anyone in the architecture field yet so the networking I’m making in my job isn’t really related to arch. My question is any past students of arch school or currently in arch school who are u guys networking with and how can i network in a way that might land me a job in the future?

I got a great offer (1800$ cad) to get the Lenovo yoga pro 9i, but the model offered got a gpu 5050, though the screen quality is great and the computer is light.

Here's the stats of the yoga 9i aura :
Intel Core Ultra 9 285H (16 cœurs, jusqu'à 5,4
GHz)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 (8 Go GDDR7)
- 32 Go de mémoire LPDDR5x
- SSD NVMe 1 To
- Écran OLED tactile 16"
- Windows 11 Pro
Nonetheless there is a legion 7i which has a gpu rtx
5070 and an oled screen for 700$ more (2500 $cad) :
Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 290HX Plus Processor (E-cores up to 4.70 GHz P-cores up to 5.50 GHz)
Operating System

Nonetheless there is a legion 7i which has a gpu rtx 5070 and an oled screen for 700$ more (2500 $cad) :
Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 290HX Plus Processor (E-cores up to 4.70 GHz P-cores up to 5.50 GHz)
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64
Graphic Card
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5070 Laptop GPU 12GB
GDDR7
Memory
32 GB DDR5-5600MT/s (SODIMM) (2 x 16 GB)
Storage
1 TB SSD M.2 2242 PCle Gen4 TLC
Camera
5MP RGB+IR with Dual Microphone and E-Shutter
Connectivity
WIFI
Wi-Fi 7 2x2 BE 160MHz & Bluetooth@ 5.4
Design Display
16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600), OLED, Glare, Non-Touch, HDR 1000 True Black, 100%DCI-P3, 500 nits, 240Hz,
Low Blue Light Keyboard
Per-Key RGB Backlit, White - English (US)

So which one do you recommend as an architecture student ?
1 am very lost.

Hi, I’m a grade 12 student, and I wanna study architecture ( not the engineering though cause I haven’t taken chemistry)
What’s the pros and cons for each school??
I live in Canada btw

Hey everyone,

I am a non-EU citizen looking to secure an internship in a European country, and I would love to hear from anyone who has successfully navigated this process.

The legal and logistical side of things feels a bit like a "chicken-and-egg" problem, so I have a few specific questions for those who have done it:

What came first? Did you find the internship first and then apply for the visa, or is there a specific visa you used to move first and look for a role locally?

Company sponsorship: Did your employer have to sponsor your visa explicitly, or did you use a student visa/working holiday agreement?

No-job-required visas: Are there any specific visas you know of that allow non-EU citizens to enter a European country to look for an internship before securing an official offer?

Your strategy: Which country did you end up in, and what platforms or approaches worked best for you?Any insights, advice, or personal stories about your timeline and process would be incredibly helpful. Thanks in advance!

Note: I am an architecture student, but I would love to hear anyone's experience regardless of your field!

I just graduated from a 5 year architecture program. I’ve been at my full time job at an amazing firm for a few months. Since about my 4th year, I fell out of love with architecture. I have always been drawn to the more space planning, interior design, interior architecture side over typical architecture. I am not happy. I wish I would have done interior design. With that being said, I need to stay at this job obviously to 1. Pay the bills and 2. Gain experience. What advice would you guys have for a designer who is passionate about design and not sitting behind a computer in a cubicle working on structures all day? I am able to take the Interior Design exam with my degree to become a licensed interior designer, or I can stick at a firm get hours and take my 6 AREs. Which I am not passionate about it why would I spend that much time and money on exams when I want to be a different type of designer. Would it be helpful? Or should I just shoot for the Interior design path?

Sincerely,
An extremely lost post-grad arch student

I’m starting a degree in Architectural Technology and I’d like to spend those years doing something related to the field that can also make money and build useful skills.
I’m not really looking for generic freelance work. I’d rather build something scalable, ideally digital products that I can create once and sell repeatedly.

A few ideas I’ve considered:

1. 3D architectural environments/buildings for marketplaces like Fab or CGTrader

2. Revit/BIM products or templates

3. Digital design packages for things like garden rooms or small buildings, although I’m unsure what I could legally or responsibly sell without professional certification

If you were starting from scratch in my position, what would you focus on?
I’m especially interested in something that improves my actual building-design/BIM skills rather than just making random 3D assets.

How do you feel about that? In a year I'll be a qualified architect, but I feel like I got into university loving it, and will leave looking for a job related to architecture that doesn't really involve being an architect.

I know this isn't just me, because when I started university students ahead of me always seemed to regret the choice they had made. Even graduated architects told me that they wanted to change fields and that I still had time to pick something else.

I've been an intern and a freelancer for about 3 years now, and I feel like I kinda started to realize that, even though I love architecture, being an architect isnt for me.

and I feel like I've started to realize that, even though I love architecture, being an architect isn't for me.

Hi everyone

I am planning on restarting my career as an architect/ interior designer. I am out of this field post COVID.

Out of touch on what software is currently used in the industry apart from Autocad, SketchUp.

Guide me.

Did you learn Rhino at university or on your own? Should I download an eval before my classes start to get a head start? Did you use it much?

Hi!
I’m starting Architecture this year and I'm looking for a laptop that can handle both softwarea like CAD, Revit, Rhino and heavy gaming (P5,GI, Cyberpunk 2077 etc…).

Which models would you recommend right now?

Thanks!

Hi!, I’m currently a freshmen studying Bachelor in Industrial Design and I want to shift to Archi when second semester starts. I’ve done my research on the salary after graduating Architecture and I must say, is the return on investment of architecture even worth it? Almost 7 years of school and a board exam where you could fail over and over again, and even then you aren’t getting paid enough. I haven’t done my research on Industrial Design so if somebody could fill me in on that that would be delightful. Architecture is my passion but if Industrial Design could support me at the start of my career and be longterm I wouldnt be mad at pursuing it.

hey! so i just graduated from a community college with my associate in arts degree so i have had applied to UW Seattle and Pratt institute but i got rejected from both so i'm kinda lost on what to do because i don't want to waste a whole year and try again next year. what i was thinking was if i got accepted to these unis then i would be done in 3 years with my bachelors degree and then continue my masters. so i would really appreciate it if anyone knows anyone i can talk to or if you guys have any solutions in which i dont have to take a year off.