When making the decision to choose a major before college, options are chosen by what field you eventually want to work in. No thought is given to how difficult the school work will be or how much time you will spend working on it. When choosing to pursue a degree in Architecture, these are five things I wish I would have known.
1. Sleep is non-existent.
When assigned a large studio project, it is rare that an Architecture student will get more than three hours of sleep each night when rushing to complete the assignment. It isn't because students wait until the last minute to do their work, it is because there just simply isn't enough time in the day along with other classes to finish the work assigned. Caffeine is the only reason that they are able to function throughout the day and continue to complete their work.
2. Materials will cost thousands of dollars.
Not only does going to college cost lots of money each year, materials for Architecture students cost additional thousands of dollars and can cause students to be completely broke. Studying in this major I have seen many of my fellow students spend the small amount of money left after tuition on materials for studio rather than buying food to eat.
3. Your studio will be the only people who see you.
Since so much of an Architecture student's life is spent in their studio, it makes sense that they are mostly seen by the other students in their studio rather than other students at the school. I have even had my roommates tell me that they rarely see me during the day, and sometimes I return from studio after they have already gone to bed. Architecture students are lucky if they have any form of social life because they are so rarely seen by students of other majors.
4. Studio will be the focus of your classes.
As a full-time college student, taking a minimum of 12 credit hours is required, but when six of those 12 hours is one studio course it becomes the focus of your studies. Since studio courses are worth so many credit hours, they require more work to be done for them and often take precedence over other classes being taken because of the workload and the time set aside to complete all of the work.
5. You will stab yourself with an X-ACTO knife blade at some point.
Every Architecture student has had that experience where they are rushing to complete a project or they are just so tired that they cut or stab themselves with an X-ACTO knife while working in studio. It is one of those unavoidable accidents that happens every year in studio and leaves you with some battle wounds to tell stories of to fellow classmates and co-workers. Most of the time putting on a Band-aid is enough treatment but when there are none to be found, a paper towel wrapped to the wound with drafting tape or duct tape is also an option.
It is important to learn about each of these little things in each major to know if it will be the right one for you. Each major has their own quirks to hear about from current students and it is easy to ask about when going on a college visit. Even with all of these different issues and little quirks, I still love my major, and I am glad that I chose to pursue it.
