WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU EMBARK ON YOUR ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES?
You get very little to no sleep. When studying architecture you’ll become a night owl.. and a day owl as well. Quickly you will realize that sleep is only a concept yet to be tested by architecture students, but for now as architecture, students, we don’t need sleep. Check out this link and see some statistics on the sleepless nights of architecture students: http://thetab.com/us/2017/02/25/official-architects-sleep-deprived-majors-america-61510
Students in other majors may claim to get no sleep… but it’s actually now proven that architecture students get the least amount of sleep out of any major.
The terrible hygiene. Now with this one, I’m sure this won't be you, but trust me there are some students that made the architecture lab their home, bedroom, kitchen, and lounge as one. They decided that a shower is only optional. It kind of hits you when you entre a computer lab at the architecture department and realize that some people have been there for about a week or seven. It's important to remember, you might not be able to smell yourself and the smell you leave behind, but trust me others will.
Little to no social life There are definitely some experiences I didn’t get to enjoy or participate in as much as other college students. If you are a quick worker or a master of time management, you might not miss out on much. This for me was not a bad thing as I devoleloped to be a hard worker and the fun of studying architecture was in the hard work itself.
Deadlines. This is where you’ll start to think of yourself as a robot. A robot that just pushes out drawings and projects like its Christmas or something. You’ll get depressed because all this will become all that you do. No time to rest, no time to exercise or even go home just to wash your dishes. Later in my studies, this started out to annoy me as you realize that some projects that you do in one year are very much the same... So why do 3 projects of one learning process, if only one is necessary? I can’t count how many times we got our project sheet from them and looked at the project deadlines and thought “are they crazy?” What makes studio deadlines even better is that usually all of your other classes manage to schedule a test or a paper deadline right around the same time.
It's expensive. Unfortunately, your tuition does not cover all of the books, software, and materials you have to purchase as an architecture student. Architecture requires you to build many physical models, drafting and modeling supplies isn’t cheap… Much of this, if not all of it, is a cost in addition to your tuition and it can add up pretty quick. Critiques/reviews.
A “crit” involves you to show and explain your design or studio drawings to your lecturer. It will happen that their thoughts are not always kind… or supportive… or positive in any way. But, it’s part of the process. We all go through it and we all survive – and in the end, I think it can make you a better person.
All in all, I won’t ever regret studying this architectural course especially starting out with Architectural Technology as a studying field. Please don’t let any of this discourage you. This is just the honest review and experience of the past few years.
