Cole_Construction wrote:
Thanks for the welcome, I am done with junior college and want to pursue to be a architect. Got some questions, i had a 4.0 in junior college so transferring to a design school should be fairly easy. Ok, I know that UTA in Dallas is a great school, what do you think?
Another one, i do design homes(1000sf-6000sf). What are the advantages of becoming licensed rather to just be a home designer?
Cole,
Getting into or transferring into a Design school is not really a problem. The value of your transferrable hours is often debateable. Certain courses you have already taken may not be applicable and if the Architectural program does have enough elective hours to transfer non-applicable courses into, you will not be able to use them for credit. You will probably be suprised to see that not as many of your hours will transfer as you would like. If you get into a school like UTA, you're probably looking at another 3-1/2 to 4 years of school and a few years as an intern under the guidance of a licensed architect.
As far as UTA goes, it is a good school and they do now offer some ArchiCAD based instruction! The selection of the school you choose to go to is important - not all architectural instruction is the same. Some schools are more Design/Theory oriented and some are more Conventional Practice oriented. UTA AFAIK is more geared towards theory than conventional practice in my opinion. It all boils down to what you plan to do with your degree. Is your ultimate goal to practice in a cutting edge architectural office? ...Or is your goal to learn the foundations of architectural practice to create conventional buildings? Do you plan to become an Associate/Principal in a large firm or be an Owner/Pricinpal of you own firm? I guess the main question is do you really need a license to do what you do???
You asked, "What are the advantages of becoming licensed...?" As far as residential work is concerned, the best I can come up with is prestige and credibility...In reality there are probaly more disadvantages in terms of exposure and liability. This, of course, will be different state by state and I'm sure others in this forum will have differeing opinions.
It seems a though you are a construction oriented person with a residential construction pratice "Cole Constuction" You probaly already know that in the state of Texas you don't necessarily need to stamp your designs...In some cases an engineer's seal is all that is required. If you do any commercial work, however, you
will need an architectural license...I'm not necessarily advocating that a license is not necessary - I'm simply stating that you might not need it. It's important to determine this because the process of getting the architectural degree is a time consuming and often grueling endeavor. If you're currently operating a business, be prepared to put it on hold for a number of years while you get your education and go through the required internship IDP program.
If you currently have your own construction related business would it make more sense to spend these years growing the business instead? If you determine that you need an architectural license would it be more prudent to find an already licensed person to partner with? just food for thought...
hope this helps...this is defintiely going beyond the scope of Archi-Talk...if you would like to discuss further please contact me offline.
Regards,
Dan K
