architecture
Hi to any architecture students out there!
I’m hoping to apply for architecture in the next coming months but I’m still wary about a few things.
I finished my a levels this summer achieving A*AA with an A* in art&design and two A’s in history and English literature. Since I wasn’t entirely sure on what degree to pursue last year I opted to do an art foundation which I just started last week.
As you can see I didn’t take a level maths or any sciences and I know only Bath and Cambridge require maths a level, I’m still doubtful that I’ll be considered equally amongst other applicants given how competitive the course is.
I’ve researched rather extensively into what life is like as an architecture student, unsurprisingly being met with people stating just how laborious and time intensive it is with it being increasingly difficult to achieve above a 2:2. Definitely not for the faint hearted 😅 I am prepared to work tirelessly and I’m certainly not unfamiliar with pulling all nighters having endured art a level, just afraid this may kill me off.
Would you say the course is more artistic or technical, in an ideal world I’d ultimately love to become a conservation architect since I’m really interested in architectural history, restoration and heritage.
The unis I’m currently looking to apply for are; Edinburgh, Sheffield, Loughborough, Newcastle & Liverpool, although I am contemplating swapping Liverpool for UCL or UAL.
Any advice would be more than appreciated,
sincerely, an overly anxious student.
I’m hoping to apply for architecture in the next coming months but I’m still wary about a few things.
I finished my a levels this summer achieving A*AA with an A* in art&design and two A’s in history and English literature. Since I wasn’t entirely sure on what degree to pursue last year I opted to do an art foundation which I just started last week.
As you can see I didn’t take a level maths or any sciences and I know only Bath and Cambridge require maths a level, I’m still doubtful that I’ll be considered equally amongst other applicants given how competitive the course is.
I’ve researched rather extensively into what life is like as an architecture student, unsurprisingly being met with people stating just how laborious and time intensive it is with it being increasingly difficult to achieve above a 2:2. Definitely not for the faint hearted 😅 I am prepared to work tirelessly and I’m certainly not unfamiliar with pulling all nighters having endured art a level, just afraid this may kill me off.
Would you say the course is more artistic or technical, in an ideal world I’d ultimately love to become a conservation architect since I’m really interested in architectural history, restoration and heritage.
The unis I’m currently looking to apply for are; Edinburgh, Sheffield, Loughborough, Newcastle & Liverpool, although I am contemplating swapping Liverpool for UCL or UAL.
Any advice would be more than appreciated,
sincerely, an overly anxious student.
Hey!
Out of the list, I would certainly put Loughborough and Sheffield at the top of the pecking order. I'm from Sheffield so I might be a little bias, but its a great student city which appeals to a wide range of students - whether clubbing's your thing, or hiking is - there's something for everyone. Loughborough Uni, I know it's strong in architecture (2nd in the UK I am told?), and there is a feeling on campus that you don't really get at other uni's, a sense of community, obviously great for sport too if that's your thing. Whilst it's not seen as being as 'prestigious' as TUOS, it is definitely a University that for the past ten years has been looking on the up and is now well established as a leading uni in the country.
I have never rated Newcastle or Liverpool as cities, I know they each have a good nightlife respectively but the cities are miles off Sheffield from my judgment. Edinburgh is lovely, perhaps one of the nicest cities in the UK, but the Uni is known for not being very supportive of its students (not a first hand account, by the way) - but I know of many students who went there and really disliked the University side of the experience.
Ultimately, the choice is down to you. What you would prefer from your Uni experience, you are paying a hell of a lot of money, after all.
Good Luck
Out of the list, I would certainly put Loughborough and Sheffield at the top of the pecking order. I'm from Sheffield so I might be a little bias, but its a great student city which appeals to a wide range of students - whether clubbing's your thing, or hiking is - there's something for everyone. Loughborough Uni, I know it's strong in architecture (2nd in the UK I am told?), and there is a feeling on campus that you don't really get at other uni's, a sense of community, obviously great for sport too if that's your thing. Whilst it's not seen as being as 'prestigious' as TUOS, it is definitely a University that for the past ten years has been looking on the up and is now well established as a leading uni in the country.
I have never rated Newcastle or Liverpool as cities, I know they each have a good nightlife respectively but the cities are miles off Sheffield from my judgment. Edinburgh is lovely, perhaps one of the nicest cities in the UK, but the Uni is known for not being very supportive of its students (not a first hand account, by the way) - but I know of many students who went there and really disliked the University side of the experience.
Ultimately, the choice is down to you. What you would prefer from your Uni experience, you are paying a hell of a lot of money, after all.
Good Luck
My daughter is studying architecture at UCL (where 86% of graduates achieve 2:1 or above). She did not do A level maths nor physics, only Bath asks for one of them.
Folio is the most essential element, which you already have from your A level Art. With your grades you can apply anywhere! My daughter took A levels in Art (fine art), DT (product design), and Geography. She never had to pull all nighters. It’s important to be organised, ahead of your deadlines, and know when to declare something finished!
She had 5 offers from Russel Group unis.
Folio is the most essential element, which you already have from your A level Art. With your grades you can apply anywhere! My daughter took A levels in Art (fine art), DT (product design), and Geography. She never had to pull all nighters. It’s important to be organised, ahead of your deadlines, and know when to declare something finished!
She had 5 offers from Russel Group unis.
@SebastianMesser usually gives good advice on architecture degrees.
@normaw thank you! ☺️
@mElena26 architecture is a general arts degree - at least 50% of every course will be studio projects - but they will have different emphasise, e.g. Sheffield is known for its social agenda and ‘live’ projects, whereas the Bartlett (UCL) is known for being ‘arty’ or more conceptual. If you want to know what the programmes say their ethos is, then you can see the RIBA validation reports here: https://www.architecture.com/education-cpd-and-careers/riba-validation/riba-validated-schools-uk. Also the pandemic has also made it much easier to see what the students actually do, look for their online degree shows, but remember these are usually the finished work and often highly edited. Likewise, the RIBA Presidents Medals showcase the top work from each school every year: http://www.presidentsmedals.com
I’m not going to comment on individual universities or their courses, other than to say, ignore the league tables/ universities’ reputations - as these are based on spurious metrics (e.g. the average UCAS entry points, and the university’s performance in the national research audit in 2014 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Excellence_Framework). I would also say treat the university websites with a whole heap of salt… The most important thing you can do is visit the unis you are considering - ask questions of staff and students (e.g. how many students are in each year?), see the facilities (e.g. does everyone have a studio space to work or will you have to work at home/ elsewhere?), and listen to your gut! You’re going to be there for at least 3 years, so think about the open day or interview like a first date!
Architecture does have some longstanding structural problems - both as a profession and as a subject to study - with long-working hours, comparatively low rates of pay, high ‘drop-out rates’/lack of progression amongst women and non-white graduates, compared with say, medicine - its improving, but slowly... One of the structural problems is that the marketisation of the professions since the 1980s has pitted architects against each other in a ‘battle royale’, but which should be - and needs to become - much more collegiate and collaborative!
As someone who fell for every architectural student cliche - arts, maths, physics A’ levels - black polo necks (that dates me!) - working all nighters for days at a time, and suffering the consequential physical and mental health problems from putting my body and mind through hell - its almost a mission now for me to try to stop others making the same mistakes! Where I lecture, we have always resisted 24 hour access to studios because it is bad for your health and, ultimately, perpetuates the idea that the all-nighter (or unpaid overtime) is normal! By far the best way to do it is to treat it like your job - work regular hours, have a social life in the evenings and weekends (when you might meet your future clients!)
As @Ekaterini has said, with your A’levels, you have a choice of anywhere - and the portfolio is the most important part of that (I’ve commented on lots of other posts about what to include in a portfolio). Where you do the first degree is perhaps less important because you can change schools between Part 1 and Part 2, when you will hopefully have a better idea of who you want to be as an architect and what the 50+ UK Schools of Architecture (and hundreds of others around the world) have to offer. However, it is important in as much as this will be your first introduction to architecture (unfortunately there is still no way to study it at school). Going back to my initial point - it is a general arts degree - I would like everyone to have a chance to learn something about design-thinking and the impact of the environment on both our well-being and the environment, and some really interesting people study architecture without ultimately choosing to become an architect.
Although the government is flagging they will shift the threshold for starting to repay student debt (they’re not ‘fees’ in anything but name!) down from £27 to £21k, as it currently stands, you would probably only repay around 40%. While this is a heavy tax burden for all graduates, the other way of looking at it is is that everything from semester 2 of 2nd year undergraduate is effectively free to you, so it doesn’t matter whether you take a 3 year degree (or 4 years in Scotland) or 5+ years for Part 1 and Part 2.
I hope some of this helps. Good luck with your applications.
@mElena26 architecture is a general arts degree - at least 50% of every course will be studio projects - but they will have different emphasise, e.g. Sheffield is known for its social agenda and ‘live’ projects, whereas the Bartlett (UCL) is known for being ‘arty’ or more conceptual. If you want to know what the programmes say their ethos is, then you can see the RIBA validation reports here: https://www.architecture.com/education-cpd-and-careers/riba-validation/riba-validated-schools-uk. Also the pandemic has also made it much easier to see what the students actually do, look for their online degree shows, but remember these are usually the finished work and often highly edited. Likewise, the RIBA Presidents Medals showcase the top work from each school every year: http://www.presidentsmedals.com
I’m not going to comment on individual universities or their courses, other than to say, ignore the league tables/ universities’ reputations - as these are based on spurious metrics (e.g. the average UCAS entry points, and the university’s performance in the national research audit in 2014 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Excellence_Framework). I would also say treat the university websites with a whole heap of salt… The most important thing you can do is visit the unis you are considering - ask questions of staff and students (e.g. how many students are in each year?), see the facilities (e.g. does everyone have a studio space to work or will you have to work at home/ elsewhere?), and listen to your gut! You’re going to be there for at least 3 years, so think about the open day or interview like a first date!
Architecture does have some longstanding structural problems - both as a profession and as a subject to study - with long-working hours, comparatively low rates of pay, high ‘drop-out rates’/lack of progression amongst women and non-white graduates, compared with say, medicine - its improving, but slowly... One of the structural problems is that the marketisation of the professions since the 1980s has pitted architects against each other in a ‘battle royale’, but which should be - and needs to become - much more collegiate and collaborative!
As someone who fell for every architectural student cliche - arts, maths, physics A’ levels - black polo necks (that dates me!) - working all nighters for days at a time, and suffering the consequential physical and mental health problems from putting my body and mind through hell - its almost a mission now for me to try to stop others making the same mistakes! Where I lecture, we have always resisted 24 hour access to studios because it is bad for your health and, ultimately, perpetuates the idea that the all-nighter (or unpaid overtime) is normal! By far the best way to do it is to treat it like your job - work regular hours, have a social life in the evenings and weekends (when you might meet your future clients!)
As @Ekaterini has said, with your A’levels, you have a choice of anywhere - and the portfolio is the most important part of that (I’ve commented on lots of other posts about what to include in a portfolio). Where you do the first degree is perhaps less important because you can change schools between Part 1 and Part 2, when you will hopefully have a better idea of who you want to be as an architect and what the 50+ UK Schools of Architecture (and hundreds of others around the world) have to offer. However, it is important in as much as this will be your first introduction to architecture (unfortunately there is still no way to study it at school). Going back to my initial point - it is a general arts degree - I would like everyone to have a chance to learn something about design-thinking and the impact of the environment on both our well-being and the environment, and some really interesting people study architecture without ultimately choosing to become an architect.
Although the government is flagging they will shift the threshold for starting to repay student debt (they’re not ‘fees’ in anything but name!) down from £27 to £21k, as it currently stands, you would probably only repay around 40%. While this is a heavy tax burden for all graduates, the other way of looking at it is is that everything from semester 2 of 2nd year undergraduate is effectively free to you, so it doesn’t matter whether you take a 3 year degree (or 4 years in Scotland) or 5+ years for Part 1 and Part 2.
I hope some of this helps. Good luck with your applications.
I have conflicting emotions when it comes to choosing architecture as a career. I like how I will be getting payed for something I like doing which is sketching and designing things and having equipment such as pencils and paper to work with. I didn’t really have an idea what career to do in the future but someone told me that becoming an architect would be the perfect career for you since I’m a calm stress free person and that I like doing art with pen and pencil. So then I chose to follow architecture pathway but the only thing that worries me is that the pay is low. I’ve been reading few blogs about architecture and the salaries and all I see is that there are people complaining about the salaries. I feel like the salary feels low because of the amount of work and all nighters we have to pull to finish projects both at university and work. Some people might say if you love what you’re doing then money shouldn’t matter but in life all we do is strive for money and we need money to survive. I don’t want a very rich life like all the celebrities but I want a life where I don’t have to check my bank account to pay for something or check my bank account when I go to decide what to eat or plan how much I need to spend when I buy something like clothes or whatever.
@SebastianMesserYear1 student at bath spa doing architecture but have the option to transfer to University of Reading but from year 1 due to bath spa being in the process of accreditation. Expected to be completed by the time I graduate. Do I transfer to an established university with a reputable architecture course that has accreditation?
Original post by normaw
@SebastianMesser usually gives good advice on architecture degrees.
Original post by Jas105
@SebastianMesserYear1 student at bath spa doing architecture but have the option to transfer to University of Reading but from year 1 due to bath spa being in the process of accreditation. Expected to be completed by the time I graduate. Do I transfer to an established university with a reputable architecture course that has accreditation?
Sebastian hasn't been active on TSR for a long time now.
Original post by Jas105
@SebastianMesserYear1 student at bath spa doing architecture but have the option to transfer to University of Reading but from year 1 due to bath spa being in the process of accreditation. Expected to be completed by the time I graduate. Do I transfer to an established university with a reputable architecture course that has accreditation?
Hey @Jas105!
As @normaw says above, it is important that you make this decision based on what you think is right for you personally - we can't really make that decision for you, as you're the one who would have to go through the changes.
What may be helpful if you are considering transfer though, is speaking to a current student who studies Architecture at Reading. Katie would be able to provide you good insight into what it is like to study the course here which may help with your decision-making, and she would be more than happy to answer any questions you have.
Reading does have a well-established course which has great links in established industries, which you are encouraged to take advantage of and work alongside throughout your studies for great experience and employability skills. However, as mentioned before, it is really important that you look into this carefully and think about what would be right for you.
Let us know if you have any questions, but good luck with whichever route you choose!
Skye
3rd Year Speech and Language Therapy Student
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- last minute interview prep help
- Switching from Architecture to Engineering
- Low gcse maths grade, could I still do architecture?
- I’m not sure what career I want to go into now
- Can I get into Architecture with these A levels?
- 5 reasons to study Architecture at Bradford
- What a levels should I study for Architecture?
- Lancaster Uni BArch Interview
- Is It Worth doing architecture at UAL?!
- Architecture work experience
- portfolio for architecture for cambridge
- UAL Architecture Course (K101)
- Sheffield vs Leeds vs Cardiff vs Bath vs Nottingham
- Cardiff university for architecture?
- Which uni I should pick
- Should I change my A-levels for architecture?
- UCL Engineering and Architectural Design MEng portfolio and other requirements
- Architecture internship for students
- Are my chosen alevel subjects ok for taking architecture at uni?
- Course Options
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 week ago
I can't pick between Sheffield or Liverpool?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Cardiff vs Oxford Brookes for architecture?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Dmu vs welsh school of architecture vs university of WolverhamptonLast reply 3 weeks ago
Architecture at Edinburgh, Sheffield, Manchester or Nottingham?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Can I get into Architecture with these A levels?Last reply 1 month ago
Is the Architecture in Glasgow school good?Last reply 1 month ago
Has someone done Architecture at uni without maths or physicsTrending
Last reply 1 week ago
I can't pick between Sheffield or Liverpool?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Cardiff vs Oxford Brookes for architecture?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Dmu vs welsh school of architecture vs university of WolverhamptonLast reply 3 weeks ago
Architecture at Edinburgh, Sheffield, Manchester or Nottingham?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Can I get into Architecture with these A levels?Last reply 1 month ago
Is the Architecture in Glasgow school good?Last reply 1 month ago
Has someone done Architecture at uni without maths or physics
