I’ve been hearing a lot lately about schools. How they’re overpriced. How they don’t prepare you. How you rack up debt for no reason. How you can do without college for some of today’s jobs.

Architecture isn’t one of them.

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A post shared by Marc Sawyer (@wwsarchitecture) on Dec 22, 2019 at 3:00am PST

It’s still very important to have a degree. For one, you’re not going to be able to actually become a licensed Architect without it.

You can become a great designer and learn the skills involved to be an Architect without school. But the license is a very important step in your career. You need to go for that.

The reason is you need flexibility. You need to have the freedom a license can bring. What that license will do is allow you to break free of the corporate firm and become your own employer.

You’ll be able to hang you shingle and open your own firm. It’s important because at some point in your career your going to get that feeling. Like you want to be on your own. You want to start your own firm and build your own dream.

School is the first step towards having the ability to do that. When it comes to schools there are many out there. What comes to mind as the best… Harvard? Columbia? Those ivy league schools.

School is very much what you make of it. What you decide to put in is what you will get out. You can coast through a local school or you can go all in and get every bit of knowledge you can out of it.

Don’t feel like you need to go to the best in the country to get your degree. It’s more important you work hard and take advantage of all they have to offer. Get to know the professors.

See how you can help them. They usually have their own pet research projects they’re working on. See if you can get involved. Getting immersed in the program will build your skills.

When you graduate you’ll have the drive and determination to go after the work you want.