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Alexis
Student
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Do you recommend going to get your masters degree in architecture?
Does having a masters degree help you make more money? Will having a masters set you apart from others?# #career-path #help
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3 answers
Hassan Al
Product Management Professional
398
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Austin, Texas
Updated
Hassan’s Answer
I believe in general the answer is YES a Masters will help you make more money and set you apart and according to https://www.ncarb.org/nbtn2017/education about 1/2 of students are going for a Masters.
To me the key question is what is your ROI (Return on Investment) for spending the time and effort on a Masters. To figure that out, you'll need to do some serious research but I'll do a simple one below.
I'm thinking worst case, you don't work for two years to complete the Masters. So you'd 'loose' two years of salary $120,000 and spend $60,000 on the degree. If you earn an extra $5,000 with the Masters then simple math would be 180,000/5,000 = 36 years to break even. Is this case, doing the Masters wouldn't make sense to me. So, you'd want to do this kind of math with real #s and decide of a Masters is worth it to you.
To me the key question is what is your ROI (Return on Investment) for spending the time and effort on a Masters. To figure that out, you'll need to do some serious research but I'll do a simple one below.
I'm thinking worst case, you don't work for two years to complete the Masters. So you'd 'loose' two years of salary $120,000 and spend $60,000 on the degree. If you earn an extra $5,000 with the Masters then simple math would be 180,000/5,000 = 36 years to break even. Is this case, doing the Masters wouldn't make sense to me. So, you'd want to do this kind of math with real #s and decide of a Masters is worth it to you.
David Raygorodsky 🇺🇦
Sales
12
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San Francisco, California
Updated
David’s Answer
Generally, getting a masters would earn you more money across all industries.
What would earn you even more money is dedicating time to differentiating yourself and finding ways to stand out. You can do this by doing unique research projects while you're in school, or by working on projects that help you develop a portfolio.
I recommend developing your skills based on your passion, if it's architecture, think about why you picked architecture as something you want to dedicate your life's work to. If it's specific design components, or utilitarian components, be a master of the ones that are important to you and you'll thrive. Specialists usually make more than generalists.
Go read about architecture.
What would earn you even more money is dedicating time to differentiating yourself and finding ways to stand out. You can do this by doing unique research projects while you're in school, or by working on projects that help you develop a portfolio.
I recommend developing your skills based on your passion, if it's architecture, think about why you picked architecture as something you want to dedicate your life's work to. If it's specific design components, or utilitarian components, be a master of the ones that are important to you and you'll thrive. Specialists usually make more than generalists.
David recommends the following next steps:
Joseph Enciso, RA, RID, AIA, NCARB, CDT
Senior Project Architect
2
Answers
Houston, Texas
Updated
Joseph’s Answer
Hi Alexis!
From my personal experience, I don't think there is a real upside to having a masters degree in architecture. It's been my experience, that having your architect license is more important. An accredited bachelors degree and an accredited masters degree are on the same footing when it comes to licensure. The upside to a bachelors degree is not having to pay for graduate school, which is significantly more expensive than undergraduate school. With a masters degree, you do get the prestige of having one. As an individual with a masters degree, I would have been happier with just a bachelors getting a bachelors degree instead. It would have saved me a whole lot of money and time.
Let's take a look at how each degree is set up. A bachelors degree is typically a 5 year undergraduate degree. There are two different ways to complete a masters degree; there is a 4+2 and 3.5+1.5. Broken down, a 4+2 is 4 years of undergraduate school plus 2 years of graduate school. A 3.5 +1.5 is the same set up, but with different time frames; 3.5 years of undergraduate school and 1.5 years of graduate school. I personally went down the 3.5 + 1.5 route. This route, is very hard to do since it is a condensed version of a 4+2. Most people, didn't complete the program in 5 years, but 6 instead. With all of this laid out, the two masters degrees require you to go to graduate school which, as mention before, costs more.
All of that to say, if I could do it over again, I would have stuck with a bachelors degree.
Hope that helps!
From my personal experience, I don't think there is a real upside to having a masters degree in architecture. It's been my experience, that having your architect license is more important. An accredited bachelors degree and an accredited masters degree are on the same footing when it comes to licensure. The upside to a bachelors degree is not having to pay for graduate school, which is significantly more expensive than undergraduate school. With a masters degree, you do get the prestige of having one. As an individual with a masters degree, I would have been happier with just a bachelors getting a bachelors degree instead. It would have saved me a whole lot of money and time.
Let's take a look at how each degree is set up. A bachelors degree is typically a 5 year undergraduate degree. There are two different ways to complete a masters degree; there is a 4+2 and 3.5+1.5. Broken down, a 4+2 is 4 years of undergraduate school plus 2 years of graduate school. A 3.5 +1.5 is the same set up, but with different time frames; 3.5 years of undergraduate school and 1.5 years of graduate school. I personally went down the 3.5 + 1.5 route. This route, is very hard to do since it is a condensed version of a 4+2. Most people, didn't complete the program in 5 years, but 6 instead. With all of this laid out, the two masters degrees require you to go to graduate school which, as mention before, costs more.
All of that to say, if I could do it over again, I would have stuck with a bachelors degree.
Hope that helps!