Jennifer
Smolka, Ph.D.
Mark, our second son, is a high school junior and we have
started the pathway to college selection. It’s just as exciting as the first
time a few years ago when our oldest son Will walked the path to find his place
at Angelo State University as an animal science/pre vet major. ASU has been the
best place where Will has been able to find the right school in terms of culture,
size and opportunities. Now, we want to find the same best fit for Mark. We are
excited that he has chosen to study architecture. It’s a good fit for this
natural talents that we saw even as a young boy building with Legos.
The first step was to get schedule for college admissions
exams. Mark took both the SAT and ACT in the last month to see which one will
have better results. We have heard that some kids do better on one versus the
other. Will’s ACT scores, which took advantage of his science skills, was the
one that helped him earn college funding from the Carr Scholarship at ASU. After
we have Mark’s results, we are going to make arrangements for a study course or
program based on the results and the experience. We planned on a first attempt
to get rid of the fear of the unknown and just give him the experience of
taking the test. We told him not to stress out about it and to think more about
the process so that he will can figure out his own strategies for how to study
or prepare. He came out of the SAT saying that he needed to work on vocabulary
from his DC English course to help him for his next attempt on the SAT. When
the student figures by his own experience what he needs, it greatly improves
the potential impact on the studying and preparation. Now, we wait for those
results. While we are waiting, we started our list of colleges for visits. We already knew that Texas Tech University had a great architecture program. Since we are a Red Raider family, we know that this could be a great choice for him. Mark has also wanted to be an Aggie for quite some time so we had our first two choices. Beyond those two schools, we started listing ones that Mark was interested in visiting: Sam Houston State University, Tarleton State University, and of course, Angelo State University. If you are an architecture teacher, you may already be shaking your head because you know what we just found out. None of those other schools have an architecture school.
We found a great resource to help us investigate which universities have schools of architecture that are accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board and there are only EIGHT in Texas. The Texas Society of Architects provides all of the important details about the eight schools in Texas:
As we investigated these schools, we found a few
interesting details. At Texas Tech University, there is two-step process to get
into the pre-professional program. The first step is the acceptance to the
university and to the general architecture program. After the first year,
students will have a comprehensive review that includes a portfolio component. As we implement the Architecture and
Construction High School TEKS and assessments, a student who has already had
the experience of creating a professional portfolio will have an advantage
during the application to the pre-professional program at Texas Tech
University. The University of Texas at Arlington also has an undergraduate
portfolio review for transfer students, but first-time freshman who have
not had college design courses do not submit a portfolio.
Two Texas programs have been ranked in the top 20 undergraduate programs by DesignIntelligence. Rice University (3) and University of Texas
at Austin (6) are at the top of that list. For graduate programs, Rice (15) and
UT (11) are also the only two Texas schools on the list. Rice and UT are both
considered excellent education institutions in Texas. But they are both
difficult schools get accepted into. Additionally, as the only private school
on the list, Rice University’s tuition is considerably higher than the other
seven state schools with a cost of attendance of
over $54,000.
There are different
specializations within the schools of architecture. For example, Texas
A&M University has a wide variety of undergraduate
majors in the School of Architecture:
As we continued our search, we found that there are
several community colleges and two year
colleges that provide associate
degrees in architecture and related degrees. These degree options are good opportunities
for students who may not want the big university setting just yet. Matching the
right program to the right student at the right time takes time, conversations
and a lot of listening.
Now that we have our start of colleges to visit in the
next 6 months, we have to start gathering for scholarship opportunities. The Texas Architecture
Foundation was quite a find with a huge listing of scholarship
opportunities for each of the eight schools in Texas. The College of
Architecture at Texas A&M also provide a large
list of scholarships which include ones specifically for Texas A&M but
also general scholarships that would be good regardless of the university
attending. Many scholarships are specific to place of residence so be sure that
you read each of them carefully. (Don’t
forget sites like School Soup (Architecture) or Fast Web to find many
scholarship opportunities matched to your profile).
Our kids – whether they are our students or our children
– need our help, guidance and support to make the journey down the path to their
career choice. By sharing resources and starting discussions with them
throughout their entire high school, students can make educated decisions that
fit with their long-term career goals, personal learning styles, and financial
support opportunities.
Now that we have the exams taken, our list of colleges to
visit plotted and our possible scholarship opportunities earmarked, we are
ready to head out on a few Texas college road trips. It’s exciting to be
preparing for our next little bird to leave the nest and fly into his future as
an Architect.
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