| Why Study Architecture at HWS? | ||||
| Why should a student study architecture at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, a "fiercely liberal arts " college? | ||||
| There are several ways to become an architect, but all require a professional degree in architecture. The undergraduate professional degree is the five-year Bachelor of Architecture (BArch), while the graduate professional degree is the two to three-year Master of Architecture (MArch). At the undergraduate level, students interested in becoming architects must choose between: | ||||
| 1. A five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree at a large university, | ||||
| or | ||||
| 2. A four-year architecture major at a liberal arts college like Hobart & William Smith, followed by three years of Graduate Architecture school. | ||||
| What is the difference between the two approaches? | ||||
| Simple: do you want to be an architect, or do you want to work for an architect? | ||||
| With a five Bachelor of Architecture degree, students are trained to perform specific tasks, like drafting. When they graduate, they are ready to work for an architect. | ||||
| But architecture isn't about skills-training. It's about coming up with answers for which there aren't even any questions yet. The best preparation for an aspiring architect is to learn how to learn, and develop a sense of adaptability, and not have to be told what to do and how to do it. | ||||
| With a liberal arts major in architecture, you can pursue a graduate Master of Architecture degree, and be an architect, not just work for one. | ||||
| Its the difference between someone who is trained to perform predetermined tasks and someone who can think for themselves, and be trusted to shape our environment. That is what you will learn at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. | ||||
| The architect of the future cannot be "trained" in the skills of yesterday and today - they will continuously have to learn new skills and new ways of thinking. | ||||