unfortunately, PhD is not equal to professional architect . which i'm still not.

basically, doing a PhD is part of my ambition to become the greatest supervillain of all, a mad genius hellbent to take over singapore, thailand, brunei, indonesia and phillipines and combine them under my flag: malaysia raya!

ahem...

there are two main branch in virtually all professions: practice and academia. for architecture, taking the prof. ar. is clearly a path of practice, where prof. ar. is the highest achievement u can get. phd, on the other hand, is in the academia path, where the highest would be a professor, two notches above phd.

a doctorate holder in architecture means he is an expert in one particular field, and is one of a handful of experts in that area in the world. meaning, if u have a phd in interior lighting, it means that in this world, u are probably one out of 10 experts in interior lighting. imagine what that can do for u if u go into practice?

i'm pursuing a phd in architectural education. well, i cant really use this in practice, but from what i'm gathering now, if i could finish my current phd, future architecture schools will have to refer to me to open a new course, change their curriculum, expand their degrees etc. this goes for students as well. if they feel the school should change or expand to meet their needs, come see me, and i'll build u a case.

that's a glimpse of the value of phd.

so can a professional architect pursue a phd? ofcourse they can. having both would mean u would be the ultimate architectural expert! but that alone would take a huge chunk of ur life. degree alone is 5 years, part 3 would take between 3 to 5 years, phd also another 3 to 5 years. that's a total of almost 15 years! and to do them simultaneously is a virtual suicide .

at the moment, i dont plan to go into practice yet. a glimpse of practice in the early days after graduation is enough to make me go into academia. call me cheesy, but the amount of corruption in the construction industry really goes against my beliefs...

call me cheesy, but the amount of corruption in the construction industry really goes against my beliefs...

Can anyone give me the pros and cons over accountancy? I personally have done my homework, so i'll list it down here. Anyone who wants to help me choose archi over accountancy can do so here

my dad wish me to go to singapore to study, and i told him that i want to take architecture in the future. then i told him i didnt apply for asean scholarship, and he scolded me -.-

i'm in dilemma the path to take after my spm (taking spm this year)

my family is quite ok and may afford me to study locally/singapore but no other countries >.<

as i dont really like matriculation (from what my teacher n seniors say, matriculation is lower standard compared to STPM/a-level) and i really hope/like to study abroad XD

in my mind these are the path i may take, or you may suggest me more?

1. spm -> alevel in singapore -> architecture part1 and 2 in NUS (national university of singapore

2. spm -> alevel locally (taylor?) -> architecture part 1 n 2 in NUS

3. spm -> alevel in australia -> architecture part1 n 2 in University of Technology Sydney

4. spm -> stpm -> UTM

5. spm -> foundation in UTM -> UTM
anyone here is taking architecture in australia? i wonder how is the living cost in aus compared to singapore? i think the currency exchange is about the same, so perhaps australia is good for my mid-end family also right?

what say you?
thanks

option 5 is not there anymore. UTM only takes STPM for degree, or SPM for diploma.

other than that, ur options seem good enough. although there are 7 other schools in australia (option 3), so why pick sydney? not that it's not good, but i'm just wondering the choice that u pick.

Actually with STPM qualification, you can also go to NUS. 

and i would like to congratulate LeoDaVincci that he got the Admission to NUS !

and i thought u said he rejected the offer?

Er, this is a good question. perhaps UTS is the only university i know in australia xD i'm wondering the living cost in aus >.<
stpm science is in malay or english?

----------

2 more options that i missed up yesterday.

6. spm -> alevel locally (taylor - my teachers recommend me for taylor) -> australia part1 n 2

7. spm -> polytechnic (singapore) -> NUS
if i'm not wrong singapore only have 1 poly and 1 university offering architecture course >_<

option 5 is not there anymore. UTM only takes STPM for degree, or SPM for diploma.

other than that, ur options seem good enough. although there are 7 other schools in australia (option 3), so why pick sydney? not that it's not good, but i'm just wondering the choice that u pick.

Archi :

Pros

i. More exciting

yes, i'm pretty sure it's more exciting then accountancy, both work and professional career.

ii. Less common (i do NOT like common things, same goes for a career)

this is true also. even if u're an architect in a group of architect, u will establish urself as a different architect.

iii. I think i'd be very satisfied to work as an architect, so job satisfaction is good to go

i'd say this is true, but i'm sure same thing can be applied to accountants.

iv. Architects handle their own projects.

once u've established urself in an office, it's often that u'll be given a project to handle on ur own, with subordinates to work under u. most of my friends was trusted a project by their bosses with a year of working. i'm pretty sure u wont be doing that as an accountant.
Cons

i. Its a looong course. Longer than most courses of study.. to get a part II, its like 5 years =/

yes. medicine is the only course longer than architecture.

ii. Its a very hard course. Thats what i heard... some people tell me its so hard you'll be studying and doing projects all day long until 3 am and wake up again just to continue studying. No social life AT ALL =/ that wouldn't do for me really.. i'm an outgoing kinda guy.

u wont be sleeping, but not bcoz u're studying. u'll be developing ur project(s), but it's a different kind of studying. have u built ur own tamiya model/miniatures? it's like that. u'll be doing (not studying) the designs, with books as references and source of ideas (no manual like tamiya laaa).

u'll be doing lots of this "learning by doing" thingy. have u heard about problem-based learning (PBL) that is supposedly the most recent advancement in education? architecture has been doing that since 1800s. we are the ultimate problem-based learners

-[b]If economy goes down, i'll go down too right? =((

yup. u'll go down. but i wont muhahahahaha![/B]