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While I was in school, I was consistently a C student in my studio classes. This frustrated me greatly as I had always been an “A” student throughout high school and I was doing relatively well in my other classes. I just couldn’t understand why this success didn’t translate into the studio. I wondered whether I was cut out for architecture and if this was their way of telling it to me. I received encouragement however from my dean of all people…
“The C student will be the boss of the A student”
One day, while sitting around and talking after class, the dean came over… he was teaching in our design studio at the time so it wasn’t out of the ordinary. In his wise, if yet rambling way, he started to give us one of those impromptu talks about the “real experience of being an architect.”
In the group that day, there were the A, B, C and D students; we all really knew who fell where and even joked about it at times.The dean saw this as a point of discussion. As he spoke, he made the most startling statement. He pointed to one of my friends who fell in the C student category, and declared that “he will, in the end, become the boss of the him”, as he pointed to one of the A students. The A student didn’t really take kindly to the news but the dean began to explain, and broke it down like this:
A Students
The A student gets extremely caught up in things like theory and relationships and possesses an undying devotion to the architecture profession. It is the constant questioning and endless search for possibility that drives this person, sometimes to a fault. The A student engages in design so much that they often finish too late if at all. Up to the final presentation, their project is in flux.In a professional setting, the A student will still be caught up in the minutia of their projects. Even though they will be extremely thorough, it is this constant state of flux that will impede upon their success early in their careers. The A student will find that his/her best fit is as a professor in academia. This will allow for them to continue to research and foster investigations among their own pupils.
C Students
The C student is generally talented, as you usually need to be to even get accepted into the program. But the C student’s talents can correlate to any major or profession. The C student, however, does not possess the crippling devotion to the craft of architecture that the A student often does. He/she instead focuses on the completion of solid projects so that they can tend to other aspects of life outside of studio. In effect, the C student does what is necessary to get the job done.
The C student is about efficiency and productivity. While their designs may not be as innovative as the A student, their talents will lend more towards successful completions of real life projects. As the C student continues to meet expectations within a company environment, they will advance into management or even start their own companies.
I wanted to share this little story not as an excuse to strive to be a C student, but rather as encouragement that your academic grades are merely subjective and will not necessarily correlate to real-world success. In my own personal experience, I can say that my bosses have fit fit this “C” student description. They were all very skilled and capable architects and had experienced periods of great success. Their work was buildable and generally safe. I have worked on great projects and very normal and boring projects with these people. It is seldom that the theoretical studies that those A students actively engaged in could actually make their way to reality or profession. Even the greats had to work under the C students early in their life.
What do you think?
I’d like to know what you, the reader, thinks about this. Do any of the students reading this post identify with any of the examples I mentioned? What about the architects that are already in the working world? Have you seen this correlation? Tell me if I’m wrong and if this opinion is off-base or even “dangerous.” If you have an opinion, bring it strong in the comments below:
12 responses so far ↓
1 Roman Diaz // Feb 27, 2008 at 9:18 am
This is really true,and seems to be that way in any country. Here in Colombia, the A students become anonimous designers or drawers working endless hours in the office of some C student who were busy making friends and contacts from school days. And something that is very surprising to me: all of the A students in my class are now working in private or goverment offices, mainly as CAD drawers.
The C guys,like me,are involved in the 3D industry, managing their own starups and much more inclined to vanguard architecture. Is this because we the C guys wasted a lot of school time gathering at the video games? I don’t know but, surely, being an A student is not a ticket to professional success.
2 Spencer Johansen // Mar 3, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Both the articles author and roman diaz are correct. I’m one of those A students, only w/ a C average in the end: projects always in flux, dealing w/ minutia, the details, trying to get it just right, often missing what’s wrong with the big picture. I don’t think I ever had a studio project come out the way it should have, that’s why I still mess around with them today. And messing around is all it is, since i’m a cook now and not an architect, i.e. the professional success Roman mentioned. I probably would make a better professor than professional. I felt that early on, and demonstrated it in all my studios. But to design a real project is still an aspiration. The authors description of the A and C student was spot on. It’s amazing how common these two types must be.
3 Kevin // May 16, 2008 at 1:03 am
What about the “B” Student? I definately agree with Spencer. I also saw a lot of people that were very talented that just couldn’t finish to the point were they were “C” students. I saw other “A” students that seemed to be able to make the right decision and in little time, which I think is ultimately one of the things that leads to success in terms of design. I think it takes a good 5 years for all students to find their niche as most have talent in different areas that will someday contribute to the firm’s big picture.
4 Red // Feb 5, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I competely disagree. There are many dimensions and levels of success in architecture and as far a being a boss, one needs to take in account of what. Someone can be the boss or principal for certain offices and completely incapable of being a boss at other offices depending on their drive, design and professional exposures and experiences. See, architecture is like any other arts or competitive fields whereby the more you practice the better you get regardless of the road you decide to take. Grades whether a, b or c may have a multitude of cross roads its hard to tell. As far as the most successful people in architecture, those work hard on personally develop themselves for the road to come. Don’t be naive to the level of complexities it takes to even completely practice as an architectural professional.
5 Mark Horner // Feb 20, 2009 at 8:21 am
Hi
I thought your article was great and very insightful. I think it also aplies to Architecture Schools. Some are ‘A’ Schools, some are ‘B’ and some are ‘C’. Wher you go, and who your peers are, is as important as how you place in your school.
In the end, I feel Architecture is too important to be left to Architects Alone. And the job of running a busy Architecture Firm is too complex to just need Architectural Skills alone. Too close a focus and you can’t see the wood for the trees, to broad a focus and you can’t see the grain of the wood or the texture of the bark.
6 Chen // Apr 8, 2009 at 11:15 pm
What is important in life is do stuffs you want to do.
I am looking into efficiency and productivity, all necessary part, my short of attention span makes me do things quick and clean.
7 james // Apr 10, 2009 at 4:06 pm
In my school they said the A students end up teaching and the B work for the C’s.
8 i hire A students to draw // Apr 12, 2009 at 3:56 am
yes, i agree, because C students tend to be more creative than A students who are just hard working
9 ryan // Apr 13, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Because C students rule the world (aka G.W. Bush, etc) we find ourselves surrounded by mediocrity and are driven by the bottom line. This is evident in not just politics, but the built environment, and the structure of the building industry.
The A students, from my experience, are able to question things more fluently, are more able to see where they can create shortcuts, yet ultimately do not have the experience to significantly carry out their ideas or alter the status quo.
Perhaps the answer is for c students to think like A students and vice versa…while working together
10 Andre // Apr 14, 2009 at 5:09 am
i believe there is a certain truth to this thesis. C students being more practical or pragmatic about their way to analyse and solve problems enables them to almost ensure a good quality/functional building. they are capable to divide their facultys in other fields such as social interactivity, or other kind of branch in the architectural world, like 3d modeling, interior design, urbanism, etc… while A students are more likely to stay focused at one thing at a time striving for perfection. i’m not saiyng that either group (A or C) is bad or good, i just believe it’s the product of their personality. this is a very common issue between architecture students even here in portugal. I can really ralate to it since i have a really good friend of mine being an A student and myself being a C student. i constantly find myself warning him that delivery day is aproaching and that he should stop fooling around and start putting stuff to paper or else he wont be able to show anything and he says “well if i have to show something that’s not good i won’t show anything at all!”. i personally find this very frustrating because he works night and day and in the end he’s not capable of showing what all that work turned in to. because of that i agree with ryan when he says that A and C should work together, having a practical yet perfectionist way of thinking.
11 sarah // Apr 14, 2009 at 11:29 am
I think this says more about how architecture schools grade than how students really perform. I was a C student (sometimes) but I also got As in studio from time to time– usually from my adjunct professors instead of my full-time academic ones. The adjuncts, who spent most of their week running firms, appreciated a combination of bold ideas and the ability to deliver drawings on time, and graded up for the inclusion of practical details. The academic professors appreciated complex solutions that did not have any need to follow the rules of physics.
12 Jesse // Apr 26, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I got Cs in studio and felt that because of that, I would never amount to anything in the professional world. One teacher of mine told me that if I could not 3D model, there was no firm that would hire me.
I never gave myself any credit in school for anything I did. I had teachers who really degraded my work because it was pragmatic and not conceptual enough which was really disheartening. I beat myself up for years after school (and still do sometimes) for not being “good enough” and not working hard enough on my designs even if I felt I had given it everything I had… I felt like such a worthless piece of crap after I finished my studio classes. Nothing I ever did was thought provoking enough for the profs I had in school.
3 years later, I have found great success working. I’m not an architect (yet…maybe someday) but I work in retail design and I love it. My bosses are quick to recognize my design talent and my pragmatic approach to it. The things I design routinely get built. It’s the nature of my job, but it’s nice to be able to contribute to a field I thought was going to cast me off before I even got started.
Having just stumbled upon this article makes me feel really good. Not for the reason that the “A” students can’t seem to get out of their own way, but for the fact that I really am not a worthless dolt.
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