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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  StudentsThe 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. Is my point way off base? 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.