Just Do It
By Joyce Selina Love
Licensed 2018

When I think back on my architectural journey, I have to shake my head at how complicated I made it for myself. To be honest, it took a long time for me to commit myself to the idea of obtaining licensure. I toyed with the idea, batted it around like a kitten with a dangling bit of yarn. It was years before I tamped down all of the excuses, sat down completely serious, and told myself, “I am going to do this thing.” I know the reason for this procrastination. The reason is that I could never fully convince myself that licensure was really all that important. For me, it wasn’t, until it was, and it took a deadline staring me down to push me to real action. Let me tell you how this journey of mine unfolded.

Childhood and College

I was exposed to the field of architecture at a very early age. I grew up seeing my father working on home designs as a side business, and I loved the detailed nature of it. I have always been good at drawing, designing, and crafting. There was a vague thought in the back of my family’s mind that I may pursue some form of a career in architecture, but we never really considered college too much. I would just be a home designer like my papa (or a fashion designer, whichever came first). 

When high school was coming to an end and getting into college suddenly became important, there was a flurry of grabbing hold of whatever scholarships we could find because money was scarce, and my parents did not believe in incurring debt. Architecture did end up being my chosen major at Auburn University. I tacked on an additional major of Interior Architecture because I might as well get as much out of this experience in as short of time as possible. 

Career Start

One excellent thing that the architecture program at Auburn University pushed was getting set up in NCARB before graduation. Although I didn’t make use of it immediately as I should have, it was one less item to check off the long list of requirements to become an architect. This was good because once I stepped into the working life, being hired immediately after graduation to a new city and state, life became an absolute whirlwind of 50-70 hours of work per week. There was no room to think of studying for any kind of exams. I looked around and no one was pushing that I actually had to get my license, and frankly, I was exhausted. The best I could do was keep track of the hours that I worked, just on the happenstance chance that I might do something with it in the future. 

Life Continues

However, life continued on and somehow I found the time to meet, fall in love with, and marry a wonderful man. Four years of this full-time/no-time life came to a screeching halt with the Great Recession of 2008. I was laid off, but before I left, I made sure that I had the final bits of my IDP (now known as AXP) time signed off and references from former employers to allow me to be authorized to take my exams in the state of Tennessee. 

I wish I could say that this was the time that I really buckled down and knocked out all 7 of my exams, but that was not the case. It seemed like the experience of not being constantly under pressure to knock out deadline after deadline put my brain on high alert to protect itself from having to go through anything semblancing that kind of life ever again. The truth is that I was burned out. It took two and a half years for me to get back into the field of architecture; and it felt like I was just dipping my toes in the water to make sure this was really something I wanted to do with my life. 

I promised myself that I would not work the crazy schedule that I did when I first entered the workforce, and, when the economy started recouping, my first job was a part time work schedule that allowed me to regularly pursue community volunteer engagements. Licensure for me was not a priority, but my husband encouraged me not to push it completely out of my future goals. 

My first wake up call came when I realized that my 5-year rolling clock was coming to an end and I would need to resubmit for authorization to test. I thought to myself, “Ok, fine. Let’s at least keep the option open so that you can reach out for licensure. Just take it slow and easy.” I renewed my authorization, and then proceeded to take it too slow and easy. 

The First Exam

I took my first and supremely easy exam in 2014, Schematic Design, and passed it. Great! But then I waited an entire year before taking my next exam, Structural Systems. I still don’t know what possessed me to jump feet first into that fire, and I was seriously burnt by the FAIL I received on that exam. I waited a full year before taking my next exam and decided that I would again take a stab at Structural Systems, and this time I failed again. I was crushed! I don’t fail. At least I hadn’t until these stupid AREs. I’m normally pretty good at taking tests. This made no sense. 

So I did the most logical thing I could think of and waited another year. Then, my second wake-up call occurred. It was brought to my attention that the time of the ARE 4.0 was winding down and soon we would all be forced to transition over to ARE 5.0. I thought to myself, this is something I cannot let happen. Over the years I scavenged and borrowed and gathered all kinds of study materials and guides for the 4.0. ARE 5.0 was a virtually unknown entity. No references, no real guides, only guesses as to what the tests would be like. The fear of having to take on this boogieman spurred me to look at my schedule to see how I could use the remaining time, prior to the cutoff, to complete all 6 of my remaining exams. This was in November 2017. The deadline was on the last day of June 2018, and so the race began. 

Restarting

The first test I scheduled this time was not Structures, it was Building Design & Construction Systems. It came back as a FAIL. Frustration does not even come close to what I felt seeing that, but I had a definite goal now. I immediately rescheduled for that very same exam, took it and this time it was a PASS. Oh the relief! I figured out what my problem was. I had simply forgotten how to study during my time away from school and college, and I was allowing too much time in between my exams to allow myself the chance to rebuild those study skills. Let’s do this.

It was an absolute flurry in my mind that saw most of my evenings with me being a hermit with my hubby slipping food into the room while my head was buried in books, listening to audio recordings, and watching YouTube channels dedicated to the AREs. I followed forums, podcasts, and blogs for tidbits of information that was, more often than not, free of charge. I scheduled my exams, took the exams, got the results, and scheduled for the next exam immediately. Construction Documents, PASS. Programming, Planning, & Practice, PASS. Site Planning & Design, PASS. 

I had two more exams left and a couple of more months before the end of the 4.0 era. My nemesis, Structural Systems, remained, and Building Systems, which I considered to be almost as horrible. I took Structural Systems first, but for some reason, despite all of my planning, I only had 2 weeks to study for it. I knew it was going to be a FAIL but had already built in a cushion to retake the exam one more time. It turned out that I didn’t need it because, shock of all shocks, it ended up being a PASS. 

Just one more left, Building Systems. I took it, and failed it. It’s not over yet, though. That little bit of a cushion I had built in would allow me to take this last exam one more time, and the only time to schedule it was the day before the last day that any ARE 4.0 could be taken. June 29th. I took the exam and waited. If I FAILED this time, I would have to take two ARE 5.0 exams to make up for it. No pressure. Normally, it took anywhere between 2 or 3 weeks before I got a response back. I knew this, but that still didn’t prevent me from checking my email and the NCARB website repeatedly throughout the following days just in case something would show up. 

It’s morning, my first action of the day was to check for the result that I knew was not going to be there, and yet there it was, 3 days after taking my exam. PASS. I shouted in disbelief, leaped somehow from lying flat on my back underneath the covers to landing on my hands and knees on top of the bed, the sheets, and the comforter. I shoved my phone into the startled face of my husband, burst into tears, and, through the biggest ugly cry ever, blubbered, “I passed. It’s over. It’s really over!” 

After the exams

Over the next month, everything was finalized with the state registration board, and I received my License as a Registered Architect in the State of Tennessee. At the time, I was number 438 of the living African American female registered architects in the United States and Territories. I was 1 of 5 (now 6) in the State of Tennessee, and I am 1 of 1 here in the City of Memphis. I can still feel that rush of emotion when I think back on that time and am hit with the realization that these stupid AREs made me a much better architect in the aftermath. Why did I wait so long to just do it? 

I would like to just offer encouragement for anyone who needs to hear it, “Just do it. There really is no better time than now.” The time “After Licensure” is so much better than the time “Before Licensure.” There are so many opportunities waiting for you, you’ll see.

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