Earning Practice Hours

Typical placements include:

• Design firms working directly in your area of expertise
• Related design fields in areas such as graphic and web design, industrial/product design, engineering firms, construction firms, development and real estate, garden centers, lumber yards, and more
• Various public agencies and government offices, including economic and urban development, city planning, and housing authorities

In order to look and apply for available placements, please visit Practice Lab.

Independence Practice opportunities could include design competitions, freelance or research projects, mentoring, travel, and more.

To earn Practice hours for Independent Practice projects, you must petition for prior approval from the Practice Department. Contact the Practice Department at 617.585.0145 to schedule an appointment.

Design Competition Application (pdf)

Independent Practice Application (pdf)

Travel Application (pdf)

Gateway initiatives allow students to experience project planning and delivery through design services that benefit nonprofits, community organizations, and municipalities in Greater Boston.

B.Arch and M.Arch students with prior industry experience may also petition for the transfer of up to 1,500 prior practice hours. Please fill out the Prior Practice Hours application (pdf) to see if you are eligible.

• You are asked to provide personal information, such as Social Security Number, bank account or credit card numbers, copies of your passport and/or license, and other personal and financial documentation.
• You are contacted by an employer that you did not apply to and are asked to provide personal information.
• You are offered a job without engaging in a phone, video, or in-person interview with the employer.
• The posting includes many spelling and grammatical errors.
• You are asked to provide a photo of yourself.
• You experience repeated difficulties in attempting to identify or contact the recruiter [i.e. the number provided always leads to a generic voicemail system].
• The contact's email address does not match up to the company's website domain [i.e. a well-known company sends an email from a Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, or Gmail account such as jane.does@gmail.com instead of jane.does@perkinswill.com].
• You are promised a large amount of money in return for little work.
• You are asked to wire or transfer money from one account to another.
• You receive an unexpected check in the mail prior to having formalized an offer or even meeting with the employer.
• The job description is vague or unclear, and the focus is more on the money you will make.
• It sounds too good to be true - because it usually is!

If you are suspicious of a posting, end communication with the employer immediately and contact Career Services in the Practice Department at jobs@the-bac.edu or call 617.585.0148.

If you have released personal information, such as bank account or credit card numbers, contact your bank or credit card company immediately.

If a fraudulent exchange occurred completely over the Internet, you can file an incident report with the Federal Trade Commission Cyber Crime Division or call the FTC at: 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

Look up the company in the Better Business Bureau to see if there is any record. Note: not all companies can be found on this website but this is a good place to start.