Student Life
What sets us apart is that as part of the College of Design, we understand the design life cycle of buildings. We study everything from land acquisition and development, to architectural drawings, to electric layouts, to managing a facility once construction is completed, and even figuring out how to breathe new life into an old building.
Atlanta is Our Classroom
The lessons taught in our programs are concurrently happening within live construction sites all around the Georgia Tech campus. And from time to time, innovative construction projects are erected on campus as well. Since faculty work a lot with the industry, students get to visit many sites and learn from guest lecturers.
Students also experience a robust range of building styles and real estate development in Atlanta, from stadiums to residential housing, to prime retail establishments.
Our city is in the perfect stage of development. It’s not an established city like New York or Chicago, but it’s still the epicenter of a megaregion. There’s a lot of opportunity in Atlanta, and often students do not have to relocate after graduation.
Building a Part of Georgia Tech
Like other students at Georgia Tech, they enjoy structural mechanics, thermodynamics, and megaprojects. But as students in the School of Building Construction, they get to work on Building Information Modeling (BIM), construction applications and visit some of the most state-of-the-art developments.
In addition to construction and real estate development, many of our graduate students come equipped in various backgrounds such as architecture, civil engineering, city and regional planning, urban development, and finance.
Students work closely with engineers, or as engineers, and as project managers, and as estimators in the course of their respective course projects.
Collaboration on a National Scale
In the Southeast, Georgia Tech is the only research-focused institute with a Building Construction program situated within a big city. We're also one of the only universities in the country with all of the fields related to building construction: architecture, mechanical and civil engineering, finance, management, public policy, computing, and city and regional planning. All on one campus. The options for interdisciplinary study and collaboration are unparalleled.
Networking and staying abreast of current industry issues is an essential aspect of School of Building Construction programs. Our industry is evolving at an exciting pace, so students focus on creative and paradigm-changing solutions.
The annual Career Fair produced by the Student Construction Association (SCA) and the School of Building Construction introduces companies across the nation to students in building and facility management, real estate development, engineering, and architecture.
Student Construction Association
Student Construction Association (SCA) conducts training events, lectures, and social events. The SCA makes these kinds of events affordable as they can be quite expensive through other industry agencies. The cost to join is $25, an investment that subsidizes many training sessions and certification courses.
Members can meet students from other Building Construction programs as well as Georgia Tech engineering students that aren't typically part of building construction circles. Irrespective of major, anyone can join SCA.
They also provide a mentoring program, connecting students to mentors in the industry. Some mentors are even School of Building Construction alumni!