Sounds like a really smart kid, but since my wife has a BS degree in archy, I have not too
good of an opinion of the field and the way she was treated by the UF Archy school. Understand
that architecture is (or at least was) almost totally inhabited by ART student types. And - they
act pissed off at "engineering types" who get into architecture. She was hasselled a LOT by her
instructors for taking "too many engineering courses" in her permitted optional course work,
even though she had taken, and done well in her required archy classes. She took almost of all
the courses for a civil engineering degree, in addition to the archy courses.
Eventually, she bailed out of the school about 4 credit hours short of her Master's Degree because the pukes (profs in charge)
who approved the subject of her final major research project (mandatory) decided after she had spent 5-6 months
on it that they didn't like the topic and would not approve the work. Said, " start over". Middle finger extended, exit
school, work for 35 years as a designer for a major civil engineering company, almost a civil engineer working
with civil engineers, happy in her job.
The point is: Someone who loves math may find that archy types typically do NOT love math,
they love art and are not happy with folks who get "too techy" on them. I think they feel
inadequate or something, but that is what is was like in the 1970s at UF. Might be different
elsewhere and different times, but archy and engineers always seem to have some friction. Archys
seem to look down on engineers, think that their design/art is somehow superior to nasty old math and
calculations that engineers do to actually make their buildings stand up.
Hope he finds great satisfaction in whatever he chooses. People who are really good at math are
valuable resources for our country, I wish him all the best.
Bill