Historically, Architecture is a male dominated field. With ONLY 16% of architects in the AIA being women, this is a challenging field for women to forge their own path. But thanks to Auburn University, we have several women, like Selma Fareed making their way to the top of the Architecture charts. Selma is a wonderful student designer here at the university and if I had to hire anyone to design my dream home, vacation house, or the park that will be named after me in the future, Selma would definitely be my go to girl!
Major: Architecture
Age:19
What brought you to Auburn for Architecture? I applied to a couple schools, but out of all of them Auburn had the best Architecture program. Auburn is ranked in the top 10 for undergraduate architecture. Auburn also had the campus that was most friendly. I knew it was going to be an awesome fit for me.
How and when did you decide you wanted to be an architect? I decided to be an architect when I was in 5th grade. I was always drawing and interested in art but, I also had a love for math and solving problems. I wanted to combine both my interests, and architecture was the result. Because there is a certain creativity architecture and we’re always trying to solve problems.
How many hours a week, do you think you spend outside of class doing work? Outside of class I spend about 30 hours a week working on architecture—It ranges sometimes towards the end of projects. At the beginning, it will be about 10-15 hours for the week but then I will spend 100 hours towards the end.
Do you have any extracurricular clubs or organizations that you are involved within or outside of Auburn? I am involved in AIAS which is the American Institute of Architecture Students. I am also involved in Freedom by Design, a nonprofit philanthropy branch of the AIAS.
What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done on campus this school year!? The most exciting thing I’ve done on campus is the AIAS Pumpkin Carve. The Pumpkin Carve is a student ran event, hosted by Auburn’s Architecture program, during Halloween. Anyone and everyone can come and buy pumpkins and carve them and other exciting activities, which gains support the AIAS!