More Bang For My Buck

16 years ago

Hi There,

I'm considering a career shift. I love the prospect of getting a Masters in Landscape Architecture but I have the option to go to a state school (which doesn't offer landscape architecture) for free through my fiancee who works for the school. Once we get married, I would be getting the "family rate." This masters would be in Environmental Planning rather than Landscape Architecture. It occurred to me that I could take design classes in addition to this masters program and perhaps still get a job with a design firm in the end? What are you thoughts on this? Would I be doing myself a disservice by settling for a less design focused Masters program? Should I also pursue an AS in Landscape Design to cover the design side or would that be overkill? I don't want to seem unfocused but I'm trying to determine the best course of action here.

PS: I'm 24 and already hold a BS in Hospitality Management from Cornell University...In case that influences your thought process on any of this.

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Comments (2)

marcinde
16 years ago
I think the important thing is to determine what the end goal is, and let that shape the steps between here and there. If the end goal is becoming a registered landscape architect, then I would assume the MLA route is your best bet. If you just want to design landscapes, and at a level at which you don't need to be an LA, you may not need to go that route. So what's the end goal?
laag
16 years ago
It really depends what you are planning to do with it. It will be very difficult to get work in a landscape architecture firm without a landscape architecture degree, if that is what you want to do.

If you want to do landscape design or garden design for residential and small commercial work, a master's, especially in Environmental Planning, is the last direction you want to go in - the AS would be more beneficial along with business courses.

It is an aweful time to be coming out of school with an LA degree right now because it is shrinking from lack of development due to the economy. Many coming out of school can not find work and many more have been laid off. Many of these folks are going to be lined up in front of you when/if those jobs come back.

Environmental Planning and Landscape Architecture both recruit eager environmentalists looking for an outlet to improve the world. While that is a good thing to do, it is a flooded field that does not have a specific position in the private sector. Environmental concerns are important and addressed by the private sector, but as an additional skill set rather than a specialty.
Jobs are in development and developers do the hiring, so it is important to be an asset to the developer with other skill sets as well, rather than being seen as someone who is following a separate agenda. Environmental issues are taught in all of the design fields, so the skill set is hired within those other professions that are also promoting the developer's agenda (does that make sense?).

Unless I was going into teaching, a goverment job, or I had an "in" with specializing firm, I would not want "Environmental Planner" on my resume in order to work out in the private sector.

What exactly do you want to do in the long run?

PS, I am a registered landscape architect.
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