Bachelor of Landscape Architecture???

[Mr.Coleman]

I was wondering how many of you guys have this degree, or one similar to it. Would you recommend it to someone just starting college? I am currently in "general studies" (undecided major) at Texas A&M. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[DBL]

my brother is in his first year of it now and he hasnt gotten into most of his major classes yet he enjoys it...he goes 3 days a week and is here the rest....from what he has learned about the program he stands to learn a lot and i think it will really help our business out

[BrandonV]

my mother got that degree back in the day... its great if you want to go into city planning and such, you'll also need to work for an architecture firm later to get certified. it'd also be good to get a minor in hort or something similar because most LAs don't know their plants that well, my mom growing up on a nursery already had that.

[cpel2004]

It depends on what you plan to do with. Its good for commercial mostly, anything other than that... well you have an issue, most residential customers not all will not see the value and will not want to pay you 75 -150 books an hour just for the design of their landscape. Personally I think being a certified designers is just as good with less formal trainer.

[LTL]

If you are actually wanting to get your hands dirty Landscape Contracting might be for you.

[AGLA]

I have the degree. There is some truth to everything written by each above. It really depends what you bring into it and where you go with it.

There are a lot of extremely successful residential only landscape architects. They did not get that way from taking just the standard curriculum, working two years as an intern, and opening a design/build the next day. If you get a BLA to do residential work, it won't turn you into an instant success.

Has any one ever asked any of you if you were a landscape architect? Few people know what it means, so having the title is limited in what it will do for you. The education and the experience you can add to that can give you tools that will make you a better site planner and landscape designer than you may have been without it.

People will hire a designer to reduce uncertainty in the outcome of their landscape project. That means different things to different clients. Whomever gives them that, no matter of degree or certification, is who they will hire.

What follows is "who do you want to work for?". When you figure that out, you have to try to figure out what training and experience is going to give you an edge in getting that client to find you and hire you over all the other people that are out there.

This is a diverse industry and there are successful people with all types of education and experience. All of them are good. It is just a matter of what you want to do, where you want to do it, and finding the best way to make that happen.

That can mean school, or equipment operating, or hard labor, or managing people, or any combination of that or something else. In every case, it is your skill set, how you present yourself, how you back up your abilities, how well you are known, and to whom it is that you are known that will make you successful or not. A degree won't guaranty anything.

I am very happy that I did it (degree in my mid 30's). I had plenty of other experience in the industry beforehand and gained some very different experience afterward. You do have to be prepared to have a very full school schedule after the first year. Then you have to be prepared to work several years for other people to fully take advantage of the degree.

If the idea is to get the degree and open up a full service design/build landscape company within a couple of years of your degree, I would suggest a different degree for that - a business major with an ornamental horticulture minor.

If the idea is to be a landscape architect, first find out exactly what that is and then get the degree and work for the type of firm that most closely does what you want to do. Then work for them for several years. It is a broad skill set that you'll need to be successful at it on your own. It won't happen over night. But, it will be worth it - if that is what you want to do.

[cpel2004]

Very well said AGLA.

[PaperCutter]

As usual, agla's totally on point. To go along with what he said- I'm only occasionally asked if I'm an architect, and that's typically when I'm pitching myself for a deck or screen porch addition. I don't know how much structure is taught in an LA program (perhaps agla can advise?), but that's an area where I'm looking for more education.

It all depends where you want to go with your degree. Personally, if I had it to do over again, I would've gotten a degree in either architecture or landscape architecture, but I spend all day drawing for other people and that's what I want to do.

What is it that's making you consider a BLA?

Best of luck to you, in whatever you pursue.

[EagleLandscape]

I just graduated from Texas A&M. There are two routes you can go. First is Landscape Arch with the Arch dept, and it's a minimum of a 5 year degree, they won't let you complete it in 4 years.

It doesn't do anything with contracting, just design work.

You could get into the Horticulture department and do landscape design major and you can do that in 4 years.

call sharon duray in the horticulture advising office, her number is 979.862.3116. tell her john wingfield sent you, pm me with any questions. im extremely familiar with both options at tamu.

wingfield '07 whoop

[Kiril]

IMHO, a BLA degree should include a health dose of related fields, hort, soils science, plant biology, hydrology. This will help you see the big picture instead of being one of "those" architects that can't design their way out of a paper bag.

[EagleLandscape]

Kiril weighs on. Well howdy there. I do agree with you though. Given LA's have a MUCH BETTER knowledge of design concepts and graphic design, I would place money down any day and bet that I have a better knowledge of what actually works out in the field, and what will survive. Shoot, Wax Myrtles, great plants, but 75% of them that are planted in my area die within the first year. I don't know how many drawings that I've seen that have Wax Myrtles spec'd. Some things on paper just don't work well in the field.

[Kiril]

Some things on paper just don't work well in the field.

Ain't that the honest truth, especially when it comes to landscapes. This is why many LAs can't design their way out of a paper bag. :laugh: Looks darn good on paper, but ends up a disaster or maintenance nightmare in practice.

[Mike Leary]

Hank & I did one last year where the paper from the LA changed to whatever they decided upon at the plant vendors. Without the irrigation being laidout
on 5' centers, the plants would have been screwed, blued & tatooed. We will
STILL have coverage issues thanks to the "University-trained LA".:cry: :hammerhead: :dizzy:

[AGLA]

I think that the experiences and comments from a number of posters here supports my earlier post. The degree does not make you instantly good or successful. It takes experience.

It takes the right kind of experience to do what you want to do. The education will open some doors to gain certain experiences that not having it would most likely shut yu out.

I would also make the point that many of the higher performing LA's are not putting their projects out for just anyone to bid on, so they may not be seen by a lot of contractors. If only the half a$$ LA's are what a company is seeing, it probably says as much about that company's status as it does about the LA's status.

There are lots of people with LA degrees, not very many that continue on to go through the licensing process, and there is a great diversity in areas that are specialized in both within companies and individuals. The same is true for contractors. If you think about the ten worst contractors you have seen, do you believe you are just like them? I don't think so.

It is also important to know that those who design and oversee projects are getting construction experience with or without a shovel in hand. Sometimes people forget that most LA's are not like the granola designer down the street who just draws up sketches, hands them over, and walks away. They also work with a lot of different contractors and experience different ways of constructing and managing while many contractors are self taught and are only left to their own methods to develop. That is often far more enriching experience.

Its pretty easy to want to think that these are all school boys who don't get out. However, most are very well experienced with a lot more site construction than foundation plantings and paver walkways. You just are not going to have contact with them unless you are regularly doing major site work. Instead, you'll run into the guys with a degree that never got into a professional office and developed past the type of design work that takes them away from working with multiple bidders on run of the mill residential work.

You also have to realize that they get paid on top of the contractor. That means that they can't be competetive in getting jobs that contractors are capable of designing. They quickly learn not to waste their time, so they won't try to get those jobs - making my point that you simply will not bump into the better LAs unless you are in the higher end of construction.

[EagleLandscape]

I do agree with AGLA.
My father is an irrigation designer here in north texas, and all of his work gets sent from la's.

they design everything from jack-n-the-boxes to chilis, to walgreens, to million dollar malls, high end homes. projects that companies like valleycrest install. most of his architects that he works with do walk throughs before and after the project to make sure everything looks ok. i've even gone through nurseries to select plant materials with the la's before.

some are good, some are great, and some suck. just like every other profession.