MLA Applicant for Fall 2011

Jeff, have you been reading any of the posts on this site? I would seriously reconsider this profession if I were you. Even by the time you graduate, this profession will still be licking its wounds in recovery. Also, the interests you have are typically addressed by environmental engineers not LA’s.

Do take a close look at what you want to do and if LAs are in that field. I like what I do, the pay is low and work hours can be long but being paid to do what I want is nice. It’s not a cushy field by any measure, especially the first few years but most of my friends from grad school are enjoying their work.

Talk to the faculty at each about your ideas of a thesis and what your goals are post-school. I went to UVA (’08), they are great and the program is only getting stronger (I was there through the last transition when we added a big component of ecology -hiring Kristina Hill- and integrating digital media). Graduate school, at least from the UVA school of thought, is about learning the essential skills of the practice of landscape architecture, developing one’s own ethics, and developing the ability to critically research both methods & contemporary discourse in the profession; it requires a substantial initiative on the part of the student and a faculty that can help you develop and challenge those ideas. Faculty matching your interest is critical to a fulfilling experience, balance in a faculty can challenge you too.

I would try to defer and get residency at any state school, some private schools have the capacity to offer fellowships to be financially competitive with state schools so don’t rule them out completely – you can also use multiple admissions to negotiate better financial aid packages (I’m sorry I didn’t).

I came to grad school with a sense of my interest (history and experience of place), took electives to develop a better understanding of the range of discourse (phenomenology, theatre, ephemeral landscapes, memory, perception, ecological philosophy, etc), chose to explore specific topics in studio projects (the site, base program, etc can be assigned, but you can add and emphasize a particular part), and spent time in conversations with my peers and faculty. Finding a mentor or two both in the 2nd and 3rd year classes and faculty is definitely key.

It doesn’t hurt to ask about post-graduate job placement (percentage, where, type of work). Our network was very strong and has helped greatly in job placement, though it is hard many of us landed jobs.

Applying for school from outside the arts is perplexing, but the key is to show creative potential and interest in the subject matter – taking an art class at a local community college or community program (drawing, photography, painting, collage, sculpture) could help you gather materials – most schools have portfolio samples from previous years to show, so ask to see them on visits. I can tell you many of my classmates came from literature and science backgrounds with little fine art experience, so that’s not an issue. I also sure has heck couldn’t draw and was still able to learn along the way.

Rankings don’t mean anything.

UMN is definitely a nice program, I’ve had the chance to chat with a few while narrowing my thesis site (ended up choosing St Louis over Minneapolis). Speaking of, WashU has a new program that might be worth checking out (it’s my undergrad and the university has a knack for building strong programs quickly).

I worked while in school (10~15 hrs a week in a planning/civil engineering office basically 2 half days a week). It wasn’t the easiest thing (work hours cut out of sleep time), but I liked having a little extra income to travel. The federal loan repayment plan currently includes an income based plan which greatly helps in the few years post-graduation (it ranges from 0~15% of your income).

Rather than the location of a program, the distribution of it’s alumni can drive your networking – you can always network via e-mail and at conferences through the faculty.

Good luck and feel free to shoot me a message if you want to know more about UVA.

-T

If you can believe it, environmental engineers have it even worse than we do….my friend graduated in the spring from one of the best env eng programs in the country and though she did get a job, its an awful civilian Dept. of Defense job located in the worst part of one of the worst states, not gettting any credit toward her PE’s (the engineering eqivalent of the LARE), shuffling paperwork and maybe occasionally doing something interesting like testing the PCB quantities in electrical transformer oil. blech. And it was THE ONLY job available, oh unless whe would rather write EIS’s for surface gold mines in the middle of Nevada.
I think you have better chances with LA. Besides, drinking the kool-aid is so much fun!