10 Tips to Help You Be a Top Landscape Architecture Student

A run through of 10 ways to be a top Landscape Architecture student. College is a hard time when you have to focus amongst many distractions. Everyone wants to do well and make his or her time in university worth it. But most of us are so busy either procrastinating or neck deep in our work that we forget to stop, breath, look around and see that there may be a better way of doing things. Ways to make us more efficient at getting things done and achieving better results. While some of these tips may be obvious to some of you, we can all use a little reminder from time to time, and ultimately the real question is, why aren’t you doing them?

Top Landscape Architecture Student

Here are 10 top tips to help you get there:

10. Ask Questions One of the most important aspects of learning is your own curiosity. It fuels motivation and helps you come up with alternatives that may not have been thought of before. Questions will push your conversations to the next level of thinking and make you stand out as you strive to be at the top of your game. Your professors and peers will appreciate this enthusiasm. 9. Manage Your Time The one skill that can multiply your productivity and creativity is time management. You can be the best at what you do, but if you don’t manage your time effectively, you won’t produce anything. You have to push yourself to do this; it is not something that just happens. Get up in the morning and set goals for the day, then plan out how you will accomplish them. Nothing goes exactly as planned, but if you have a list of what you need to do, it becomes less overwhelming and you will be more inclined to do it. 8. Stay Organized A creative mind is cluttered. However, you still need to have some sense of organization. School demands so many different things and you need to keep track of them. Stay on top of your work in whatever way works for you. A planner is always helpful, as is making to-do lists or setting reminders. Keep your desk and room in shape so you know where everything is. This will pay off during midterms and finals. A great time managment online organisational resource can be found at simpleology.com WATCH: Simpleology

  7. Don’t Be Afraid Push the boundaries of what you are assigned to do. Take risks and don’t be afraid. This is the only way you can achieve greatness and not get stuck in what everyone else is expecting you to do. The studio can be overwhelming, but push past your preconceptions and motivate yourself to take on the challenge. Don’t be afraid of failure — nobody is born a great designer. Allow yourself to be a beginner and make mistakes, and you will be rewarded. Related Articles: 

• 5 Cities a Landscape Architecture Student Should Visit and Why
• 10 Mistakes Every Landscape Architecture Student Makes and How to Avoid Them
• 7 Things You Should Never do as a Landscape Architecture Student!

6. Connect with People Your education should go beyond your classes. Talk and connect with your professors and classmates to get the most out of this experience. Take the time to ask them about your interests, and they most likely will help you. These connections will become the people you go to when you are stuck, looking for advice, or seeking job references. Find that person (or people) that you can turn to, and allow them into your life. 5. Get Your Hands Dirty Hands-on learning is very rewarding. The rigor and flexibility of studio gives you a great opportunity to work hands-on, in a way that students in a lot of other majors can’t. Go on-site visits as often as you can! Find innovative ways to do field work that will push your design to the next level. Analysis of your site will focus your design and make it that much more applicable. This is a great skill to have because it is what happens in the real world. We work on real sites and have to respond to their existing conditions, so cultivate your ability to do this now! 4. Get Involved in Something — Anything Don’t waste the free time you have; use it to lift yourself to the next level of learning and experience. The field of landscape architecture is broad, and you need to put yourself out there to find where your interests lie. Volunteer in your community, visit firms, or talk to people in your college. Find internships that excite you and apply to all of them. These experiences will help you decide your future career path, and that is why we are in school, isn’t it?

3. Layer, Layer, Layer Design is iterative; you never come up with a solution on the first try. You have to research, test, and repeat. Keep layering information until you physically can’t anymore. It will give you a holistic view of the problem and help you come to an informed solution. Analyze the processes at work and how they work as separate entities, as well as together. Design alternatives that you think may fit into these systems, then test how they actually work. Take the information you learn from this process and use it to come up with even better alternatives, then test those. Prove that your solution is the best! This way of working will give you the confidence to defend your designs. 2. Stay Inspired Let go of any pressures you may have to be creative and dive into problems without any preconceptions. Take a step back and look at your work from another angle. Take an inspiration break, then come back to your work with fresh eyes. It is easy to get stuck in a rut, but push yourself to see with a different perspective and stay inspired. Do this by staying informed about the exciting innovations in the field, taking a walk outside, visiting a local firm, or even talking with somebody who interests you. Take the time to step back and realize that you are in a great field and the work we do is amazing. 1. Love What You Do … Or Leave Landscape architecture is an exciting field with so many opportunities to explore. We are leaders and thinkers who collaborate with other professions to push the boundaries of what is expected to come up with solutions that are unprecedented. If your major does not excite you, something is wrong. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t be a top student. The studio is often overwhelming, but in the end, you should love it. We do amazing things that you should build upon, not take a back seat. Push yourself to be amazing, and you will be. – It is hard to be a top student, but if you stay on top of your game, it is possible! If you ever feel overwhelmed, look back at this article and do something different in your work. Which tip is the most applicable to your experience in college? Article by Nick Shannon

Recommended Reading:

• Landscape Architecture: An Introduction by Robert Holden
• Landscape Architecture, Fifth Edition: A Manual of Environmental Planning and Design by Barry Starke

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