Reply To: 1st year BLA student second guessing choice in Landscape Arch

[nca]

No offense to anyone here, but it has occurred to me lately that probably about 15% of the average graduating class in Landscape Architecture should and will go on to practice professionally. In other words, I think a lot of academic programs out there tend to sell the profession to prospective students as something it’s not, hence some of the discussions that tend to come up here. My reasoning is that, without even looking at a portfolio, if you are a student in Landscape Architecture and you are even considering a career in civil engineering, planning, environmental engineering, accounting, geology, etc, etc…this profession is more than likely not going to be a great fit for you, solely based on the fact that youre heart is not into every aspect of it 110%. To your point, I think its safe to say that if someone is not passionate about their craft, theyre not going to be very good at it either. I dont defend the profession anymore and I dont defend myself. I let my skill, be it good or bad, speak for itself. The way I look at it, if an architect or engineer doesnt want to hire me for whatever reason, it’s their loss. Thats quiet confidence I’m learning to build in myself through proven experience and outcomes, not something someone told me in school or a t-shirt I bought online. My experiences over the last 6-12 months in the profession have been extremely positive because I stuck with the profession out of passion through the Great Recession and learned a few things, including how to live lean, and the fact that no one worth their salt cares about your title, but what you can do for them today. A lot of the projects I have been working on are not glamorous, but I dont need to work on those projects to feel good about myself and the world. Perhaps one day I will. What has made me most happy has been rediscovering the reasons I went back to school to pursue a degree in LA in the first place–the fact that I absolutely love design, the craft of design, and business.