Thanks again everyone for your continuing feedback… Andrew your comments about teachers vs clients are very smart. I can definitely remember undergrad teachers who I didn’t mesh well with and yet learned from (or was forced to learn something from, in order to benefit from the experience!). And from my (albeit relatively short) experience as a designer, many clients fall into just that category. This is definitely something for me to remember in any and all of my continued education. Thanks Erin for sharing your experience. It’s great that LA’s come from so many different backgrounds (as you mention, gardeners and otherwise certified/qualified) and your point about on the job experience is a good one. I do work for a design/build firm now and I’ve had to do everything from permitting to dragging shrubs around to hand drawing and estimate and proposal drafting. It’s been a great education, although limited in its own ways (won’t go into a long story of course!). I’m beginning to think that simply staying on the working end of things (with my current company or wherever I end up) may be a positive way to continue and grow my skill set and design knowledge, while still keeping an awareness of available programs of study and what specifically they would offer me. Of course that depends on what opportunities I come across, but “the universe will provide”, right? 🙂
