[Winston Mitchell]

Thanks for all the info everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. It helps to get outside thoughts and perspectives when thinking about major decisions like career planning!

Mr. Wainner, thanks so much for the response in the other post I had regarding Dallas as well as the responses here. I sent you a “friend request so I could send a message to ask a few other questions.

One of the things that has made this process confusing is I do feel like I have a much better perspective of Landscape Architecture than a typical new graduate because of my planning background. The planning has emphasized many things that I did not get as a design major, including a lot of work pulling together reports, research, organizational and governmental processes, (especially with regards to zoning and land use law). So I feel that I am more rounded than a typical new grad (I have also had a graduate assistantship in the University’s Urban Design Studio, which has been a lot of work facilitating community planning discussions, helping to coordinate tactical urbanism events, and even preliminary design/rendering for neighborhood pocket park plans). But at the same time, my only real work in the private realm of landscape architecture has been my 2 summer internships, so I know that I basically am going to be in “sponge mode” to absorb knowledge for a long while yet.

   My internship this past summer was fantastic because it was both landscape architecture and urban/city planning, I am hoping to find a position that allows me to use both aspects (maybe land planning is the way to go). I do understand that experience is much more important than salary at this point, but at the same time I feel I have other skills beyond just design and rendering/sketching, I’m just not sure if thats something that makes me more valuable than any other fresh graduates or not.

Thanks all for the input, I do appreciate the feedback!

Also, I do think cost of living has been a wrench to deal with as well. Dallas rents are VERY high compared to Louisville, and from what I have heard and seen from others, often times the wage differences between large cities are not enough to make up for the much higher living costs. This is especially true of Louisville, which has a very low cost of living, but also has much less career upside than a more economically vibrant place like Dallas or Atlanta

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