DesignIntelligence released its 2010 landscape architecture graduate and undergraduate program rankings.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was listed as the best undergraduate landscape architecture program, and Harvard University topped the list of graduate programs in the annual survey conducted by DesignIntelligence on behalf of the Design Futures Council.
Detailed rankings are available in the 11th edition of “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools,” which assesses programs and education trends in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and industrial design.
Respondents from 381 private-practice firms and other organizations, which are listed in the report, answered questions in four separate surveys about the level of preparedness they experienced in graduates over the past five years.
DesignIntelligence’s most recent survey also identifies programs of long-term distinction.
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Degree Rankings:
1) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
2) Louisiana State University
3) Kansas State University
4) University of Georgia
5) Pennsylvania State University
6) Purdue University
7) Ball State University
8) Texas A&M University
9) Ohio State University
10) West Virginia University
Master of Landscape Architecture Degree Rankings:
1) Harvard University
2) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
3) Louisiana State University
4) Kansas State University
5) University of Georgia
5) University of Pennsylvania
5) University of Virginia
8) Texas A&M University
9) Cornell University
10) Ball State University
To purchase the full report for $39.95, go to the DesignIntelligence bookstore.
Also, check out the 2009 program rankings.
Glad to see that Virginia is well represented in the MLA programs!
Congratulations on the rankings, dear old alma mater!
LSU ROCKS! Barry Landry, ASLA (BLA ’82)
I can not help but notice the striking irony of this posting. Unemployment is well into double digits for landscape architects; fewer landscape architects are affecting how our built environment grows in the face of narrowing constraints; growth of the profession is debatable; landscape architects are battling our customarily allied professionals for turf; the list of concerns goes on…
Yet here is a story related to the level of preparedness of our university program graduates to enter the field.
The field they are entering has changed from when any of us entered it, so how have the university programs prepared aspiring landscape architects for such a different world?
And how is ‘preparedness’ defined?
These are questions not only for current professionals to answer but for academics and recent graduates in particular to debate.
The posting begs further questions: In popular/consumer/political culture, who is speaking up for landscape architecture? Where are our leaders outside our insular world? Will landscape architectural practice suffer its own image recession due to the void of advocacy?
Many of us are independently attempting to, to greater or lesser success, scratch out a living in our post-recession world, but I wonder how many will leave landscape architecture for more resilient professions.
Lists such as those posted and ‘pat-ourselves-on-the-backs’ remarks do nothing to improve our place in the competitive marketplace, and I wish our graduates a better fate than nostalgic one-upmanship.
With all due respects Mr. Lancaster, seems you may need to do more to advocate for the profession personally rather than complain about positive comments made by fellow landscape architects. The questions you raised have not changed much in the past 28 years that I have been practicing as a licensed landscape architect, it’s a jungle out there and certain L.A.’s (not the entire profession) have always had an ‘identity crisis’. Who are these “customarily allied professionals” you mention battling us for work? Environmental Design has always been a highly competitive profession, timeless results and thoughtfulness still prevail. We need to do exemplary and thorough work within our discipline and worry more about those individuals who do not have the credentials nor license to practice who are out there diminishing the respect of landscape architects, not alienating and offending our fellow design colleagues or their pride in the incredible education they feel they have received.
Nostalgic or not, postings such as this ranking improve our place in the competitive marketplace via the www.
Our future leaders are the students who are enrolled in the highly ranked institutions mentioned above. Hopefully they won’t be trapped in the insular “box” you speak of upon graduation, I certainly didn’t buy into that after graduating and throughout my career. I am glad I didn’t get stuck in a negative sad-sack mire about my profession. Good Luck.
Still feel the same way?
How many graduates, from these highly ranked universities, are unable to now find jobs?
They don’t have the experience. A LOT of very good, very experienced Landscape Architects that LOVE the profession are out of work and will not be finding any work soon. If there is a job opening it won’t go the graduate of one of these highly ranked universities unless they have 10 years of experience in the profession and can bring $$$$ to the firm hiring.
12 job openings on ASLA today. None for entry-level positions.
Sad.
Hope and Change.
No west coast schools? Kind of hard to compare when it seems regionally based. It would be interesting to see which program has the most variety of classes, i.e. strongest curriculum.
I entered the profession 2 years ago and found a job with a prestigious firm and have managed to retain it. As universities inculcate the value of flexible design solutions, so too must they stress the importance of flexible skillsets in changing markets. Although I did not graduate from a top ten graduate program, I have won and retained my job successfully through the combination of my undergraduate, graduate and professional experience, not because I went to Harvard or eh em, LSU. I am a leader not because of the name tag on my degree, but because of the effort and discipline I put into my work.
For Mr. Landry to defend his “high-five” position for his alma mater’s rank and consider Mr. Lancaster’s comment negative is short-sighted and unfortunate to say the least. Graduate programs should be tasked with developing curricula centered on the effects of our changing environs so that students can leave better prepared.
I believe graduate programs should be ranked to improve quality in a competitive marketplace. However, graduates from the above schools are struggling just like my former classmates in finding and retaining jobs; I know because I work(ed) with them. Mr. Lancaster was not “complaining” as much as he was catalyzing a discourse that is much needed.
I am a recent graduate of Utah State University and the only one of my class to graduate with departmental and university honors. I worked for the university housing department as the housing landscape designer/planner for all of my senior year and luckily still have that job. I feel like I’m a very qualified candidate for a “real” job, but I can’t even get an interview. I am willing to move anywhere and have applied for multiople positions accross the entire United States.
It is so extremely frustrating for those of us comming into the field full of hopes and aspirations of becoming great landscape architects and not even being able to land a call back let alone an interview or a heaven sent job.
I love landscape architecture, but I am getting really discouraged.
I totally understand Mr. Lancaster’s post, but I hope for a better future of our life changing profession.
As a 2010 graduate in a similar boat as Jeremy, I also find myself applying for the handful of entry level jobs that have opened up across the country. I too was at the top of my class, and also won numerous prestigious national recognition and awards, yet haven’t received one call back. I too love the field but am wondering if I will be waiting tables for years to come as my LA skills slowly fade away from not being utilized. I didn’t need to rack up $50,000 in education to learn skills that apparently aren’t wanted in this country.
I know that it is tough times for a lot of new graduates out there, but LA seems to be hit especially hard. I see new job postings everyday across the country, but it is rare that they are seeking entry level. The only individuals yet to find work in my class are those that were working in the field before graduation and all but one of those are summer internships that are ending in a month. My graduating class size was 30 people. And of the 24 graduates from last year only 5 have found work thus far.
This seems to me a reflection of the values of the American public. Money will be spent where they feel it is important. Ecological restoration, environmental education, and recreational outdoor spaces are not what this country holds near and dear to their hearts. Most are not even educated enough to realize that their very existence depends on the natural resources they exploit and take for granted. I for one am not surprised at this turn of events. I will continue to fight the good fight, even if that means personal financial ruin, because my morals mean more to me than money. Otherwise I’d be doing the very thing that has caused this problem.
What I don’t understand is the idea that a firm looking to hire is willing to pay big bucks to someone with experience when they could employ someone entry level and pay half the salary AND get to mold them into what they’d like. I guess experience means everything and potential means nothing. How exactly did those people get experience and how are we supposed to get experience as new graduates when nobody will even consider giving a new graduate a chance?
Hope and Change Green Guru!
Just hope. Just hope. Yes we Can!
The wealthy fuel our profession. They are called “clients”.
Hope and Changers hate the wealthy. Don’t forget that.
They hate “architects” because they suck off the tit of the wealthy. Don’t forget that. They hate you.
Did you vote against yourself?
You have no experience. You have a great degree.
You can’t get registered without experience.
Awards mean nothing when you can’t practice as a
“Landscape Architect”, and you can not. You need those 3 crucial years of experience under a Landscape Architect. You can’t get them now. It might be 5 years before you land your first job. The economy won’t come around like it was before then. Mark my words. But just Hope and Change man! It’s all you need.
You learned very little in school. The real world is much different than what they they “teach” in school. The Principles/Partners of the companies that are surviving don’t care about you. They don’t want to spend the time “molding” you. They want you to already be “molded”. There are thousands of excellent licensed “Landscape Architects” that are out of work. They went to the high quality schools also.
How do you now stand a chance against them? You don’t. They will kill for that entry level position and don’t have to be baby sat. They have more skills and knowledge than you do. Ohhh…that Hope and Change.
You have never been through the entire process of a project. Never assembled a full package of construction documents. Never submitted a bid package. Never been through an approvals process. Never observed construction to the final punch list. Thousands of people that have and know exactly how to do these things expertly are unemployed.
Yes We Can!
They will kill for that entry level position and don’t have to be baby sat.
Really? For $35,000 a year? That’s pretty damn sad. I can make that much waiting tables. I made way more than that in my previous career. But this isn’t really about the money for me or else I wouldn’t have left a lucrative career. So maybe I am in a better position. I don’t have a huge mortgage, a huge car payment, credit card bills racked up from when times were so good in the building industry and then having to be forced to work for under $40,000 to support my $100,000 year lifestyle. I’m not looking to make a lot of money because as I get older it gets to be less important. It’s more important for me to be able to make positive change in the world. I’d do my work for free but that doesn’t help me get licensed. I just PAID $50,000 to do the work and loved every second of it.
Hope and change is good. It’s better than despair and stagnancy. I too hate the GREEDY wealthy. Shhh, don’t tell them that. I need their money to help make positive change in the world. I’ve got a Robin Hood agenda here. I don’t hate architects as they are just the artists. Who cares about their wealthy clients? That’s like saying liberals hate artists because wealthy people buy their paintings. That’s b.s.
I didn’t vote and won’t ever because I have zero faith in any politician or the American government. Anybody who wants that much power is mentally ill to begin with and can’t be trusted. Yes, I’m one of those hippies and I am the next generation of landscape architects here to take over your job someday. Clean air, water, and soil for everybody. Keep your cash. I do this solely for the common good and fight for those not smart enough to realize that they need air, water, and soil to survive…more so than a huge pile of cash.
This recession may have put a damper on my plans, but it’s the best thing to ever happen to the environment. I’m anti development and consumerism. My passion lies in ecological restoration and environmental education, not in construction punch lists and bid packages. I will make that happen for myself because it seems that the typical firm doesn’t do the things I want to do. I just need to use them for a few years to get licensed. I see the opportunities in this field in a whole different light than most others. I also do it for the art of it and it doesn’t matter to me if any of it ever gets built. I love the creative process involved and that alone makes me happy. Maybe I need to forge the way instead of be molded into an old outdated way of practicing.
Right on Green Guru, I agree with you, I’m not in it for the money or else I would have chosen a different field. We do this because it can change the world, and does change the world for so many of the people that use the parks, nature centers, urban plazas, camping areas, wetlands, natural play environments, ect… that we design.
I can almost hear all the experienced landscape architects saying to themselves “look at those little kids just out of school, isn’t it cute! They’re so naive.” But isn’t that why we all chose landscape architecture in the first place? We all want to make a living doing something that we love, not just another mundane job that we get our miserable 40 hours in and are so depressed to go back to work on Monday that all we can do is sit on our couches and drink ourselves into oblivion, but something that really matters.
I don’t know about you, but even if it takes 5 years to land my first job, I’ll stay in landscape architecture because I am happy when I design, and I’ll take happiness over riches anytime.
“The wealthy fuel our profession. They are called “clients”.
Hope and Changers hate the wealthy. Don’t forget that.
They hate “architects” because they suck off the tit of the wealthy. Don’t forget that. They hate you.
Did you vote against yourself?”
Very well put Doug. So many in our field voted for Obama (because they care about the environment and support his b.s. like cap n tax) while overlooking the fact that Obama is AGAINST private industry & seems to be determined to KILL it off completely, run up our national debt and have government run everything.
Way to go hippies! Are you happy? Barak’s four years in the white house will probably leave Americans (including landscape architects) more hopeless than EVER.
Electric Cars! Green Jobs! Save the planet! Hope! Change! Yes we can!
This country’s middle class has been on a steady economic decline for years if not decades. I don’t consider myself in any way a “hippie liberal” type, maybe I’m even a little more conservative in my way of thinking, but right now I am all for change. I’m tired of a select few making unbelievable amounts of money, while the majority of us Americans try to scratch out an existence. I have had enough of the status quo; it’s not working for me.
We have to stop all of the divisiveness coming from the right and the left and use some common sense. The belief that Obama is some evil man whose sole mission in life is to bring down the US is ridiculous. Let’s stop with these fairytales and get behind our president and other leaders. We should support them until they really screw up, and then be quick to replace them. It’s time for us to stop demonizing each other politically, culturally, racially, etc.. Basically, we all want the same things in life.
During this current economic downturn Landscape Architects are suffering just like everyone else. Architects, Civils, Construction Managers, Real Estate Brokers, Developers…, are trying to hang on right now.
I honestly believe that the future is bright for us and that this “Change” stuff is going to bring new opportunity for Landscape Architects. In fact I am quite “Hope(ful)” that attitudes toward LAs by other design professionals and the public will continue to “Change”. The smart LAs that are under or un-employed right now should be positioning themselves to take advantage of these future opportunities.
Also, can some one please explain to me why hope, change, and being optimistic about the future are bad things? If we add hard work, compassion, tolerance, honesty and a few other choice words in the mix, I think we’ll be just fine. Besides, what’s the alternative to hope and change?
There’s no need to fear the future. America will recover from this.
Thank you carrlaasla!! Finally some positive posting!! I’ve just sat here for the past 20 minutes laughing at this spat between 4-5 people. Most of your posts contradict each other, and have turned into a “tit-for-tat”. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind. Creative people thrive in hard times because they think creatively. Stop reacting and start being proactive. Reposition yourself, and think outside the box. Collaborate. And most importantly, have fun!!!
Thanks Mike. Thinking out of the box, being proactive and having fun, now that the kind of attitude we all need.
I realize that I’m totally off the subject, but I’m just tired of hearing all of the whining. I’m am generally not a rah-rah!, “don’t worry be happy” kind of guy, but I believe ultimately something good is going to come from this “Great Recession”.
Personally I’m the happiest I’ve been in my 21 years as a Landscape Architect. When I was laid off from my position as a project manager at a small office at the end of 2007, I felt it was time to go out on my own. I wanted to establish my own vision of a landscape architecture firm.
Within a month and a half of being laid off, I had my first paying client. It was a small residential job, but I was still proud to have it. Business was moving along nicely until July 2008. I had five design jobs I at various stages of development. When all of a sudden four of the five people just cancelled their contracts and the one person never returned my calls. I had a pretty effective marketing strategy that was putting me in front of the right people, but everything changed. My phone just stopped ringing.
Every since then I have had to look under every stone to find the little bit of work that has sustained me for the last couple of years or so. I am quite thankful for the projects that I have been able to acquire. They are a not as high profile as some that I’ve worked on in the past, but the allow me to still feel like a full time Landscape Architect.
This brings me back to my point. Although I am literally living “hand to mouth”, I am happy because I’m on my own doing what I want to be doing. And I know that if I can continue to slowly grow my business in spite of the poor state of the economy, I can do some big things when it picks up again.
Besides, living through this recession has made me a better person. I’ve learned to put more value on healthy personal relationships and to not “sweat the small stuff”. It has made me more empathetic and aware of other peoples needs. I’ve consciously given more to charity in the last couple of years than I have in my entire life.
My apologies to everyone for taking things in a totally different direction, but all the negativity and divisiveness is not helping us. Heck! As far as I’m concerned thank goodness for hippies, tea party-ers, billionaires, bums, bikers, bankers, soccer moms and strippers. It’s all good to me, as long as you’re not hurting anybody. Diversity is what makes America great. We just need to respect one another and do what we need to do to get ourselves out of this mess. Let’s be rational and not get caught up in all the political hype, it just clouds the picture. Ignore the talking heads and others that are trying to keep us all in a state of fear and paranoia.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!