An Interesting Talk with My Advisor
It basically centered around the option of getting a bachelors in landscape design form horticulture and getting a masters in LA from CAPD.
Assuming I have 3-4 semesters left to earn a Landscape Design Degree (which I doubt, but that's what she put), I could get my bachelors and masters by 2010.
The all-architecture route would be 5 years for a masters, which would put me graduating 2011.
It should be said that if I pick the all-capd route, I'd only get one degree and I might run out of undergraduate fiancial aid before I'm done.
Earning a degree in landscape design and landscape architecture are quite different in both what they prepare you for and in the cirriculum. I want as much CAPD-training as I can get -- you just learn more about design and creativity -- but landscape design offers a focus on the plant materials and intimate landscapes I fell in love with during my summer jobs and design classes.
Pluss, there's a big anxiety preventing me from letting go of CAPD even if I'll always be "admitted" into it and can return for a masters. I mean I worked my butt off to get in, got in, and am now focusing on things taht will enable me to not screw up this opportunity. I will get a degree from CAPD, whether it's a 5-year masters, regular masters, or even an bachelors. I am just hesitant about letting go for even a year or two, even if it'll give me a better education. Maybe if I do end up doing landscape design, I'll feel like I failed more because I tried for 2 years to get into a program I now am not gonna graduate from. One of the more comforting thigns about the past years is how I still managed to figure out what I want to do and gain admissin into a top-notch program in that field. Hmmm...
The thing also is, if I even remotely want to do landscape design, I can shave off some time and money by starting on that program next spring. I'm hesitant to make any academic promises this early on, especially since I put so much on hold this semester. I can't save any time on CAPD this spring, but I can in landscape design. I dont' know. If anything, I won't let this "opportunity" cloud the fact taht I'm doing all this changing to focus on a important aspect of my life, not to just hop back into what I've been doing for 7 semesters.
But I did enjoy talking to Maureen greatly. For the first time I got the impression that they want me in CAPD and will work with me to get the best education K-State can offer (which is in the top-5 in the nation too!). She mentioned the strength and value in getting degrees in landscape design and architecture like I'm their top student and theyr'e trying to set me up to conquer the world, not as the student that is frankly not putting up the numbers CAPD expects. That was very comforting.
She also was also telling me about this job offer one LA graduate got (they usually get 2-3 thier senior year apparantly...yay!) was to manage and update the Grand Canyon wilderness for the influx of visitors (especially backcountry, which is an indsutry hitting an all-time demand these days). The job would require him hiking the trails sometimes in 2-week stints. Needless to say my eyes light up like a kid at christmas staring at a new lego set bigger than him. That combines the two things I've realized will always be a part of my life: outdoor education/guiding and design. Ironically, he didn't take the job, as recent illness made him unable to remain healthy in that work enviroment. I wasnt able to find out more becasue Maureen had to leave for an appointment, but I'm gonna send her an email asking for whatever relevant information so I can track down this person, business, etc.
It was a good visit. Very short (only 15 minutes), but very good. Made me feel like I'm one the right track in my education. That's a very big thing for me. It was highschool the last time I thought I was on track academically, and engineering turned out to be a no. This time I am extremely confident I'v done the required work and soul-sarching to figure out what I truly want to get a degree in. That feels good.
Assuming I have 3-4 semesters left to earn a Landscape Design Degree (which I doubt, but that's what she put), I could get my bachelors and masters by 2010.
The all-architecture route would be 5 years for a masters, which would put me graduating 2011.
It should be said that if I pick the all-capd route, I'd only get one degree and I might run out of undergraduate fiancial aid before I'm done.
Earning a degree in landscape design and landscape architecture are quite different in both what they prepare you for and in the cirriculum. I want as much CAPD-training as I can get -- you just learn more about design and creativity -- but landscape design offers a focus on the plant materials and intimate landscapes I fell in love with during my summer jobs and design classes.
Pluss, there's a big anxiety preventing me from letting go of CAPD even if I'll always be "admitted" into it and can return for a masters. I mean I worked my butt off to get in, got in, and am now focusing on things taht will enable me to not screw up this opportunity. I will get a degree from CAPD, whether it's a 5-year masters, regular masters, or even an bachelors. I am just hesitant about letting go for even a year or two, even if it'll give me a better education. Maybe if I do end up doing landscape design, I'll feel like I failed more because I tried for 2 years to get into a program I now am not gonna graduate from. One of the more comforting thigns about the past years is how I still managed to figure out what I want to do and gain admissin into a top-notch program in that field. Hmmm...
The thing also is, if I even remotely want to do landscape design, I can shave off some time and money by starting on that program next spring. I'm hesitant to make any academic promises this early on, especially since I put so much on hold this semester. I can't save any time on CAPD this spring, but I can in landscape design. I dont' know. If anything, I won't let this "opportunity" cloud the fact taht I'm doing all this changing to focus on a important aspect of my life, not to just hop back into what I've been doing for 7 semesters.
But I did enjoy talking to Maureen greatly. For the first time I got the impression that they want me in CAPD and will work with me to get the best education K-State can offer (which is in the top-5 in the nation too!). She mentioned the strength and value in getting degrees in landscape design and architecture like I'm their top student and theyr'e trying to set me up to conquer the world, not as the student that is frankly not putting up the numbers CAPD expects. That was very comforting.
She also was also telling me about this job offer one LA graduate got (they usually get 2-3 thier senior year apparantly...yay!) was to manage and update the Grand Canyon wilderness for the influx of visitors (especially backcountry, which is an indsutry hitting an all-time demand these days). The job would require him hiking the trails sometimes in 2-week stints. Needless to say my eyes light up like a kid at christmas staring at a new lego set bigger than him. That combines the two things I've realized will always be a part of my life: outdoor education/guiding and design. Ironically, he didn't take the job, as recent illness made him unable to remain healthy in that work enviroment. I wasnt able to find out more becasue Maureen had to leave for an appointment, but I'm gonna send her an email asking for whatever relevant information so I can track down this person, business, etc.
It was a good visit. Very short (only 15 minutes), but very good. Made me feel like I'm one the right track in my education. That's a very big thing for me. It was highschool the last time I thought I was on track academically, and engineering turned out to be a no. This time I am extremely confident I'v done the required work and soul-sarching to figure out what I truly want to get a degree in. That feels good.