The two professional undergraduate degree options are a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (BSLA). Both programs require a minimum of four years of collegiate study.
A landscape student takes courses in the profession's history, surveying, landscape design and construction, ecology, urban and regional planning, plant and soil science geology and professional practice.
As of 2009, there were 67 colleges and universities in the United States offering bachelor's programs in landscape architecture that hold accreditation from the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Currently 49 states require landscape architects to be professionally licensed by passing the Landscape Architect Registration Exam. In most states, obtaining a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite for taking the exam.
An internship with a professional landscape architecture firm provides hands-on experience in all facets of the field. Most interns are unpaid, but many colleges have work-study programs in which students work in the campus setting.
According to U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, entry-level landscape architects earn slightly more than $41,000 per year. Experienced practitioners approximately 10 years into their career earn an average of $90,000 per year.