StudyQA — Master: Landscape Architecture (MLA) — Washington University in St. Louis

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Description Contents Requirements Funding

The landscapes of our common world are now a vast, entangled field of terrains, practices, and emergent conditions. Even as global citizens become more informed, more purposeful, and more effective in the ongoing organization of these dynamic forces, it seems as if they are increasingly evading our capacity to engage with them.

It is with a sense of urgency, then, that we face the challenges of rapid development, climate change, the erosion of public space, unequal living conditions, ecological depletion, and many other issues. New methods, new modes of discovery, new models of inquiry and practice are required. As a medium of critical inquiry and engaged practice, landscape architecture is dedicated to the reformulation of our shared world by enacting new models of environmental research and design.

The Master of Landscape Architecture program at Washington University (known affectionately as Wash U) is committed to this endeavor. It actively fosters disciplinary interaction in its approaches to the organization of our cities and the industrial and agrarian landscapes that support them. We believe that the choreography of social, spatial, political, and natural ecologies is best undertaken through the transdisciplinary operations and languages of landscape, where people and other species exchange patterns of production and inhabitation.

The Master of Landscape Architecture program is a six-semester, three-year program that provides opportunities for study abroad and internships in the summer. It is an accredited first professional graduate degree. This means that students who have no prior experience in design are eligible to enroll in the program and graduate with a degree that enables them to enter the profession of landscape architecture and become registered professionals.

The following is the curriculum sequence for the MLA program:

Year One, First Semester

Core Studio I
Design Representation
Plants + Environment
Grading + Landform
Modern + Contemporary History

Year One, Second Semester

Core Studio II
Digital Tools
Planting Design
GIS for Site Design
LA History + Theory

Year Two, First Semester

Core Studio III
Visualizing Ecological Process
Research in the Landscape
Elective

Year Two, Second Semester

Core Studio IV
Landscape Ecology
Landscape Technology
Elective

Year Three, First Semester

Comprehensive Studio/Thesis Studio
Elective/Thesis Prep
Electives

Third Year, Second Semester

Comprehensive Studio/Thesis Studio
Professional Practice
Electives

Requirements

MLA applicants must demonstrate satisfactory completion of at least one college-level course in the natural sciences and at least one college-level course in the visual arts, such as drawing, sculpture, graphics, and/or basic design. Applicants with an accredited degree in landscape architecture or architecture may be admitted to the MLA advanced placement (AP) program, thus entering the program in the second year of study. Applicants who have received a non-accredited degree in architecture, landscape architecture, or environmental design may also receive advanced placement of one or two semesters. Note that the Admissions Committee reserves the right to place students in the program that it deems appropriate, on the basis of portfolio evaluation, transcript evaluation, and overall preparation.
Personal information.
A statement of objective of educational and career goals.
A resume/curriculum vita (to include education and employment history, honors, awards, and extracurricular activities).
Three letters of recommendation, to be completed by individuals who know the personal and academic qualities of the applicant (preferably—although not necessarily—academic instructors). These three letters will be submitted through the online application process. Please note that, along with other contact information, the applicant will need to provide each recommender's accurate e-mail address.
A nonrefundable $85 application fee. Note: The $85 application fee will be waived for applicants who complete their online application by November 30. Beginning December 1, the application fee is $85, and must be paid online by credit card.
Official transcripts. Upload a digital copy (PDF format) of transcripts from all college and universities attended. When submitting academic records from multiple schools, please organize those records for submission as a single PDF. Only those applicants who are admitted and plan to enroll will be asked to send official, hard-copy transcripts to our office by August 1.
GRE scores , provided by the testing services (optional). While GRE scores are not required, they are strongly recommended. To ensure official test score reports arrive as needed, please use our institution code (6929) and department code (4401) when making arrangements with the testing agency.
English language scores (if the applicant's native language is not English). A Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score is required if the applicant’s native language is not English. The minimum acceptable TOEFL scores are 90 on the Internet-based test, 577 on the paper-based test, or 233 on the computer-based test. The IELTS score minimum is 7.0. Note that an exception to the English test score requirement is made for candidates who have studied four years toward a baccalaureate degree in the United States. To ensure official TOEFL test score reports arrive as needed, please use our institution code (6929) and department code (12) when making arrangements with the testing agency. IELTS scores must be sent in hard-copy form to our office (see address above.)
Portfolio. A digital portfolio showing examples of design work or work in the visual arts must be uploaded to our online application system. Please review our instructions below carefully. The work represented in the portfolio—whether it includes drawings, photographs of architectural models, or artwork (including various types of media such as paintings, sculpture, ceramics, or photography)—should be the best examples of the applicant's efforts. Applicants who have not studied architecture previously should submit at least 15 examples of work in the visual arts and—if available—in the constructive arts (for example, photographs and drawings from small, three-dimensional built projects such as furniture, kiosks, or decks.) The overall intention is to show work that demonstrates potential for accomplishment in further creative study. Applicants who have pursued formal studies in architecture or landscape architecture must include examples of their design work related to those areas but are also welcome to include examples of other artistic endeavors.Important: Applicants submitting work done collaboratively, either in school or in the profession, should be as specific as possible about the extent of their personal involvement in such projects.
Applicants who are submitting IELTS scores must arrange to have the testing service send a hard-copy report of the scores to our office.