Are you interested in becoming a landscape architect? As a professional landscape architect, you will have the skill set to design public and private landscaping, hardscaping and water features, among other things. Currently, there are 60 universities in the United States that offer at least one program in landscape architecture that is accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board.

LAAB is a specialized agency that accredits educational programs leading to first professional degrees at the bachelor's and master's levels.

There are two types of undergraduate professional degrees in landscape architecture. These usually require four or five years of study in design, construction techniques, art, history and natural and social sciences. They are:

• Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA-eligible for accreditation).
• Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (BSLA-eligible for accreditation).

Graduate Study in Landscape Architecture

There are two types of LAAB-accredited graduate-degree programs. The are:

• The three-year Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) option is for students who have an undergraduate degree in a field other than landscape architecture and intend to become landscape architecture practitioners.
• A five-year-or-more Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) is for students who do not have an undergraduate degree. These are usually students who major in landscape architecture and continue their studies at the same school or another accredited institute in the landscape architecture master's degree program.

Other, non-accredited programs are also offered, such as the MA/MS in Landscape Architecture for people who want to conduct research in landscape architecture but do not seek to be registered professionals, programs by schools that are candidates for accreditation, and certificate programs.

If you aren't sure you want to invest that much time in school, you might want to become a landscape or garden designer. Learn the differences between the two professions.