Accreditation

In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program and three years or more apprenticeship as a prerequisite for licensure. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit US professional degree programs in landscape architecture, recognizes one type of degree: the Master of Landscape Architecture. A new program may be granted a one- or two-year term of accreditation and an established program, typically, a five-year term of accreditation, depending on its degree of conformance with established educational standards. Master’s degree programs consist of a three- or two-year first professional landscape architecture degree which, when completed, comprises an accredited professional education.

The Master of Landscape Architecture degree program at the University of Pennsylvania is fully accredited by the ASLA.

Landscape Architecture licensure requirements vary by state. Visit the ASLA website state licensure page to review licensure requirements by state, or the ASLA fact sheet on this topic. 

Please see the Weitzman Graduate Admissions Tuition & Aid page for the most up-to-date information on estimated annual expenses and financial aid options.

Supplemental and Experiential Learning Opportunities

The Master of Landscape Architecture program offers a number of optional opportunities for supplemental and/or experiential learning. Local travel, including optional site visits and fieldtrips for workshop courses and studios, is typically funded by the student. Optional regional, domestic, or international travel may be partially subsidized by the School and/or external funding sources. International students have the option of participating in U.S.-based summer internships through the Curricular Practical Training (CPT) program.

Special Rates

Curricular Practical Training for international students - $500.00 per summer
Required Summer Institute for entering students - $500.00 per week of 4-week Summer Institute

2022-2023

Master of Landscape Architecture Enrollment – 147
72% Female
28% Male
38% Domestic
32% Minority
62% International
19 Dual Degree Students

2021-2022 Graduation Rate

Total Graduates – 48
Graduated within 3 yrs – 44 (92%)
Graduated within 4 yrs – 47 (98%)

Dual degree students typically complete their degree programs in 4 years.

2021-2022 Retention Rate

Number of students in Fall 2020 cohort – 46
Number of students in Fall 2020 cohort who were active in 2021-2022 – 44 (96%)

Students on leave of absence are not included in active student count.

Post-graduation employment

Penn Career Services conducts an annual survey of recent graduates regarding post-graduation plans. The most recent summary report (2021) is avialable here, and a longer history of report data can be found on the Career Services Post Graduate Outcomes webpage.

Awards for the 2021-2022 Academic Year

Ian L. McHarg Prize
Established in 2001. Awarded to a graduating student who has demonstrated excellence in design which best exemplifies ecological ideals in contemporary and culturally pertinent ways. 2001 was the inaugural year for this prize, in memory of Ian L. McHarg, 1920-2001, distinguished professor of landscape architecture, pioneer of ecological design and planning, and one of the most influential landscape architects of the twentieth century. 
Awarded to Olivia (Youzi) Xu

Laurie D. Olin Prize in Landscape Architecture
Awarded to a graduating student who has achieved a high academic record and demonstrated design excellence in the making of urban places. Laurie D. Olin is one of the world’s foremost leaders in contemporary landscape architecture and founder of the internationally acclaimed OLIN studio in Philadelphia. The studio designs some of the world’s most significant urban public spaces. The prize was established in 2010 by the OLIN studio in honor of practice professor Olin who has served on Penn’s faculty of landscape architecture since 1974. 
Awarded to Samuel Ridge

John Dixon Hunt Prize in Theory and Criticism
Awarded to a graduating student who has shown particular distinction in the theoretical and critical understanding of landscape architecture. (Prior to 2010, this was called the Landscape Architecture Prize in Theory and Criticism).
Awarded to Rohan Maclaren Lewis

Eleanore T. Widenmeyer Prize in Landscape and Urbanism
Established in 2004 through a bequest by Eleanore T. Widenmeyer in memory of her parents Arthur E. Widenmeyer, Sr. and Lena R. Widenmeye. The prize is awarded to a graduating student who has achieved a high level of design synthesis between landscape and urbanism. 
Awarded to Wenqi Yang

Narendra Juneja Medal
Awarded in memory of Associate Professor Narendra Juneja, who served the department with distinction from 1965 until his death in 1981, to a graduating student who has demonstrated deeply that they care for the ideas and ideals of the Department of Landscape Architecture.
Awarded to Emily Bunker

George Madden Boughton Prize
Established in 1986 by Justena C. Boughton in memory of her father, George Madden Boughton. Awarded to a graduating student in landscape architecture for excellent design with environmental and social consciousness, and evidence of potential for future effective action in the field of landscape architecture. 
Awarded to Mrinalini Verma

Robert M. Hanna Prize in Design
Awarded to a graduating student who has demonstrated great care for the craft, making and construction of landscape architecture. Established in 2010 by the OLIN studio in memory of Robert M. Hanna (1935-2003), who served on Penn’s faculty of landscape architecture from 1969 to 1998. 
Awarded to Ruiying Zhao

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Van Alen Traveling Fellowship
Awarded to one landscape architecture student and one architecture student in the second year of their programs for summer travel to Europe.  
Awarded to Olivia (Libby) Loughrey

ASLA Awards
Certificates of Honor and Merit awarded to graduating landscape architecture students who have demonstrated outstanding potential for contributions to the profession. 
Certificates of Honor awarded to Olivia Xu, Dingwen Wu, Rohan Maclaren Lewis 
Certificates of Merit awarded to Mrinalini Verma, Daniel Flinchbaugh, Samuel Ridge

Wallace Roberts and Todd Award
Established in 1991. The WRT Award recognizes exceptional capability and leadership potential to integrate landscape architecture, planning, urban design and architecture in the creation of transformational designs. It is given each year to a landscape architectural student prior to their last year before graduation who shares WRT’s values of designing with nature and reinforcing urbanism, who demonstrates exceptional design and communication skills, and who exemplifies the collaborative spirit to work as part of an interdisciplinary team to solve complex design challenges integrating landscape and architecture within a design and planning context.
Awarded to Allison Nkwocha

OLIN Partnership Work Fellowship
The OLIN Fellowship is offered to University of Pennsylvania students in recognition of the longstanding partnership between the firm and the Weitzman School of Design. The fellowship is awarded annually to a distinguished landscape architecture student entering their final year of study with a cash prize and the opportunity to participate in OLIN's ten-week summer internship program. The OLIN Fellow is selected each year through a nomination by Weitzman School faculty and a jury process led by OLIN Landscape Architects. 
Awarded to Arisa Lohmeier

Faculty Acknowledgement Award for Service
Inaugurated in 2013. Awarded to a single student or small group of students who have made an exceptional extracurricular contribution to the program. 
Awarded to The Inaugural student Design Justice Working Group: Allison Nkwocha, Katie Dunn, Ari Vamos, Emily Bunker, Selina Cheah

Faculty Acknowledgement Award for Design Progress
This award, inaugurated in 2013, is given to a first-year student in the three-year Master of Landscape Architecture program who has demonstrably advanced the furthest in their design capability across the course of their first year of study. 
Awarded to Caroline Schoeller and Lucy Salwen

Faculty Acknowledgement Award for Design Progress
This award, inaugurated in 2018, is given to a graduating student in the Master of Landscape Architecture program who has demonstrably advanced the furthest in their design capability across the course of their years of study. 
Awarded to Larissa Whitney