James Schulte just began his internship search – and with an eye to the national economy, he’s wondering what job he’ll be able to land to fulfill the requirements for his major.

“Pretty much anywhere around here you go is not hiring,” said Schulte, a fourth year landscape architecture major from Cumming. “Unless you get lucky, you’re really not going to get a great [internship]. You’re really not going to get the same one you would have gotten 10 years ago just because of the economy.”

The landscape architecture major – a five-year degree program in the College of Environment and Design – requires that students gain internship field experience before graduation. Students usually complete the internship in the summer after their fourth year in the major.

But the down economy is throwing a wrench in some students’ plans.

“Firms are in such terrible shape right now that we’re having difficulty getting our students placed around the country,” said Daniel Nadenicek, dean of the college. “That affects them directly. They’re required to do this. If we can’t find them the internship, they can’t meet the requirement.”

Schulte said he wasn’t concerned about meeting the requirement, but he knows he might not be able to find his “dream internship.”

“I know that I’ll be able to find something, but it’s more so maybe worried about finding the one that I want,” he said. “I don’t really want to do a government job for a local city, but I will if I have to.”

Nadenicek said all of last year’s students were able to meet the internship requirement, and the college would work with this year’s students to find alternative solutions to traditional internships if needed.

“We’re not going to abandon students,” he said.

Gregg Coyle, director of undergraduate instruction for landscape architecture, said the college already works with the University’s Archway Partnership to provide more internship experiences. Students taking this route would work on projects – such as creating design alternatives for parks and green space – in the communities sponsored by the partnership.

“I think they’re going to be fine in getting their internships,” Coyle said. “But they’re going to have to work a little harder at it.”Rachel Evans, a fourth year landscape architecture student from Brevard, N.C., said she understands the challenges she might face as she begins her search.

“It’s so competitive right now just because of the economy,” she said. “It’s so competitive just to fight for those positions.”

She said she might even have to extend her search to areas of the country beyond the Southeast region.

“You almost just take what you can get,” she said.

Kyle Van Der Noord, who is in his final year of the program, was able to find an internship last summer – but only after a little persistence.

“It came down to the wire, actually,” he said. “It was somewhat difficult, but the professors here are generally pretty willing to help out with that kind of thing. I would receive a lot of e-mails from faculty and staff notifying me of various opportunities. I went out and tried to find some stuff on my own as well.”

And Van Der Noord said the internship was worth it.

“It gets you a lot of practical experience in the field,” he said. “I feel like there’s a lot of stuff we don’t learn in the classroom that we can learn and experience out in the working world, so that was a good foretaste to what it’s going to be like after we graduate and are out of here and working for a firm or wherever we end up.”