Hi all,
I’m graduating with my A.A. in liberal arts from a SUNY community college. I plan to transfer next spring and get my BFA in graphic design (or something extremely related). As of now, my top two choices that I am confident in are Pratt and New Paltz, but I know there are other, probably better, schools out there. I’m wary of SVA or any school without a campus because I would do terribly socially there. I would love to apply to Carnegie Mellon but they don’t accept Spring transfers.
Tuition is a big deal to me, but I will probably end up taking out a ton of student loans, so I just sort of stopped thinking about it. If I attend Pratt, I will live with my aunt and not pay for housing or meals, but it will still be very expensive.
My GPA is currently 3.91 and I’m in the honors program. I am interning at an advertising agency this summer and do freelance work.
One thing I’m concerned about is having to start as a freshman or sophomore because I didn’t do the graphic design A.A. at my community college. I was advised to do liberal arts (humanities and science) to stay in the honors program.
My ideal college has a campus, a great reputation, and a nice social atmosphere.
Hi there - Pratt is your school if you want a campus in that area. All the NYC art schools are strong in graphic design but Pratt has the advantage for those who want a campus. My D is the same way and will be attending Pratt this fall and majoring in communications design specializing in graphic.
The ComD program is really cool and very comprehensive. The path for a conventional student (non-transfer) would be to begin with the foundation year. Then, beginning sophomore year you do another foundation year specifically in communication design. Then you specialize in either GD, illustration, or Advertising Art for Jr and Sr. year. It’s a very interdisciplinary program and you receive training in ALL aspects of communication design (given the blurring of lines among the various disciplines this totally makes sense to my D). Here is the ComD website for your perusal. It lays out the curriculum and the philosophy of the department very well:
Coming out of a cc w/o a foundation year means you would probably have to take some first year foundation and 2nd year ComD foundation studios. However, you might be able to double up on these given that you probably will have already fulfilled at least part of your LA credits for those two years. You would need to check with the school, but I’m guessing you might be able to do it all in three years - perhaps fewer if you take classes over a summer. To the extent that they accept any studio courses you’ve already taken that will cut down on your time there, of course.
You might also look into MICA as it has an excellent reputation in GD as well and definitely has spring start dates (though I’m not sure about spring transfers) AND a campus. Same with MCAD in Minneapolis. MCAD has the advantage of charging about $10,000 less in tuition than other top schools of art and design. Both MICA and MCAD have very vibrant campus communities (MCAD is small - about 150 first year students - but gives you lots of personal attention).
RISD is fantastic for GD but, like CMU, doesn’t allow spring starts.
Here is a recent ranking of top design schools today from GDUSA:
http://gdusa.com/issue_2013/september/design_ed_top_schools.php
Good luck!