<p>I was accepted to BU in a different college but after a lot of thought, I’m looking into transferring (at some point) into CFA. If anyone reading this is in CFA or knows about it, could you post some info about your personal experience there? Did you like it? Thanks!</p>
<p>Well what major are you interested? (Also, what is your current major?)</p>
<p>I am a vocal performance major and I really like it—(even though many of us find that the theater peeps have their own thing going on) we are a tight knit community and we are definitely the kids who know where the parties are, but we still get our work done, because we’re talented! Most of the professors seem to be well versed in their fields, if you read through their bios. I think it’s really one of the best options for a fine arts school in a university setting.</p>
<p>In the Spring, you would also have to audition or submit a portfolio to the department of your intended major.</p>
<p>I was thinking of majoring in composition. I play the flute so would i have to audition and sumbit a portfolio? Or one or the other. Im currently majoring in bio, well, i will be when i start as a freshman next year. Thanks!</p>
<p>I know some CFA people, mostly in performance and art, and they’re very good and believe the school is good. Judging by the quality I see and hear, that’s true.</p>
<p>does anyone know about the Graphic Design program? I am thinking about going there but unfortunately I don’t know much about the program yet…</p>
<p>sam, do you want actual graphic design or design for newspapers (communications)?</p>
<p>The reason I ask is that a number of Syracuse posts have been appearing in the BU forum - and they’re all selling Syracuse hard and knocking BU. I don’t know the motive but if you’ve been advised to go to Syracuse, you should look at the programs they actually offer to see if that is what you want. Newhouse doesn’t offer graphic design, only graphic design for communications, which has mostly been for newspapers but is now also for the web. It’s computer based, which I think is fundamentally not the same thing. (BTW, you can see that schools put things together in different ways; at BU, photojournalism is in the journalism school and graphic design is in the arts school.) Syracuse also has an arts school but I don’t think it offers graphic design at all, just a mix of advertising and other communications related stuff. So if you’ve been told that Syracuse is the place to go for graphic design, that’s only true if you’re not interested in actual graphic design.</p>
<p>I suggest you look at the CFA graphic design major and see if that’s for you. It’s a real art school with real training that will prepare you for a career in actual graphic design. </p>
<p>CFA is one of the best art school programs you’ll find. It’s not RISD in reknown but it’s very good and, like I said, check out the course list and you’ll see what I mean about how they prepare you.</p>
<p>Thank you for your response, one of the most helpful I’ve had yet.</p>
<p>I’m currently trying to decide between Syracuse (Communication Design, the College of Visual and Performing Arts) and Boston University (Graphic Design, CFA)</p>
<p>Graphic Design: It seems like the course work will prepare me well and people say the College of Fine arts is a good school. I think you also get a well rounded liberal arts background here rather than only taking design classes, which I like. I’m going to a CFA Open House on the 18th and hopefully that will clear things up for me. I want to talk to some students in the program.</p>
<p>Communication Design: When I visited they bragged a lot about this program and how the graduates are “uncommonly successful”. What I gather is that its more the theory behind the Design rather than making things on the computer (they hardly ever use them) and it is very rigorous. They incorporate communications, marketing, and business into their major.</p>
<p>I’m just worried because everyone has been telling me that the GD program and BU isn’t good and that its inferior to the one at Syracuse. They are very different schools but I’m having a very hard time choosing because they both seem to have a lot to offer… I think if the programs were equal I’d probably choose BU.</p>
<p>Who says the program at BU isn’t good? People from Syracuse? They don’t offer graphic design and, like I said, there’s been what seems a concerted effort to promote Syracuse and denigrate BU. (I would say that means they view BU as their actual competition, not as an inferior.) Take Syracuse’s crown jewel, Newhouse. It is equivalent to BU’s COM in essentially most ways - except broadcast journalism (notably sports) - and is inferior in some ways, notably in film. (Newhouse again has a communications approach and is not a production program, while BU’s could fit in CFA but is in COM because that’s how it is.) BU has schools that are noticeably better than what Syracuse has and the general liberal arts schools are essentially equivalent; as far as the world cares, a liberal arts degree from BU is no better or worse than a degree from Syracuse.</p>
<p>You need to decide what you want. I’ve read the specs for the Newhouse communications design thing and it’s not graphic design. (I’ve been through this topic before; it’s not new to me.) What Syracuse has is not even close; it’s about using photography and graphic elements to make “communications,” which could mean web stuff or brochures. My belief is that good graphic design comes from graphic designers not from communications students. Good graphic designers, in this day and age, learn the computer skills … but I don’t see how a computer communications specialist becomes a real graphic designer without actually studying that. </p>
<p>Like I said, you need to figure out what you want. The programs are not equivalent because BU offers graphic design and Syracuse offers a communications thing. [Here</a> are the courses for a graphic design major at BU.](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/cfa/visual-arts/prospective/undergraduate/design/]Here”>http://www.bu.edu/cfa/visual-arts/prospective/undergraduate/design/)</p>
<p>Composition majors have it a little bit rough–they must pass an audition on their primary instrument and submit a portfolio including (3 of) their compositions </p>
<p>For more details visit the CFA website: [Boston</a> University College of Fine Arts](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/prospective/degrees/musb/composition/]Boston”>http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/prospective/degrees/musb/composition/)</p>