<p>I applied to Washu as a transfer student because I'm interested in Visual Communications. Can anyone tell me anything about the communications design major? coursework, what it prepares you for, etc</p>
<p>YES A QUESTION I CAN ANSWER! There’s very few art students on here so it always gets me excited :D</p>
<p>So the art school curriculum just got revised for the class of 2015, so you would enter with the new curriculum. I’m assuming you’d be a sophomore transfer? Our freshman year consists of two drawing studios, Drawing 101 and Drawing 102, 2-D Design, 3-D design, and then two semesters of Practices in Art, Architecture and Design (1-credit Dean’s Course). If you did not complete any of those or your credits in similar classes don’t transfer, you’d have to make those up.</p>
<p>Otherwise, sophomore year we now begin our major studios. You take Digital Design, which everyone is required to take, and a communications design studio. We just got our registration info, so for fall there’s the choice of Typography and Letterform or Pictures for Communication. And then spring semester you take Word & Image I and Typography I. </p>
<p>What I like about the Comm. Design program here is that you can basically take it whichever way you want. From the older students I’ve talked to who are studying the major, they all have gotten a really good foundation in basic visual communications before beginning their specialized area. I personally am looking at Publications Design ot Advertising or something like that as my area of specialization, but there are other ways you can take it. Just looking at the major courses listed for the fall, you have Word and Image, Visual Information, Voice, Voice, Editorial Illustration, and Visual Worlds: Image Development for Illustrators and Cartoonists. </p>
<p>If you want more information, definitely call the art office to see if someone can answer your specific questions or if they can direct you to a student already immersed in the major so they can tell you more about what it’s like to be a part of the program. Our freshman year program is very broad and basic so I haven’t started any of the specific CommDes classes yet, but I’m very excited to get started. Let me know if there’s anything specific I didn’t answer very well and I’ll try to rexplain or figure it out for you!</p>
<p>Thanks so much, this is really helpful. I’m interested in a future working in a Magazine’s Art Department so I think Comm Design is the right path for me. However, my parents don’t understand why I’d want to graduate with a BFA when I’m already halfway to a BA. I’d be a junior transfer, so I’m sure it’ll be a bit harder for me to get in. I’ve taken mainly photography classes at my current school so I can tell I’ll have a lot to make up. Does WashU make it easy to double major in the Liberal Arts school? I’m currently double majoring with Comm and Poli Sci.</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s pretty easy to my knowledge, a lot of people are double-majoring. I personally am minoring in marketing because my brain understands it and it will also make me a more marketable (haha) candidate after college, but I know a lot of people who are looking at English or PoliSci or languages and a bunch of other things as their second major. You just complete the major courses for the second major, assuming you already have the pre-reqs covered (and most of the pre-reqs for classes count towards fulfilling the broad requirements of major, like my calc and economics classes for my minor are fulfilling my Natural Sciences/Math and Social Sciences requirements). </p>
<p>And my career goal is also working in the Art Department of a magazine so go figure! The career center has been really helpful for this actually, I’m currently in a workshop that’s all about looking for internships and understanding the publishing world with a bunch of other similarly-minded students, which has been great so far :D</p>
<p>That just makes me know this is the right major for me! Since I wasn’t sure if I wanted a BA or a BFA I applied to transfer into a bunch of different programs at different schools: advertising/comm, communication studies, media studies, and visual communications</p>
<p>What do you think of these other majors to put me on that same path towards working in a magazines art department?</p>
<p>Have you gotten a magazine internship yet? I’m doing my first one this summer so hopefully it’ll help me see if this is really what I want to do…which helps me see if transferring is for sure best for me</p>