Feedback from porfolio review by Carngie Mellon School of Design

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>We just attended a Carnegie Mellon portfolio review at the school of Design. Frankly, it was "interesting." </p>

<p>First, the ass't admission's director , who lectured to the parents while porfolios were being reviewed by professors,couldn't answer most questions posed by parents. For example, she didn't know how many kids apply to the School of Design, and she didn't know what the acceptance rate was. She even didn't know what the average SATs were for design kids and didn't even know how many kids were in the School of Design altogether. She was very inept, and it was very frustrating.</p>

<p>Secondly, The process involved an hour and one half review by several professors, who privately reviewed over 25 kids' pieces. They then had personal interviews for 6 minutes for each kid. I wish that they told us that it would take this long when they scheduled this review.</p>

<p>The facilities for communication design were in the bottom basement of an old building. The program seems very print oriented; however, they did do most of their work on computer, with the exception of freshmen year. It seems like a good, tough program. In fact, kids were in the studio on Saturday afternoon, which says a lot.</p>

<p>Contrary to my original Overview of the School, CMU no longer has those wonderful pretzels. In fact, the food seemed a bit dreadful. If anything, the food got worse.</p>

<p>Overall, I think that the kids work REALLY hard there,but my daughter didn't like the print emphasis in the School of Design. She preferred a more "New Media" or digital emphasis. In addition, she really didn't like having all studios in the basement of an old building. </p>

<p>Finally, I should note that the School of Design is a very small department. It only takes around 50 kids a year, which includes BOTH communication design and industrial Design. My daughter felt that this was just too small and perhaps too insular for her taste. At OVER $32,000 a year in tuition alone, I wasn't too thrilled with the price either.</p>

2

<p>Taxguy, it's too bad you had this experience. When we visited CMU (art, not design), we found the assistant director (dean) to be extremely helpful; we didn't go for a portfolio review, just a look-see (my daughter submitted her portfolio slides several months later). And this asst. director spent almost an hour just with us (my daughter, me, and my wife). My daughter also interviewed with the CMU admissions office and found them, too, to be very receptive.</p>

<p>If you went over to the Admissions Office of CMU (not the Design School), you might have obtained a document that we obtained at the time: the SAT scores of students in each college/school at CMU. My guess is that the CMU admissions office still has such a document if you contact them. And they can probably answer some of those other questions that you didn't have answered in your session.</p>

<p>In another way, however, we would concur with your daughter's observation about the studio space. This was exactly the same reaction that my daughter had to the studios in the old building. She couldn't see herself working in them. (By now you've seen much better studio space at other colleges.)</p>

<p>As for the price, you're paying a big-time tuition there, more or less what other nationally highly ranked "general" private institutions charge. Most of the stand-alone art schools have somewhat lower tuition (as I recall).</p>

3

<p>Yes, we had our review at the School of Design. I must admit, I was not impressed with the facilities.</p>

<p>Actually, I have the document given to me by ADMISSIONS. Thus, I found it puzzling that the ass't director of admissions couldn't answer the question, concerning average SAT scores, posed by other parents</p>

<p>All in all, I still think that CMU does good work. They also work on actual projects posed by client companies. However, I also get the feeling that the School of Design is beginning to rest on their laurals.</p>

<p>By the way Mackinaw, do you know if RISD assigns real life projects posed by real life companies?</p>

4

<p>Taxguy, I can't answer your last question with respect to GD. I do know that for some purposes some majors (architecture and ID) bring in outsiders to review student work. And one course that my daughter participated in in her senior year (Concept Studio -- which drew students from several disciplines) had as a "client" the City of New York. Their class project was to redesign the waste management system for New York City. That project ended up getting a nice write-up in Metropolis and that article even included one poster/graphic image that my daughter designed related to the the prevalence of childhood asthma cases relative to air pollution. (It was to be used as part of a publicity/information campaign.) That class spent a lot of time in NY interviewing people, becoming familiar with the issues, technology, and so on. And then they designed and proposed various "solutions" to a panel from the city, as well as other local experts.</p>

5

<p>Communication Design at CMU is on the first floor and two sub-basements of Margaret Morrison Hall, which is not just some “old building” – it’s a historically significant reference to Andrew Carnegie’s mother, and a step in the long path of woman’s suffrage. The facilities are well kept and the school provides studio space for each student, something most of the other major art and design schools provide only to their seniors or graduate students. </p>

<p>CMU has always had, as far as I can tell, the approach that “design is design”, regardless of the medium. The split between CD and ID is for the middle two years of curricula only, and is essentially to learn discipline specific skills; for the most part, the program embraces the thought that designers use the same methodology regardless of output (physical, digital, print, whatever). </p>

<p>CMU isn’t for everyone. I’m certainly glad I attended, though.</p>

6

<p>First-year studio for all design admits is actually on the 2nd floor of the 'old' building....freshly painted, well-maintained with large windows that do open and a somewhat generous space with secure storage dedicated to each student, plus a large critique area with comfy seating at the back of the room to hang student work for review. Not the newest studios we saw in touring, either, but certainly cleaner (school maintenance-wise, not student cleanliness issues!) and better kept than several of the 'nicer' facilities we visited.</p>

<p>Program emphasis the first year is definitely 'pen to paper'....they want to see your skill level and your ability to communicate such BEFORE they let you loose with all the 'bell and whistle' digital programs (speaking from experience, I trust this approach...I've dealt with too many designers who can make the programs sing - make something pop in a bazillion colors, add drop shadows, special effects and on and on....but they can't draw in perspective - don't know a horizon line from a timeline.)</p>

<p>In fact, CMU tries to dissuade first year students from arriving on campus with the computer they plan to use when they get to those programs. CMU encourages students to wait until summer before 2nd year to get what they want (typically Macs for Comm. Design and PCs for Industrial - you choose your major at end of your first year) - and offers deep student discounts for the (quite expensive) programs. If you insist on buying before this time, you run a very real risk of then having to buy software updates a year later to meet current CMU requirements.</p>

<p>And Taxguy, I believe students working in studio at least a part of the weekend is more the norm than not there. Although, kids being the night owls their parents no longer are, you might have seen more there after a bit of evening socializing, had you visited at - say 1 am!</p>

7

<p>I attended the overview/portfolio review at the School of Art yesterday with my D. The admissions representative could answer every question that was asked of her. It was sleep over weekend and she had a days worht of the admissions overviews, so it may depend on when you got her. Agree with Mackinaw that one on one time with the admissions folks would result is a better quality experience.</p>

<p>School of Art did ten minutes interviews with each student and a three member faculty team reviewed each portfolio without the students present. </p>

<p>We passed on the tour of the art facilities, since my daughter goes to pre college there, and went to the Centenial exhibition (School of Art is 100 years old) at the Art museum. I was impressed with the quality and variety of the work.</p>

<p>Taxguy, congratulations on your daughter's acceptance at Cincy.</p>

8

<p>Thanks M&sdad, Maybe the school of design doesn't have their act together as well as the school of art admissions. It was very bizarre to say the least.</p>

9

<p>Taxguy, I'm sorry that you and your daughter had a less than satisfactory experience at CMU. Our own experience last year was like that of m&sdad's (although my son was applying for the School of Design, not the School of Art); we enjoyed our trip to CMU.</p>

<p>The admissions rep was extremely knowledgeable and seemed to have all the facts and figures you could possibly want (particularly focusing on the School of Design and not just the overall college). In fact, we felt that the information session with him (held while the committee was looking over the art portfolios and design projects in another room) was one of the best of all the colleges we looked at. Afterwards, my son had a very good 10-minute interview with a Design School faculty member.</p>

<p>And I know that we had received advance notice about how long the process would take -- although it may have come with the information about Sleeping Bag Weekend.</p>

<p>My son was torn between RISD and CMU, although he ended up choosing RISD in the end. He felt CMU's facilities were clean, spacious, and more than adequate, although they were certainly not new. (RISD's facilities aren't new either.)</p>

<p>It sounds like you had a run of bad luck and happened to get an admissions rep who was inexperienced, incompetent, or maybe just having a really bad day.</p>

10

<p>I would support this sentiment. On the whole, CMU did a very good job presenting themselves. But as for that studio space, maybe it's a gender thing. My daughter really disliked it. And not because it was in an old building. (Old is good. And true enough also, many of RISD's buildings are old or else they are retrofitted -- and well redesigned -- warehouses, such as the ID and Arch. buildings, among others.)</p>

11

<p>taxguy--</p>

<p>After S (UCLA '05, Design|Media Arts) had his portfolio review at CMU, he realized how limiting/traditional the design program there was in comparison to other schools such as UCLA. He did enjoy getting feedback on his portfolio and meeting other design students, but he feels he made the best choice.</p>

12

<p>Little Mother,
If he has seen enough other schools to compare, I'd be curious what other schools your son feels similar to UCLA. How did his portfolio differ from the work he found at CMU (or elsewhere)? My D. may be interested in Design/Media Arts, but preferably at a school in the Midwest or East. Thanks!</p>

13

<p>Mackinaw. actually, I and my daughter don't dislike old buildings. We thought RISD's buildings were very charming. The Design building at CMU was really nice from the OUTSIDE. We didn't feel, however, that the studios were that great. I guess being in the basement doesn't give a lot of warm fuzzies either.</p>

<p>Little Mother, Yes, I really liked the UCLA curriculum. Sadly, based on those from our high school, no one got into there from our school with less than a 4.5 weighted GPA and 1400 on the SATs. Thus, we ruled it out. Also, I was being a bit selfish in that I didn't want my daughter to attend school on the west coast.</p>

14

<p>kjofkw--
Let me ask my S about other schools similar to UCLA. As for his portfolio, I noticed that his was more heavily weighted toward computer-generated designs that he had done for his HS, e.g., covers for student handbook and course catalogue, than other students. He was also interested in animation, motion graphics, and other topics not covered in the CMU curriculum. I remembered that he received a very favorable review from Syracuse, and they offered him merit aid.</p>

<p>taxguy--
When S applied to UCLA, admissions standards were different than they are now; however, for design/media arts, the portfolio does count heavily in the admissions process. At least it must have for my S who had a 3.06 uw GPA and 1440 on the SAT I (and he took only two AP courses). I can understand your selfishness, but we really enjoy taking trips out there during the wintertime! Plus, I prefer flying to driving. ;)</p>

15

<p>On the CMU/UCLA discussion: my S went to the CMU summer program in design (which he liked) two years ago, and now is a UCLA sophomore (which he loves.) Actually, he found out about UCLA's program through CMU--they give all the kids in the program suggestions about design programs that might fit their interests and skills, and suggested UCLA to him. Personally, I thought that CMU was significantly more design career-oriented (they told us their expectation is that their undergraduates will not attend graduate schools, but be able to find work with the skills they have learned) while UCLA is more art-oriented (they told us exactly the opposite: that many of their graduates get M.F.A.'s.) Little Mother is right that portfolio review is very important for admission to this UCLA program, not high grades or GPA's: my son's GPA and SAT's were lower than the UCLA average. We'd have preferred CMU, based on it being near our Virginia home, and the practical nature of the program appealed to us. He preferred UCLA, based on CMU's prohibition against computers for freshmen: the quality of life difference he perceived between Los Angeles and Pittsburgh (an opinion, by the way, we don't share); his aversion to cold weather; and the relative distance from the beach of the two campuses. The moment he was accepted by UCLA it was game over.</p>

<p>It's worked out well for us: UCLA's foundation program has turned out to be both rigorous and demanding, and I am convinced he will be prepared for a job when he graduates without needing an MFA. On the other hand, I think he would have liked CMU too, except in wintertime. Other schools he applied to were Boston University, Northeastern, Virginia Tech (for us, in-state tuition) and Virginia Commonwealth University (another in-state school with a great art and design program.) Kjofkw, you might consider all of these options if your D wants to say in the east coast, and if she, like my son, doesn't want to go to just an art/design school: he wanted the option to not transfer if he decided he wanted to major in biology after all. (I did convince him to apply to RISD, but when he got the home test, he completely lost interest and refused to complete it.)</p>

16

<p>kjofkw--
S said that, in his mind, UCLA's program is unique in that, if you know what you want to do, you have the opportunity to go off the beaten path, e.g., roommate is now in master's program in animation. Also, it prepares you for jobs in areas different from courses you took, e.g., friend who focused on print media is now doing some motion graphics work. S also applied to CMU, UCSD, USC, Drexel, RPI (EMAC program), and Syracuse.</p>

<p>Flatbush Faithful--
You're right about the preparation of UCLA's program. S is in the process of moving from his current job (art director of a small ad agency to junior designer at a larger firm with more extensive work and a higher salary) as well as getting lots of freelance work. There's no dearth of jobs or ways to make money out there, and networking works well. Your S will be well prepared!</p>