From Argentina! I need info!

<p>Hello! My name is Virginia and I'm writing from Argentina. I'm planning to go to the U.S. in an exchange program for a semester. I need help to choose the colleges. I'm interested in studing advertising, marketing and graphic design. The list of posibilities that I have is in this web site:<br>
ISEP</a> - Anticipated Exchange Openings in the U.S.: Spring 2009</p>

<p>Could somebody help me and tell which universities are good for me to study?
I am only doing three courses, so If you know about one that is really good for me to do, please let me know about it!</p>

<p>Thank you very much!</p>

<p>Virginia</p>

<p>Virginia:</p>

<p>There are plenty of great schools on that list. And, some of the better choices have the most openings.</p>

<p>Tell us what you are looking for? A huge university? Or would you like to try a semester at a small college where the professors knwo your name? Do you want urban city nightlife? Or the peace and tranquility of a rural setting? Do you like snow? Or hot, sunny weather?</p>

<p>Thank you for answering!
I prefer a small university or college, just to feel confortable and get used to it. I really like big cities but I’m not that interested in urban city nightlife. I’m planning to go in August 2009 up to January.
According to the weather, I don’t have a preference. My main interest is finding a school that is good in advertising, marketing or graphic design; I would also be great if it’s close to big cities for tourism. </p>

<p>Thank you again.
Virginia</p>

<p>OK. Give me a day or two to look at the list and recommend a few places – or at least give you some description of pros and cons.</p>

<p>My daughter spent five weeks in your country on her study abroad program. Lived with an Argentinian family in Buenos Aires (Palermo Viejo) for most of the time, but had a week’s vacation in a youth hostel in the foothills (Mendoza) touring wineries, horseback riding, parasailing, etc.</p>

<p>Agnes Scott College
Beloit College
Monmouth College (Illinois)
Pitzer College
Miami University (Ohio)
Hampshire College
Rhodes College</p>

<p>These are the top small schools on the List. All are liberal arts except Miami (ohio). Beloit has an amazing international program (which could help you adjust to the US) and is less than 2 hours from Chicago. Also Pitzer college is in LA, Miami (ohio) is near cleveland. Hamphire is i near Boston and NYC.</p>

<p>I would focus on Beloit, Pitzer, Miami (OH) and Hampshire if you want small colleges near big cities.</p>

<p>Thank you both very much! I’ll take that into account!</p>

<p>Virginia,
While all of the schools mentioned by SmallSchools above are great schools, with the exception of Miami University they are all “liberal arts colleges” </p>

<p>That means that, while they offer courses in many subjects, they usually wont offer courses in the three subjects you mentioned: advertising, marketing, and graphic design. For example, at Beloit College, there is an economics degree and some courses in business, but there are no courses in advertising or marketing. The art department occasionally offers a course in graphic design, but it is not offered every semester, and that would be the only course in that area when it is offered. </p>

<p>So, if your main purpose is to attend a college here where you can study marketing, advertising and public relations, you are probably going to need to be somewhat flexible on the size of the college you attend as small liberal arts colleges probably won’t have what you need. Your best chances of finding advertising, marketing, and graphic design is going to be at a University.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you would be OK with coming to America to study other subjects than those three, then liberal arts colleges would be a great choice. </p>

<p>But, if it is important to you to be able to actually take courses in marketing, advertising and graphic design, you are probably going to need to focus on some of the universities on the list which offer more career-focused degrees than those typically available at a liberal arts college. </p>

<p>So, my suggestion would be to go to the websites of the colleges and unviersities on the list and look at their “academics” section – that will tell you whether or not they have courses in those subjects (to be honest, it will be easier to find advertising and marketing, than graphic design).</p>

<p>Looking over the list, here are some of the schools that have strong programs in one or more of the three subjects you’re interested in studying:</p>

<p>San Diego State University
San Jose State University
Ball State University
University of Denver (relatively small)
University of Nebraska
Miami University
Butler University (relatively small)
Loyola U in New Orleans (relatively small)
Creighton University (relatively small)
Clemson
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
St. Edwards University (relatively small)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Chapman University (small)
Marshall University</p>

<p>There are probably others on that list that offer adverstising, marketing or graphic design. As I said, if your goal while in the U.S. is to focus on those three areas, rthen you will need to esearch what is available on each school’s website carefully.</p>

<p>I would also suggest that you check very carefully if there are any pre-requisite courses you will need to have already taken in order to enroll in courses in the three subjects that interest you. At some schools, getting into certain courses can be difficult if you don’t have the pre-requisites. So, after you have identified several universities that interest you, email the relevant departments to ask if this will be the case. It would be a shame to come all the way to the U.S. and then not be able to take the courses that interest you.</p>

<p>Finally, I’d suggest that you go to a local bookstore and buy a travel guide to the U.S. that explains the differences between different parts of the country. You can probably also do some research online to help you understand the differences between what it would be like to attend a school in, say Ohio or Nebraska with one located in California or Texas. It might be helpful for you to also have a map of the U.S. so you can look at where each school is located geographically.</p>

<p>Carolyn has given you some excellent advice. I think that it will be difficult to find everything you want in a school from that list, but here are the ones I think that you should look at more closely.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>University of Denver–located in a nice area of a great city. It has about 5000 undergraduates and it has programs in digital media studies, electronic media arts design and marketing. I don’t know if it has advertising per se, but it definitely has some courses in the area. Unfortunately, it’s one of your restricted options so I don’t know if it’s available to you.</p></li>
<li><p>Butler University–located in a decent area of Indianapolis (a relatively large, but somewhat crime-ridden Midwestern city). It has about 4000 undergraduates and it is very pre-professional, with programs in marketing, digital and electronic media, public relations and marketing.</p></li>
<li><p>Virginia Commonwealth–located in a not too great area of Richmond Virginia, its a very large school with over 22,000 undergraduates. Of all the schools on your list, it definitely has the strongest program in Graphic Design and it also has a major in advertising and marketing.</p></li>
<li><p>Creighton University–located in Omaha, Nebraska, it has approximately 4000 undergraduates and it’s also a Catholic school. The student body is fairly conservative, and it has majors in marketing, advertising and graphic design.</p></li>
<li><p>University of North Carolina–Charlotte. It’s located in Charlotte, North Carolina, a relatively big southern city. I don’t know if it’s in a good location or not and it has approximately 17,500 undergraduates. It has majors in graphic design and marketing and has some courses in advertising.</p></li>
<li><p>West Virginia University–a nice school with great athletics. Located in the smallish but fun town of Morgantown, West Virginia, it has approximately 21,000 undergraduates and programs in graphic arts, marketing and advertising.</p></li>
<li><p>University of Utah–located in Salt Lake City (great place if you like to ski), the school has approximately 21,000 undergraduates. It has majors in graphic design and marketing, but I’m not sure about advertising. Many of the students are Mormons. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Other schools to look at include Ball State, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, University of Kansas and Virginia Tech.</p>

<p>Thank you both very much! That was really helpful and I will continue searching taking into acount your advice!</p>

<p>Miami University is about 30-40 minutes from Cincinnati. It’s on the opposite side of the state from Cleveland.</p>

<p>^^ That is in response to Smallcollegesftw.</p>