<p>I'm thinking of majoring in graphic design, but was wondering if there were any major universities that offered this major. I'm not really sure if I want to attend an art school like Pratt or Parsons, because I also really want to continue learning Spanish. Anyone have any pointers for me?</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon - excellent program</p>
<p>Fabre, I have looked into this for my major. I can make a number of suggestions depending on whether you want a stand alone art school or university. Here are the schools that my daughter is considering:
NOte: <em>= stand alone art school
.1 RISD</em>: can take courses at Brown
2. Pratt Institute*
3. Carnegie Mellon
4. Wash U St Louis
5. Rochester Institute of Technology ( although don't know if they have Spanish)
6. Syracuse University
7. U Mass Dartmouth
8. Univ of Maryland Baltimore Campus
9. Univ of Maryland Towson
10. Maryland Institute College of Art* ( can take courses at John's Hopkins)
11. University of Cincinnati (DAAP school)
There are many others that my daughter is not considering but are good too such as UNC Asheville, Parson's College, VCU, Cleveland Institute of Art<em>, Cooper Union, Ringling School of Art and Design</em>,Art Center College of Design* ( Passdina Calif), Mass College of Art<em>, School of Visual Arts in NY</em>, University of the Arts in Philly*,and many more.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies guys.</p>
<p>Do any of the Ivies offer this major? Or even Stanford/UC's?</p>
<p>I think that the only that offers a decent art program ( but not that strong in graphic arts is Cornell and Brown. Brown also lets you take some courses, on availablity basis, with RISD.</p>
<p>"In U.S. News & World Report magazine's 2003 analysis of "America's Best Graduate Schools" Carnegie Mellon's art and design programs ranked 10th overall. In specialty areas Carnegie Mellon ranked 2nd in Multimedia/Visual Communications, 3rd in Industrial Design and 6th in Graphic Design. "</p>
<p>Portraittgheartist, that is true for GRADUATE programs. However, for what it is worth, RISD was number 1 in graphic design for grad school. Both Syracuse, Pratt, and RIT was also up there in the top 20</p>
<p>taxguy, indeed they are the graduate rankings; regardless, i was surprised when i saw CMU's strengths in this area, as i always knew it as being a more "fine art" school.</p>
<p>hrm... so is Carnegie Mellon the only top university strong in Graphic Design?</p>
<p>well, as with any art major, a stand-alone art school would be your strongest bet for graphic design. CMU and WUSTL are probably the most well known "top university" art schools, although there are several state schools that are also fairly well respected in graphic design. taxguy listed a few in his list up above, although when i was applying to art schools last year, my art teacher suggested checking into the SUNY schools (specifically alfred) and penn state, as they're both well regarded as far as graphic design goes.</p>
<p>hmmm....alfred has always had the reputation of being the mecca for ceramics....is it becoming more prominent now for graphic design, as well??</p>
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Do any of the Ivies offer this major? Or even Stanford/UC's?
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<p>UCLA has a strong design department. You would apply to the College of Arts and Architecture there. You might also check out UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego, as I've known people who have taken various types of arts/design at these campuses but I don't know whether or not there are whole programs in them.</p>
<p>Being a clueless junior... I was looking for some help here. I was wondering, how is a Studio Art major at a university, such as Yale or Dartmouth, compare to someone who studies at Parsons or Pratt? I know probably going to an art school would be better... but would studying studio art at a major university lead to nothing in the future?</p>
<p>not necessarily; but in a nutshell, with a university setting, art students are still required to take the university's general ed requirements, art departments aren't funded as well or taken as seriously as a stand-alone art school, and the experience tends to be less vigorous at a major university than an art school.</p>
<p>some universities, though, have fairly well-regarded art programs (CMU and WUSTL come to mind) and are more likely to be compared to a pratt or parsons, like you mentioned.</p>
<p>thanks portraittheartist... see i have an issue with my mom who thinks art schools are crap and likes something more "prestigious"...</p>
<p>i'm sorry to hear that, fabre! is she against you going into graphic design (or art) in general, or is it the legitimacy of an art school that she's questioning?</p>
<p>personally, i can't really think of a situation where an art degree from an ivy or some other "top university" would be better than one from a stand-alone art institution. maybe your mom just doesn't understand that art school's a different game than your traditional 4-year-college situation; afterall, when someone goes to hire you as a graphic designer, they'll realize the prestige of a degree from RISD or pratt even if the typical layman is more familiar with dartmouth or yale. </p>
<p>if you're anything like me, it's scary to think about going to an art-specific school as opposed to a traditional college. while my parents were totally cool with my decision to pursue art, it's not easy being the only one in your class to apply to design schools instead of the much more comfortable universities that everyone's familiar with! </p>
<p>just keep asking questions, as there are so many options for school out there!</p>
<p>As far as I know you can study design at almost any ivy, because their departments of architecture and design usually come together.</p>
<p>fabre, there is no right answer here. Many, many successful artists graphic and otherwise have attended artschools and many, many have liberal arts educations. My husband went to art school. My son studies art at an LAC. The choice really depends on what YOU want out of college. </p>
<p>If you're dead set on an ivy (and you really shouldn't be you know) then I recommend that you go on line and look at the courses offered by each. I'm not that knowledgable on the graphic arts side, but for overall strength of studio art program I would rate Yale, Brown, Harvard and Princeton as best. Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn and Columbia not so strong.</p>
<p>For other excellent university programs in art and design, in addition to the ones already mentioned here, I'd add the University of Michigan.</p>
<p>Among LACs, Williams has an excellent studio art program as does Wesleyan, Hamilton, Skidmore, and Vassar, but I doubt that any of these is particularly strong in design.</p>
<p>thanks guys, you all have been really nice and helpful!!</p>
<p>momrath - thanks for your input!</p>
<p>portraittheartist - you see, my older sis went to georgetown, and now works for a good financial company... so my mom prefers me to go to a well known university instead of an art school... and she thinks that i won't get any job and will just roam around the streets penniless trying to draw people's portraits... yah... :S anyway, so are you at an art school right now?</p>
<p>AIGA & NASAD do not recognize a 4yr. liberal arts degree in art or design as adequate </p>
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<p>Here is an interesting article explaining the benefits of a BFA over a BA or BS for design students.</p>