I’m sure it’s kind of odd to see CMU listed with art schools, but I got accepted into all three and am struggling with choosing a school. I applied for Industrial Design for both Pratt and RISD and CMU’s School of Design.
I didn’t really expect to get accepted into RISD and CMU(what did I do in my past life to deserve this!), so I am really at a loss. I would like for some input based the following things I know:
CMU’s School of Design has a 7% acceptance rate (compared to 25% overall rate) and students are almost guaranteed to find a job prior to graduation. Class of 2018 was about 30 students.
Pratt Institute is the only school of these three that I am biased towards; their Pre-College program was what solidified my passion for design. I was awarded merit scholarship, and would have to pay a little less than half of the original tuition. Although my parents said that I don’t have to worry about money, I woulds still like to be fiscally conscious in my decision, since I didn’t earn the money being spent. I also have some family and friends in NY, which is a very important factor for me, since I am very family oriented. I would be a lot more comfortable knowing that I had good support system close by.
RISD is RISD. It has the name that helps land jobs, but outside of the art would, it is still a relatively unknown school. Even I didn’t know about RISD until about two years ago when I really started thinking about college. I feel like if I listed RISD on my resume post graduation, I would have a 50/50 shot of having a very enthusiastic response or completely uninterested response. Same line of thinking goes for Pratt.
Personally, I was really to commit to Pratt, but getting accepted to CMU really has thrown all my previous plans out fo the window. I really think that it’s down to Pratt and CMU.
Also! I forgot to mention that I have yet to tour CMU and RISD, but will be doing so in the coming days. I know that I really like the environment of Pratt.
I think the next thing you should do is to (try to) throw your biases about CMU/Pratt out the window and visit them. Get a feel for the environment, think about who you’d be surrounding yourself with, look at the studios you’d be working in. Do you want a more collaborative environment? All of these questions can be answered when you visit. When you’ve done that, you can decide which school jives with you more.
Definitely visit CMU. We had a departmental tour with a design student and it was really informative. It’s probably a broader program than industrial design at your other schools, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing - see what you think when you visit. Congrats on having great choices!
Little known fact - 3 of CMU’s 5 lowest admission programs are Drama (4%), Music (6%), and Design (7%), joined only by SCS at 5% and IS at 6%.
When on campus, take a stroll down the sidewalk engraved with the many, many EGOT winners. College of Fine Art is a well-kept secret, except to those in the industry.
You have great options. Visit them and it’s very likely that one will just feel right.
I am guessing you are talented and it showed in your app
go and visit CMU, and get an appointment with Fin Aid to talk about the cost barrier
even if you decide not you go, at least you’ll know you are making an informed choice
Hello all! Thank you for all of your input. I toured all three schools and found that I felt the best on CMU’s campus. I talked to some design students and really fell in love with their interdisciplinary approach. I am happy to say that I plan on attending CMU this coming fall.
Congrats!! There was no wrong decision to be made among these three schools, but having toured CMU Design, I completely understand why they won you over. Hope you have a wonderful experience there!!