Help needed college search

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>I have been impressed with the advice others have gotten here, perhaps I can find help here as well.</p>

<p>My daughter is a HS junior. It is time to start thinking about where she might want to go to college. Taking into account her interests and grades, I'd welcome suggestions.</p>

<p>Interests: she really likes fashion, and seems to have a flair for it. She hasn't done much studio art in high school (the few classes she took, she liked), but did a jewelry design class at FIT for two summers, and liked/was very good at that, and is the asst. costume designer for all theatre productions in her high school, and is very good at that, and likes it. She is the person people always go to for advice on hair, makeup and clothes. Looking at her, it is clear she has a flair...but she says she prefers shopping for (or editing selections of) those things, rather that being the hands-on person designing them.</p>

<p>Grades: She isn't what I would call an intellectual, but is bright. Having said that, she struggles a bit academically. In grades 9/10 at a very well regarded public high school, she had a 3.0 GPA. She transferred to a very rigorous prep school after grade 10, and now takes a pretty challenging courseload; she appears to be working harder than she ever did, but her grades are actually lower: 2.7 GPA. This might go up a bit, but 3.0 is probably a stretch for her at this school.</p>

<p>As for SAT/ACT, her PSAT indicates she might end up around 1100-1200 on the SAT, with a lot of studying and tutoring; she did a bit better on the practice ACT (low 30's), without any prep (go figure).</p>

<p>Where she says she wants to go to school: Says she would prefer a LAC where she could take design classes as well as pursue other interests, as opposed to being at a strict art/design colege. She likes NYC and urban environs, doesn't want to be "in the middle of nowhere", as she puts it. (We are from NY suburbs). She would like to be able to get home in a few hours by car, or no more than one hour by plane.</p>

<p>Reading the advice here, I am inclined to have her do a summer arts pre-college program, to develop a porfolio which she does not have but will need to apply to colleges with visual arts programs next year; also, to see how she feels about spending lots of time in a studio, which she would have to do whether studying design at a LAC or art school.</p>

<p>I am at a loss, given her rather low grades but expressed interests, to know what schools to even begin looking at. </p>

<p>For instance, is Syracuse a possibility, or totally out of the question due to grades? Does doing a summer program at a school help when it comes to applying to that school? Any advice of suggestions would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Ronnie</p>

2

<p>i had a 1230 and a 2.8 gpa and i got into syracuse fine for art. its a good school, but they're pretty good about letting people in.</p>

3

<p>ronnie, there are many jobs in the fashion business (retail or manufacturing) that don't involve designing per se. If she's not sure that she wants to attend an art or design school, then I'd suggest that she get a BA or BS in ANY major. </p>

<p>Fashion design is a VERY competitive field and only the most talented and driven succeed. There are, however, many, many jobs in the fashion industry that involve good taste and an aesthetic sense but are not exactly design based. Different companies have different titles for these general positions -- like buyer, merchandiser, planner, sourcing manager, marketing manager-- but in essence they all involve just what your daughter is interested in: editing, directing and selecting other people's creativity.</p>

<p>The skills required to be successful a successful manager in the garment industry are mostly general and communications based -- e.g. ability to express thoughts orally and in writing, ability to "sell" your ideas, ability to explain your requirements. The best way to get exposed to available jobs is to do an internship at a retailer, manufacturer or even a fashion magazine or advertising agency.</p>

<p>I'd suggest that your daughter look for a school that offers a marketing degree and that she take a wide range of classes that involve writing or analytic thought. Really, whatever she's interested in from History to English to Psychology.</p>

<p>I've worked in the fashion industry for 35 years -- in design, in merchandising, in manufacturing, in sourcing -- and the one thing that successful people have in common is an uncommon ability to communicate plus extreme drive. Their educational backgrounds are all over the place from engineering, to law, to biology. A few even went to FIT!:) </p>

<p>On that topic, she should look further into what the fashion and design schools have to offer in merchandising and marketing. The industry is a lot more complex than just drawing clothes and design schools like FIT and Parsons have excellent career placement and faculties full of industry insiders.</p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how she does.</p>

4

<p>tinycities: thank you for the specific info about your experience with syracuse admissions. I am thinking you must have had a very good portfolio, too. </p>

<p>Momrath: thank you for the detailed perspective based on your professional experience. I will discuss all of what you wrote here with my daughter. Communication skills can be developed in any Liberal Arts discipline, and marketing or merchandising major might be very useful. I just want my daughter to determine whether she wants to be in the hands on (design) end of the business, or the planning and managing end of it. Towards that end, she will try to get an internship in the industry for part of the summer, and spend part of the summer in a pre-college arts program, to work on a portfolio in case she decides she wants to go the hands-on route. </p>

<p>I will post separately to see if people have any experience with the pre-college summer program at Pratt, and see how it compares to either Syracuse or RISD, but thank you so much for your insights.</p>