<p>Hey! Just because you are not on the 4-year plan does not mean you have missed your best opportunity!</p>
<p>2 real life examples - friend majored in psychology (4 years), didn’t want to go to grad school, went back for second undergrad in engineering (5 years). Spent the last 25 years in a successful engineering career.</p>
<p>daughter of another friend did extended gap year, forfeited her full scholarship to SAIC and went to a local good school. Took 4+ years in college. Graduating older than the others in her class and pursuing her dream career.</p>
<p>Try not to measure yourself by other people’s standards. Do the best you can with the time, money and talents you have. You seem to have drive and intelligence. Most of life can be conquered by those attributes - honestly! Chin up and get a plan to develop your portfolio and choose a broad range of possible schools.</p>
<p>yes noodle…life has a way with us. I beat myself up for years for things undone and opportunities not taken advantage of and sometimes it still creeps up on me. I studied photography in college. I was good but could not respect and value myself at the time. I had kids pretty young and let it all go. Got into yoga and practiced massage while taking various part time jobs so I could juggle it all…dormitory manager, gym teacher, accounts payable. People always ask…why didn’t you pursue your photography? I never really answer the question. It is quite complex and personal. But now kids are almost grown and my husband and I are running a graphic design studio together and I have dreams of opening a gallery and getting back into my own work. Even though it is not all perfect, I know I did the best I could do in every moment and the older I get I see how it all fits together. Just be responsive to yourself…be patient with yourself…little actions can become big developments. </p>
<p>The lurker moms here give you our support as you sort through all of this!</p>
<p>Noodle. I am sorry but I feel like you want people here to tell you what to do and when suggestions are made, you have excuses. There are many art programs in the Bay Area. There is the CCA in SF and in Oakland. I imagine there are classes at the other really good SF art school (name forgotten at the moment), and I also think San Jose State and maybe Sta Clara have decent art programs. My feeling is if you were really interested in this idea, you would know all about these programs already and have researched what is available at each of them for this summer. To say you don’t know, is an excuse, so really, what do you want to do? Think about it and act. If your university now is tough, but good, maybe you are better off finishing and then looking at an art program–nothing wrong with that–and use your free time to develop your art and portfolio. If what you want is to find an art program, then you do need to do some art work and investigation of schools beyond US news…I personally do not feel that the option of going sooner to art school is better than waiting. Only you can know that. But, that being said, nothing is going to happen until you start doing the footwork. </p>
<p>Sorry if this seems abrupt and curse. It is not meant to. Rather, I just want to see you move forward, do some of the research and figure out what you might do. You seem to be treading water in one place right now.</p>
<p>phillymom
I can see where you are coming from but if you got 5-10 minutes, please read the New York magazine article.
OP did not admit nor deny but I am almost sure that’s the kind of environment s/he lived thru 18years, or more if still lives at home.
look, s/he said does not like nor good at finances, but still doing summer internships instead of art class. why not drop everything, eh?
s/he just could not do it. </p>
<p>If my guess is right, there was/is no parental input, support, understanding, plan making, pre college money, portfolio help to study art, unless it was somewhat counted toward GPA or honor awarded in front of the entire community.
I know I am patronizing and totally biased, but beauty of these forums are that, everyone got equal chance to ask and make excuses as long as they want as long as follow basic rules.
posters usually know when they see real whiners. they don’t get reply or get ridiculed.
I don’t think this kid should be treated that way.
you want to see this kid to do something about it. we all do.
again, I am biased, and should take this as a grain of steamed rice.</p>
<p>Bears, I really did not mean to berate the OP, but I guess I did. I had read the article when it was posted, but did not attribute to the OP, and you could very well be right. I actually read the article and sent it to a couple of friends who are Asian and with whom I discussed the Tiger Mom articles. I apologize Noodles, as I really was not trying to ridicule you. As Bear said, I just want to see you move forward and get to where you want to be.</p>
<p>sorry me and my big mouth
I did not mean you ridiculed OP. there are mean ones out there, esp @parents and HS kids forums.
I mean, you read the thing and found good use for it, while I am still not totally sure if it really applies to OP, since I haven’t heard either way.</p>
<p>Who knows what really gets any of us going. Maybe the OP will appreciate the tough love from philly. Maybe I could have used a big push when I started to waver in my 20’s. Hah! Maybe I could use a big push now. </p>
<p>One thing I will say to the OP…one of the things that held me back from pursuing my dreams was good old money. When I had my first kid I hadn’t yet figured out how to earn a living from photography. H and I had no savings and only part time jobs so that we could do our art on the side. We were in pure survival mode. It is hard to catch up when family responsibilities set in. If you need childcare your whole salary could get eaten up if you are at a low paying job. This little ramble may have nothing to do with you but it I am trying to point out that you have an opportunity now while you are young and independent to do some things that might be much harder to do later in life.</p>
<p>For instance, with the degree you are pursuing now you might be able to land a job that earns you a good enough income that you could SAVE (yeah what a concept) enough money to take the time to go back to school and follow this dream of yours. Unless your parents are totally behind you and will foot the bill for a transfer and most likely a few more years towards a new undergraduate major or fund you to take art classes on the side in order to get into and pay for graduate school. If you’ve got parents ready to do that then go, go, go. If not then look at your current studies as a good foundation for you to create the life you want.</p>
<p>Hi drae27: Thanks for the support and advice, I really appreciate it and am very happy to see you share your own experience with me: ) However, I start to realize that there are so many circumstance make this attempt hard to reach. First again my school is very stressful and so is my major, I can’t imagine taking those harder upper div courses while the same time taking art courses which are also very time consuming and needs a lot of time and energy. Second, I am currently in a public university which is among those top universities in the nation, I bring this up is just because if later I decide to start over an art degree in a lower tier state university, my parents and all my friends and people who know I attend this school will be really disappointing or suspicious that what is wrong with this person? Third, for those top art schools, I am not sure if I have strong portfolio which they will like, p.s. I have good art creative and fun thinking and unique perspective, however I don’t have strong basic drawing skills, that’s why most my work is digital art rather than drawings. That’s why I start doubt my ability whether I And if they do like and accepted me, my parents will not have enough money to support me, even they have, I will feel really bad and selfish to let them invest in a business for me which has so many uncertainty and only for my own pleasure. Forth, again, those friend and people I study and live with, no one has any thought like this, so if I do those things in such an nontraditional, I fear I will become really an outsider and people will see me very differently. So my point is it is not easy to give up all the things I am doing right now to pursue a very different direction for own pleasure. I guess people like Steve Jobs or Bill gates who have the guts to quit school are very brave and smart persons who really know what they want to do in my life. However for me, I may have some talent for art, but I just start think that is not enough, there are still so many skills and staff I need to learn in this area, not sure if my parents or other people will have the patience to wait and see since most my friends already have been working for couple years. So I don’t know, I don’t even want to bring this up to my parents since they are not rich, they are people who are struggling with living too. If they see me pursue this career, they may feel stressed too since there are so many uncertainty in art creation and art career. So what my conclusion is that recently after I have spoke to some of my close friends about this, and most them don’t really see this is a good idea and they doubt if I can be what I was saying that I want to be stand out from the crowd. So I start to feel a little doubt about myself too since I haven’t do any art designs for almost 3 years, how can I be so certain if I am right about myself this time. My last point is I feel life is just like a fast running river, once I have miss a place, it is really hard to turn back and pursue to the different direction since every else are moving forwards so fast, no one will wait for you, the earth will not wait you. That’s why I find out it will be very selfish and immature if I decide to give up current degree and pursue something with so many uncertainty and costs. So I really appreciate everyone’s encouragement and advice, I just thought people who around me have no one have such kind goals or dreams like me, so I really don’t get expose to those art environment and art people very often. So I don’t know, I really want to do it, but it;s too hard that I am just the only one in my current life support this goal while the others including my close friends and parents will disagree，even though they will against it, but I know what they are worried inside.</p>
<p>Hi drae27: Thanks for the support and advice, I really appreciate it and am very happy to see you share your own experience with me: ) However, I start to realize that there are so many circumstance make my attempt hard to reach. First again my school is very stressful and so is my major, I can’t imagine taking those harder upper div courses while the same time taking art courses which are also very time consuming and needs a lot of time and energy. Second, I am currently in a public university which is among those top universities in the nation, I bring this up is just because if later I decide to start over an art degree in a lower tier state university, my parents and all my friends and people who know I attend this school will be really disappointing or suspicious that what is wrong with this person? Third, for those top art schools, I am not sure if I have strong portfolio which they will like, p.s. I have good art creative thinkings, unique perspectives, so most people find my art works very fun to watch, however, I don’t have strong basic drawing skills, those fundamental skills, that’s why most my works are digital art rather than traditional drawings. That’s why I start to doubt that if I am real that good as I have thought of myself? And if they do like and accepted me, my parents will not have enough money to support me, even they have, I will feel really bad and selfish to let them invest in a business which has so many uncertainty and is only for my own pleasure and needs. Forth, again, those friends and people I study and live with, no one has any thought like this, so if I do those things in such a nontraditional way, I fear I will become really an outsider in the life and people will see me very differently. So my point is it is not easy to give up all the things I am doing right now to pursue a very different direction for own pleasure or needs. I guess people like Steve Jobs or Bill gates who have the guts to quit school are very brave and smart persons who really know what they want to do in their life. However for me, I may have some talent for art, but I just start to think that some talent is just not enough, there are still so many skills and staff I need to learn and improve in this area, not sure if my parents or other people will have the patience and time to wait and see my future results. And most my friends have already been working for couple years. So it’s lying if I say I feel no pressure to find a decent job as soon as possible. And also I don’t know, I don’t even want to bring this up to my parents since they are not rich, they are people who are struggling with living too. If they see me pursue this career, they may feel stressed and worried too since there are so many uncertainty in art creation and art career. So what my conclusion is that recently after I have spoke to some of my close friends about this, and most them don’t really see this is a good idea and they doubt if I can be what I was saying that I am going to be stand out from the crowd and impress everyone else. So I start to feel a little doubt about myself too since I haven’t do any art designs for almost 3 years, and lack of fundamental skills, how can I be so sure whether I am right about myself this time. My last point is I feel life is just like a fast running river, once I have miss a place, it is really hard to turn back and pursue to the different direction since every else are moving forwards so fast and powerfully, no one waits for you, the earth will not wait you. That’s why I find out it will be very selfish and immature if I decide to give up current degree and pursue something with so many uncertainties and costs. So I really appreciate everyone’s encouragement and advice, and I don’t know, I really want to do it, but it;s too hard that I am just the only one in my currently life support this goal while the others including my close friends and parents will disagree，even though they will not against it, but I know they won’t really back me up. But still I will travel to the east coast next week as I have planned to visit those art schools and show the admission officers my art works to see what is my chance of getting in and what do think of my works. Then I will start to plan my next step from that I guess.</p>
<p>Also remember that Bill Gates had very supportive parents who apparently did not have total nervous breakdowns when he said he wanted to quit Harvard (although I’m sure they had a moment or two over that news). They not only let him set up in the garage but I believe his mother found him a couple of his initial investors (if they were smart they kept investing)</p>
<p>I think it’s a very good idea for you to visit a couple of schools and see what feedback you get. Then you can more easily move on in whatever direction you choose but a visit and some feedback from some good schools will help you answer some of these questions you have.</p>
<p>A little bit of an aside but I was doing some research and just found out that Geoffrey Beene, the fashion designer who was one of the first to compete on a level playing field with the French/European market was from a family of doctors, spent 3 years studying for a medical degree, left went to west coast to study, instead started working at I Magnin and went on to become Geoffrey Beene, fashion designer. </p>
<p>Of course, there are many who left chosen paths and veered off into a new direction to never receive the acclaim of a Gates or Beene. You must know yourself, your drive, your dedication and then have a tremendous amount of luck combined with a tremendous amount of work and then be willing to accept that monumental success may never come and know that you can live with that with no regrets.</p>
<p>Boy I’ll bet Beene’s parents weren’t too thrilled initially either!</p>
<p>gawd it will be harder than I thought.
who is paying for the trip? are you OK?</p>
<p>lemme add
Steve Jobs quit Reed, simply because he could not afford it after one or two years or semesters. he was adapted as a child, not all peachy life for him either.
however, continued to audit class and hang out for free and made all good connections while at school.
For Reed being Reed back then, they let him do that.
He must have appreciated it, his son’s name is Reed. and he later said auditing calligraphy class was the inspiration for Macintosh, thou what he got is “idea” all other designers make it beautiful.</p>
<p>I bought $$$$$$ ticket to keynote address of Mac expo when I had bit more money (and he was bit less of the di*ck) so I could meet and talk to him.
that very day, I became obsessed with Reed college. (no, my kid don’t have stats nor mind set. and art there is so-so. but boy, their library got better art books than mediocre artschools or Unis)</p>
<p>this is what I live on, concerning myself and my kid
you never know if you are genius. even you are, you never know how long it takes to “prove” that to other regular folks in your circle (why is that so important, is another thing, but I know how it is) or how long it last. (one hit wonder and then back to nobody or worse, “had been”)
as smarty said, there are tons of these success stories in every possible field.
and of course, there are tons of failure that never get published.
and more of so-so OK result (not famous, rich, your old friend would still ask “you do WHAT?”) but able to eat and live, have no regret.
well
choice is yours. the world did not end yesterday. the earth is sold. (maybe not so much where you are, but NYC stood on this steady bedrock, I heard) really, take it easy.</p>
<p>Oh noodle…I am afraid we overloaded your brain. I hope you had a nice day, maybe got outside and let it all go. I wish you well now and in the future whatever your path may be.</p>
<p>Noodle, I completely understand the guilt you would feel. When parents sacrifice for us, we feel the need to “pay” them in success. I apologize if I missed it, could you summarize for us:<br>
What is your major?<br>
What year are you in school?
Is your first choice to finish your current degree and then get a BFA or switch schools and get the BFA only?</p>
<p>noodle
I wonder if some practical info would help you think about your ideas more clearly.
Graphic Design, while it is a creative field and takes skill and talent is still a BUSINESS. It is very likely that you would end up doing work for major global and entertainment companies. There is a lot of business mind (marketing, advertising, branding) that goes into this and you would need to be able to interface with management at these companies. Your friends and family may think your idea is strange and not to be taken seriously but communication design/advertising is a serious field and not some flighty endeavour. Companies like Nike, Coca Cola, CNN etc are not fooling around when it comes to spending their money on design. I know there are lots of stories people will tell of young people going through art school and not landing a job upon graduation but I have personally known lots of young people who entered the working world upon graduation. It takes focus, initiative, a strong portfolio and internship experience and the ability to forge good connections with your teachers and mentors. </p>
<p>You may also consider that you might like to use your current degree to land a job at a “creative” company. For example the advertising agency Weiden and Kennedy:[Wieden+Kennedy</a> | Full Service Integrated Advertising Agency](<a href=“http://www.wk.com/]Wieden+Kennedy”>http://www.wk.com/)
This way you would be working in an atmosphere that inspires and fulfills you and brings you in touch with a new world of people.</p>
<p>I’ll join you in the hijack in a bit. Noodle, if you are still there, I think there is a middle ground we can go with your dreams, but first, I just need those few pieces of info. Maybe will cheer you up in a different way.</p>
<p>Ok so did a review and this is what I think is the summary: an Econ Major not too far into the program and would love to leave it all and run to a school where you can major in design. </p>
<p>Have a small portfolio, need skill building, esp drawing skills. Not sure your art will stand out or if you have the talent to make it to a top design school. Graphic Design is what you want vs computer animation or illustration.</p>
<p>Family and friends will look down upon design school choices and especially if it is not a top school. Need loans and scholarships to go to design school.</p>
<p>If you could manage to finish your econ degree from your top CA school, I would say do that first!! Econ is so versatile and can be the foundation for many careers. A friend of mine started in Graphic Design and ended up graduating with a degree in Marketing in 4 years. As many have shared, it is easier to go specific to general than vice versa - in 4 years.</p>
<p>I am going to be blunt. Do you have talent? That is one thing in common with the kids going to the schools on your original list. They have talent and it has been vetted with professionals and through contests, etc. No doubt you are smart and ambitious. Before you hang your hat on the moon, get some opinions. I think others have suggested this. Get over to some of those great CA art schools with your work in hand and ask for their opinions. </p>
<p>Now you will have to do the work. Getting in is …well, art is subjective so who knows?</p>