<p>i am a senior in high school with intentions of majoring in industrial design. as far as college, i am confined to the state of michigan. my current options for attendance are:</p>
<p>my top choice is CCS, but my presence there is indefinite due to lack of substantial personal funding. </p>
<p>i have concern with with the id "program" at u of m; i am not particularily amazed up to this point. </p>
<p>are there an u of m art students here, possibly those pursuing/ who have pursued id? if so, how have you approached your art education at u of m?</p>
<p>if there are any michigan residents/college students who have come across id at some point, do you have any recommendations for attendance at other colleges/universities? other majors?</p>
<p>i would appreciate any and all help from anyone. i am coming from an unsupportful household - let's just leave it at that.</p>
<p>I have heard good things about CCS;however, you should seriously consider five other schools as well:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>University of Cincinnati: This has one of the highest ranked ID programs in the US plus has a guaranteed one and one-half year of PAID coop. It is a top school for most design subjects. Cincinnati is also one of four schools that have a transportation design concentration too.</p></li>
<li><p>Art Center College of Design. This is a perenial powerhouse for ID and as well ranked as University of Cincinnati. However, it doesn't have the built in coop program that Cincinnati does.</p></li>
<li><p>Carnegie Mellon: Also a powerhouse in design and highly ranked too.</p></li>
<li><p>Pratt Institute: Industrial design is one of the strongest programs, and they are well known for it. They are also well connected with NY design firms.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>5.RISD: This is arguably one of the best if not the best overall art school in the US. I am sure that they have a good design department;however, some industrial designers that I met noted that they believe the ones noted above have better programs.
Frankly, for ID, I think that any of these four are better choices and are more highly ranked by Design Intelligence Magazine than the choices that you noted. However, it is up to you.</p>
<p>I have heard great things about CCS's industrial design program, particularly the transportation design side of it. Actually many have said that if transportation's your thing, then it's really about either Art Center (described above) or CCS. I've heard some very negative things from RISD alums about their ID program- not in touch with the real world, makes it hard for them to get jobs out of college, etc. There are some professors there trying to change that though.</p>
<p>Frankly, I didn't even know that UM even had industrial design, but there's certainly something to be said for those students who will make things happen for themselves regardless of where they go to school.</p>
<p>I would encourage you to talk to industrial designers about this and look at their work. Check out the boards at Core77, search for portfolios of students and alumni of the schools at Coroflot.</p>