My daughter has been accepted to both programs. Cost aside, does anyone have an opinion on her best option?
the campuses and student experience are quite different. Assuming you are willing to pay for either, have her (and yo) spend some time on each campus, audit a couple of classes, talk to some students/faculty - maybe go to a basketball game - and see which one clicks.
Thanks for your response. We have spent time at both campuses and although she’s leaning towards LMU, she remains torn (mostly due to worries about job opportunities in the future and giving herself the best skills possible). We will be revisiting both again (and she is still awaiting responses from SLO and some UC’s). I just wanted to make sure she knows as much as possible about her options, before making her final decision. Any additional opinions/information is much appreciated.
I know you said cost aside, but are you or your kid going to be paying? Graphic designers are generally not the highest paid graduates, so I would advise against a student taking on debt for it.
Thanks for your response and I agree that debt is not the way for her to start out. Luckily she received merit scholarships at LMU and we (her parents) are paying the rest. We are well aware of the low salaries for graphic designers (unfortunately). We’re just trying to make sure she has the best tools to succeed in her chosen profession. She’s also considering a minor in business. LMU does not appear fond of double majors.
I don’t know about graphic design, but I do know both schools pretty well.
My first question would be whether or not she can get the classes to get out of CSULB in 4 years. Any CSU tuition saving could be eaten up by an extra semester or two. I know some other CSUs have programs in place to get kids out in 4 years with priority registration.
Lmu has a 4 year graduation rate of 70%
Csulb is 15%…
I’d put money on csulb being 5 years
I am a Long Beach native here. I heard so much about the Graphic Design program at Long Beach State. Some 49ers I know travel to Los Angeles and do internships there. I would say that the only downside (to most applicants) is the fact that LBSU is a commuter school. Also, it is heavily based on the greater Los Angeles area, not too many people from elsewhere. By the way, their biggest building is probably the parking one right next to the pyramid.
I do not know too much about LMU since I do not really pay attention to private schools. I generally think the vast majority are not worth it. I’m even iffy on Stanford and Southern California sometimes. Anyway, I heard it’s a great school if you want the religious, residential college life. 24% of students are from out-of-state and 9% are from other countries, not too shabby. But Long Beach State is somewhat more diverse than Loyola Marymount.
Looking at the rankings, both schools are teaching universities and LMU is No. 3 in the West while LBSU is No. 35.
Also, although your child is much more likely to graduate at LMU in 4 years than LBSU, please realize that private schools often assist their students much more than public schools. Plus, some of the students who go into LBSU don’t really know what to do in life at first. It’s possible to graduate in 4 years at a CSU, it’s just a myth — look at California Polytechnic State and San Diego State. Your child just needs to be more of an independent at LBSU, but is that not one of the main purposes of college?
I vote for LBSU, but your child will need to be more proactive if they want the “college experience.” But this is her choice, and she should choose the place she wants as long as it does not negatively impact anyone including herself.
Have your student look into going beyond Graphic Design into UX/UI (which will also use her graphic design skills!) LMU’s Multimedia Arts major http://cfa.lmu.edu/programs/studioarts/program/multimediaarts/ would set her up for a $50K - $70K job just out of college in a tech firm. Tons of tech companies are located in Santa Monica, Culver City and Playa Vista, and most likely recruit from LMU.
Thanks for all of this information. I will definitely have her look into the multimedia arts major at LMU. The program description sounds like what she was hoping to find and appears to be a great fit for her. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to write such detailed responses.
LMU has a much better reputation that CSULB, if cost isn’t a factor I’d go LMU all the way. CSULB is a perfectly good school, but my kids were very turned off by the commuter aspect of that campus, it just didn’t feel like the college experience they wanted. I wouldn’t pay full freight at LMU, but if you have enough merit to bring it down to UC range, I would choose that option over CSULB.