<p>I'm a graduate of Syracuse (Newhouse.) However, I started out as a VPA student. I just want to throw some bits of information out into the open that possible attendees may want to consider that I can assure you, you will not find elsewhere. You may have noticed a rivalry of sorts between VPA and Newhouse since some programs and industries overlap...</p>
<p>-My experience with VPA was unfathomably horrible. I was a Communication Design major (meaning branding, advertising, graphic design, art direction etc.) The amount of abuse that that program's students are subjected to is completely unjust and flat out ridiculous. As far as grading goes, it is like seeing a unicorn if you get above a C in a Com Design class. The professors are outdated and not very successful in their personal endeavors and they definitely take their lack of success out on their students. I watched them tear up a project, throw a project off a presentation board onto the floor and prior to my class they set a student's project on fire. Legal action had been threatened against them (there were only 4 professors when I was there and they operate under a group mentality). They truly believe that agencies still operate under a "Mad Men"-esque structure. They are not progressive at all and they do not want their students to succeed due to their own insecurities. My friend had a conversation with one of the professors in which the professor said "why would I want to be friends with any of my students? They're like sheep. A farmer doesn't become close with their sheep. They just take them out to slaughter." None of my friends who graduated from that program have gone on to anything that I think is particularly great.</p>
<p>-ON THE OTHER HAND, I transferred into Newhouse and it was nothing but GREAT. All of my professors cared deeply that their students succeeded and they always offered to help. They, themselves, were all very successful in their given fields and offered up their industry connections to us. My friends and I have gone on to some of the world's best agencies and still keep in touch with some of our professors. When I talk to people about Syracuse, I always say that Newhouse was the best part of my academic experience. Students sometimes joke on campus about Newhouse seceding from SU.</p>
<p>I am not surprised to see that there are other students who have had such terrible experiences with the professors in VPAās Com Design program. After one year in that program my daughter also transferred but she left Syracuse and went to a highly ranked design program where she excelled and was given constructive criticism that helped her to grow as a designer as opposed to being demeaned, degraded and humiliated by the com design professors. While at Syracuse she seriously considered changing majors because of the way those professors told her that she would never amount to anything, but her love of design would not allow those men to dissuade her. After transferring away from Syracuse she succeeded in her design work and was recruited for a good paying design job at a prestigious firm.</p>
<p>We had many, many talks with her when she was considering a transfer so we learned a lot about Newhouse at that time. (Ultimately she decided against Newhouse because if she was going to transfer, she wanted to be out of snowy Syracuse) She told us about the competition that the VPA professors thought existed between them and Newhouse (although I have a feeling that any Newhouse professor probably doesnāt give any Com Design professor a second thought). She felt that the Com Design professors knew that they were sub par, especially compared to the highly ranked design program/professors in Newhouse that were on the very same campus. She also felt that the com design professorās insecurities helped fuel their inadequacies as professors which translated into them abusing the students.</p>
<p>All in all, I totally agree with SUgrad2013 and hope that any prospective student would take it upon themselves to ask questions and learn as much as possible about any program that they are considering.</p>
<p>Well, now, this was a most disturbing and alarming thread, as my DD has applied to VPAās Department of Transmedia. Obviously, it is a wholly different program from Comm Design, so does anyone have any insight into the Transmedia program?</p>
<p>Anyone able to comment on this studentās experience???</p>
<p>Since my daughter was in Com Design, I have no idea about the professors in Transmedia but Transmedia is a completely different department than Design so maybe it wonāt be as bad. I would absolutely look into it as much as you can and stay an involved parent. I can tell you that we felt that the woman who was heading up the Design program (sorry, I canāt remember her name) at the time was of absolutely no help, and said she had heard about the problems with the Com Design professors but felt their abuse was a good way for the students to learn what it is like in āthe real worldā. She was dead wrong because even when my daughter had internships, and then her full time job, they were NOTHING like the abuse and negativity that were inflicted upon the ComDesign students. As a matter of fact they have all been exactly the opposite. The Dean of VPA was very nice and she, too, knew of all of the problems with the ComDesign professors and even told us stories of other students transferring out of ComDesign because of those professors. Although she said her hands were tied when it came to dealing with them. She told us about one girl who was at Syracuse on scholarship for crew. The girl told one of her Com design professors that she would need to miss one of his classes due to a regatta. He made her quit ComDesign because he said he would fail her if she missed his class! yet she had to stay on crew in order to maintain her scholarship. So she actually transferred out of the program. The fact that that was allowed to happen was a huge red flag to us and was probably one of the final determining factors in my daughter leaving Syracuse all together. </p>
<p>I wish your daughter luck at Syracuse. Hopefully the Transmedia professors wonāt be as insecure and threatened by Newhouse the way the ComDesign professors were. If she likes SU, but not VPA, I would advise her to see if Newhouse offers a similar program to Transmedia that she could transfer into. If she got into Newhouse and succeeded there, apparently the Newhouse name opens doors that VPA will never be able to do.</p>
<p>I really appreciate your thorough and thoughtful response and excellent suggestions. As mentioned in my first post, DD has only applied and has not been accepted yet. Both she and I have been researching the various programs to which she has now applied much more in depth since the time between the universitiesā decisions and May 1 is mercilessly brief. We will continue to do even more due diligence now, and find out about the reputation of the Transmedia professors and program. </p>
<p>I fully agree with you that the ComDesign methodological approach to teaching is outrageous and not in keeping in the least with what high quality instruction is. Completely indefensible culture in ComDesign. It also does raise alarms about the leadership of the institutionāthe chair, the dean, etc.āwho allow this to go on. I understand how hard it is to dismiss a tenured professor, but the poisonous culture of that program just seems beyond the pale.</p>
<p>@laplatinum</p>
<p>Although Iām unfamiliar with VPA at SU, my D does attend the university.</p>
<p>We visited the school on 3 different occasions during the time she considered applying there. Out of 5 different school prospects, SU became her dream school. She was accepted to the School of Architecture but decided after her freshman year that this Major was not a good fit for her. She still regards the program to have been outstanding & a great challenge for sure. Currently, she is in the process of transferring into the Whitman School for Business Management, another excellent school.</p>
<p>SU offers a lot of well recognized colleges overall. My suggestion is not to just sit behind a computer and make complete judgement based on a message board thread. It is good to raise question based on what others say but you should be scheduling a visit with a special request to sit in on a class (both of you or your D by herself) in the area of study focus. It would be greatly advised to speak with some of the students after the class(es) to get their input. Then arrange to speak with either a Professor, Assistant Dean or Dean.</p>
<p>We took the time during my Dās Senior year (Spring) to attend all of her college choices. We had an opportunity to have her shadow an Architecture student at Philadelphia University for one class session. It may have been a bad coincidence, but the students did not like this particular professor. The student filled my D in on the fact that the whole class (32 students) had petitioned Phila U Arch Dept. regarding the lack of teaching skills this professor had. During the class, a monitor was present to obviously review the professor. I thought this to be a bit of a bad sign and had placed them last on the list of schools being that Phila U was not really that much heard of in the Arch community. D still applied as a safety school.</p>
<p>It was the greatest experience for me as a Dad to be proactive and visit the colleges of my Dās choice. I considered the visits to be of great benefit because this is probably the 2nd greatest financial event in ones life next to buying a home and not to exercise due diligence would be foolish. In my opinion, itās unrealistic to do it all through the internet. I considered it an investment of our time and a substitute for our vacation that year.</p>
<p>If the VPA program or a portion of it is subpar, you need to go there and find out for yourself. Also remember, those will not be the only courses the student will be engaging in. Other subjects will taken as a part of the Majorās curriculum in the other colleges on campus. One should consider to visit those too. </p>
<p>Looking back to my days of college, I remember having bad professors at both of the colleges I went to (2 years at State and 3 years at well recognized Private one) but survived through them and still lived to tell about it. I bet most all college students will have professors that were not to their liking. Hopefully, the entire VPA Dept. is not truly that way. </p>
<p>Good luck in finding the right fit!</p>
<p>@laplatinum- keep in mind that this is the last year that Nancy Cantor (the current Chancellor of SU) will be there. Hopefully she will be replaced by a person who will stop SU from its current slide. I would also hope that the new Chancellor, if faced with complaints about any program including ComDesign, will react appropriately and deal with it in such a way that no student ever has to endure what my daughter, and apparently others, had to put up with. Best of luck to your daughter!</p>
<p>Thanks, toptobottom! My DD is my last child of six and in the olden days of my earlier children, there was not a lot of Internet to speak of, so we had to visit a great deal. Iāve continued that tradition with my younger children, too, and so yes, if she is accepted, we will spend some quality time at SU. Weāre already on a visiting schedule for her EA universities, but wonāt know about SU for a while. I would prefer visiting in the winter, however, as we are wimpy Southern Californians who really have no concept of weather and I think she should experience not only the university, but the geography and climate. I appreciate your ideas of shadowing, etc. Some universities allow that; some do not. Good to hear SU does. </p>
<p>GCMomOfTwo, pleased to hear a new Chancellor is on the horizon. No question strong leadership is essential in any organization and it may be that a shake-up is over due!</p>
<p>@laplatinum</p>
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<p>Holy **** (my own censoring)! You must be down to eating rice these days.</p>
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<p>Haha - for sure! I moved to LA for 3 years in the 80ās and had to come back east to enjoy the cold winters once again. Weather on the West coast is just too boring.</p>
<p>If accepted, a Winter visit would be good exposure but theyāve been generally mild over the past years here in NY so itās not that great of a factor.</p>
<p>I agree that thereās a possibility that a new Chancellor may address the conditions at VPA. I would copy/paste a link to this thread and send it to him or some other higher up to assure you in your decision to make SU a contender to attend for your DD. Try getting some answers ahead of time.</p>
<p>Thereās also the possibility that your DD can transfer into Newhouse once sheās in SU, depending on her grades as it could be difficult with the competition I hear. The other detriment could be VPA dishing out undeserved poor grades. My Daughter is shooting for a dual major and went to speak with Newhouse advisors. Upon mentioning this thread to her yesterday, she had overheard (the Dept. offices are in a large open area) another female VPA student complaining about the program and asked if she would be considered for Newhouse and also that her grades are not representative of her capabilities. She remarked how the professors were conducting themselves poorly as mentioned by the OP above. The Newhouse Advisor probably heard this tune before and had to assure her that they would do everything they can to help her. The Advisor was sympathetic to the student which is what most of the colleges at SU are known for. It seems that VPA has slipped through the cracks. </p>
<p>I believe the new Chancellor (or his staff) should intervene. This kind of exposure on the internet is never any good. Iām a proud parent of an SU student and would like that to be for all others having there children there. Itās definitely a school that takes pride in itself and has an overwhelming Alumni backing.</p>
<p>Itās so great to hear you are a participating parent for all of your children. Iām sure they appreciate it and will for the rest of their lives. Many Parents of Students fail to take the important step to actually visit the colleges/universities which is a big mistake. I truly believe that some may base their Admissions decisions on this fact. Maybe a thought to ponder - waiting to get accepted prior to a visit could possibly decrease a students chance of getting accepted in the 1st place. I know visits from far away can get expensive, but itās probably the 2nd most important event in someoneās life today the way the costs of college has escalated.</p>
<p>Good luck and hopefully you can ruffle some feathers to get some response!</p>
<p>I have sent a short email to the chancellor@syr(dot)edu with a link to this thread expressing my concern with the demeanor of the Professors in this University program. This bothers me as a proud parent of an SU student and especially for those students whose dreams to receive professional instruction for their careers being shattered.</p>
<p>I urge anyone that is reading this thread and has sympathy for those students of the VPA to take a moment and email the SU Chancellor as well. Maybe we could help make a difference to spark a review of the program by someone outside of the Dept.</p>
<p>Yes, toptobottom, lots of pasta and rice! Four of the six are out in the world. I keep telling them they have to support their old mother down the road; so far, no takers. So youngest DD already has an EA acceptance in Boston, and Iāve told her, after reading this thread, that weāre going to do a Boston/NY run in the dead of winter and visit Syracuse. (Any recommendations for great cafes with outstanding soup?!) </p>
<p>I spent one, fairly non-humid summer in Syracuse, so have fond memories of the area. Have also been in Thunder Snow in Buffalo and lived two winters in Russia, but that is dear old mumānot the child who wore shorts to school today (and whose HS is across from the beach), as it is over 80 degrees outside. Nevertheless, DD found the university and its program and worked very hard on her application, which included an art portfolio; recruiters showed up in So Cal this year from SU and she was thoroughly impressed with its offerings. </p>
<p>Glad you sent the Chancellor a link. Universities should be aware that prospective students and parents conduct their due diligence by various means and that CC is one site that provides massive exposure for good or ill.</p>
<p>Cafe in Syracuse: Mello Velo. Some of the best food (wraps, soups DESERTS!) Iāve ever tasted. </p>
<p>Lisa
(Mom of happy Freshman)</p>
<p>WOW, Great decision! Just make sure itās not during holiday or Spring Break. The winter has been lackluster with snowfall. SU campus has hardly ever had snow cover lasting more than a few days because of warmups with rain. They are actually getting a dusting this morning. I found this great link with a SU webcam when my D started her Freshman year. Iām 3 hours south of Syracuse and this helps me to see how her weather is doing. If your D ever gets to attend, tell her that sheāll have to get used to the gray sky winter months. Often Iāll check the webcam and when I see itās cloudy, I send a cheerful text at the start of my Dās day. </p>
<p>SU Webcam (from Maxwell Hall) - view of the Campus QUAD - toggle āFull Screenā symbol at bar on bottom video player for better view:</p>
<p>[Maxwell</a> School of Syracuse University](<a href=āhttp://www.maxwell.syr.edu/deans.aspx?id=36507225279]Maxwellā>Quadcam)</p>
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<p>LOL!!! With six kids going through college you canāt afford soup! Thereās a Chinese restaurant that serves an affordable portion of white rice and a free fortune cookie.</p>
<p>Congrats on her Boston EA acceptance. I went to college in Boston but I didnāt like the area. My college was actually in Waltham which was an outer suburb about 20 minutes West of the city. I rarely went into the city itself.</p>
<p>Let me know when your headed over. My Daughter is friends with a girl and a guy that attend the VPA Art programs and might be willing/available when you visit to give an inside lowdown and tour of the different buildings where classes are held. They may be open to bring your D to a class too. I just picked up my D yesterday to come home for the long weekend. Weāre headed off to a local ski area where she does snowboard instruction. Iāll talk to her more about giving the students a heads up for your visit.</p>
<p>Have a great day!</p>
<p>Hi, this discussion was just brought to my attention a couple days ago. I just wanted to offer a different perspective from the original poster. I am a student who transferred out of the Newhouse Advertising program into the Comm Design program in VPA. While I was in Newhouse, I became very interested in design and creative work and took many graphic design classes. You should keep in mind that the original poster graduated from PR and not graphic design. While I donāt doubt that some people may not have felt Comm Design was the right fit for them, many of us actually loved our experiences in the program. I believe one of the major benefits of going to Syracuse in general is for our alumni connections. Many of the Comm Design graduates have gone on to work for Apple, Hasbro, Conde Nast (just to name a few) and are extremely helpful with getting us newbies through the door as art directors and designers. </p>
<p>The Comm Design program has an unofficial philosophy that collaboration is the key to both success and design. I chose to transfer out of Newhouse because I felt as though I wasnāt getting any honest feedback from my professors or my peers. I wanted to become a creative professional and many of the classes that I took focused on Account Management and Visual Journalism. From experience it is my indication that Newhouse is more driven in the business side of creative fields and VPA is more creatively driven in ideation and design. Students coming out of both of these programs are equally as successful for different reasons and I think that it should be the studentās choice to decide what program is best for them. </p>
<p>I hope this post influences many perspective students to think wisely about their choice in choosing which program is right for them. If you want to learn and become a great designer and are not afraid of some honest critique, Comm Design may be right for you. Best of luck!</p>
<p>@SYRTransfer- Iām happy for you if you are having a great experience because I hope that means that there have been drastic and sweeping changes and dismissals within the ComDesign program but I must respond to your sentence that says āIf you want to learn and become a great designer and are not afraid of some honest critique, Com Design may be right for you.ā Please, there is a very big difference between an 'honest" critique and degrading and humiliating a student so please donāt try and say that the two are the same. They are very, very different and, at the time that my daughter was there, that was so far from what was happening. Look back to the first post in this thread where they wrote āI watched them tear up a project, throw a project off a presentation board onto the floor and prior to my class they set a studentās project on fireā. Come on, throwing a project on the floor or setting fire to one is hardly an āhonest critiqueā. </p>
<p>Maybe someone at the top has finally come down on the Com Design professors to stop their abusive tendencies. I can only hope so for current and future Com Design students but for now, I can only speak of my daughterās experiences and that of the administration at Syracuse and can say that Com Design was the worst part of a college experience that she could have had. Thankfully it led her to transfer to a place where we feel that she flourished, learned (had real constructive and honest critiques) and was able to gain employment immediately with a company that is so very far from what the Com Design professors told the kids was ānormalā workplace behavior. </p>
<p>There are many places that a student can become a great designer. For my daughter, that place was definitely not the Com Design program at Syracuse University. </p>
<p>Iām a current painting and political science student in the Department of Art at SU. VPA is great. We have one of the top Musical Theater programs in the country, many fine art programs ranked in the top 20, a highly touted design school, and a communications design program that produced the head of graphic design at Apple. Newhouse is great too. Itās downright egregious to suggest either of the colleges is horrible just because of a single studentās experience in a one major.</p>
<p>I have tons of friends in the communications design program who LOVE their professors, LOVE their program, have TONS of job prospects, and are VERY happy with the community they have found with their peers (even if they work so hard that they never sleep). It is a challenging program, and itās not right for students who arenāt motivated enough or deeply interested enough to handle the reality of the critiques. Students who have a problem with the way they are treated should visit professors outside of class to discuss their personal needs if they are different from the majority of students in the program or transfer somewhere they feel more comfortable, but itās absurd to blame the entire college for the emotional needs of one individual not being met. Many, many students are extremely happy with their experiences in VPA and in the communications design program.</p>
<p>I have found nothing but the greatest professors in my own program, most of whom are beyond encouraging and have developed personal relationships with me that will last long after I graduate. Theyāve helped me to become a successful artist before Iāve even left this school with a resume and connections I never would have found anywhere else, and Iām beyond thankful to this program for leaving me in a position where I will be able to live and work comfortably as an artist.</p>
<p>Frankly, itās laughable to say that the entire college of VPA is somehow dangerous or treats its students poorly because one individual student subjectively had a better time in Newhouse or a bad experience one time in comm design when the overwhelming majority of students in those programs are extremely happy with their school.</p>
<p>@viciousdirt" Did you even read this thread? Nowhere was the entire VPA program talked about or considered dangerous. The thread is about ComDesign. I would suggest that you go back and read through it. Two different people in this thread (my daughter and another student) had very similar and incredibly alarming complaints. (Although my daughter was accompanied by many classmates as she tried to deal with their abusive situation, but I canāt speak for those kids so I didnāt!) It was said that both the Dean of VPA ,as well as another woman in charge, fully acknowledged that they knew of the problems with the ComDesign professors so that goes to show that these problems were, at the time, valid. I can only hope that something was done so that the abuse stopped.</p>
<p>Talking about the program that you are in has nothing to do with this thread. Thatās great if you are happy, but once again, youāre not in ComDesign so why is your opinion of professors in āpainting and political science ā¦in the Department of Art at SUā even relevant?</p>
<p>I am speaking from experience about the abuse that was thrown at my daughter, as well as her classmates. My daughter organized a meeting with many of her fellow classmates and the ComDesign professors. That didnāt help. After getting nowhere with the professors, I (and some of the other parents who had heard of what was going on to their kids) called the professors but none of us ever received a call back. I also had a meeting with the Dean of VPA. She fully acknowledged that the ComDesign professors were a source of constant problems for her. So viciousdirt, please realize that, in my opinion, your response is ālaughableā because you are not speaking from personal experience.</p>
<p>My advice, at the end of my first response in this thread was: āAll in all, I totally agree with SUgrad2013 and hope that any prospective student would take it upon themselves to ask questions and learn as much as possible about any program that they are considering.ā And I would still say the same thing about any student looking at any program in any school. </p>
<p>@GCMomOfTwo I was not, in any way, responding to you. Please read the OPās first post, which is about VPA and Newhouse, both of which are GREAT schools with GREAT programs including Comm Design. The thread is called āMy experience at VPA vs. Newhouse.ā Iām talking about my experience at VPA, as well as the experiences of my friends in both VPA and Newhouse. VPA is great. Newhouse is great. They are very different schools that contain many, many programs, and itās still ridiculous to judge either of the schools on one studentās experience in one major.</p>
<p>This is not one student complaining. And it is not just design department. My VPA department has many problems. Abuse is among many other issues. The VPA faculty I have interacted with donāt care about helping anyone with their career. They donāt even bother to pretend. They just donāt care!!! In fact if they sense you have ambitions, they will try to break your spirit. It is overall an unhealthy environment. I am an A student and when I asked one of my professors to write me a letter of recommendation, I was shocked when he refused, without giving me any reason. I thought we had a very good relationship. I truly did! So you can imagine how shocked I was. I still havenāt gotten over it. On the other hand, my Newhouse professors gave me good advice and helped me genuinely. I also received help from other outside department besides Newhouse. I am not saying that all professors at Newhouse are helpful because I have not interacted but with a few. But my experience from VPA and Newhouse has been night and day. I wish more students spoke up. But no one dares because they just want to get their grades and graduate. </p>