My daughter is a senior and has been interested in studying fashion merchandising for a few years now. She has a 4.3 gpa, 33 ACT (although she just took it again this past weekend), tons of ECS and community service and she has taken fashion classes every summer since 8th grade at different colleges. We live in Florida but she prefers to go out of state. She would like to go to FIT in NYC but I really want her to study at a university/college that doesn’t just focus on fashion, in case she changes her mind. . If she stays instate, she will graduate in 2 years because of her Ap/Dual credits. She will receive top bright futures and she also has Florida prepay so her tuition is already paid. However, UF doesn’t have fashion merchandising and FSU has something close but not exactly the same. Her older sister is a junior at an ivy so I need to offer her the same opportunity to leave. Any suggestions?
She sounds like a strong, smart student. Have you looked into RISD? There is also a dual degree program between RISD and Brown.
I take it there are no budget caps?
@lisaol I don’t understand why she doesn’t just finish in two years in Florida and then go to grad school in NYC. You can have a marketing degree and still work in Fashion. It doesn’t have to be matchy, matchy. And a straight marketing degree would be more flexible for jobs. I thought you had mentioned money was a concern and you still had two or three other children? Finances are different?
I have 4 children, one is graduating next year and the other 3 have their tuition paid, if they stay instate. Otherwise, some of it will roll over. I’m pushing her toward doing her 2 years in Florida and then going but i’m also weighing all my options. I just wanted to know if anyone had any college suggestions?
@doschicos Thank you but she doesn’t want to study design and that’s what RISD offers.
@ lisaol, University of Minnesota has a retail merchandising major (and minor) in its College of Design. They offer merit aid for top OOS students and have an Honors College.
Marist in NY is supposed to have a good fashion merchandising program and it’s close to NYC for internships.
Cornell has an interesing major combining fashion and business. Google it. Looks good.
Here it is. I found it. http://www.human.cornell.edu/fsad/fashion/fashionmanagement.cfm
@lisaol, I was also going to suggest that program at Cornell, but @citymama9 beat me to it.
I’ve worked in retail and fashion my whole life and have interacted with a lot of talented merchants, but honestly I can’t remember any who actually had degrees in merchandising. The merchants’ role is at the hub where design, marketing, sourcing and management intersect. They have to understand their product and the financial and logistical sides of their decisions, plus have an advanced taste level and appetite for hard work. They are motivators and persuaders and have to have excellent communication skills – oral, written and visual. It’s a high stress, fast moving career but can be exciting and financially rewarding.
My advice to your daughter would be to get a BA or a BS at the best school she can get into. She can major in anything that interests her, as long as she learns to write convincingly and speak compellingly. During her summers and breaks she should work in retail, either on the floor or at an internship with a brand she admires. If she’s so inclined she should do a fashion blog.
Retailers and brands are headquartered all over the country, and even though New York is the most fertile market for employment, summer internships can be found just about anywhere. They are often unpaid (or just paid a stipend) so plan accordingly.
After she has her BA/BS, if she still wants a fashion degree she can get an associate degree in fashion business management at FIT. But even without an official merchandising degree, my guess is that if she has focused internships and summer retail jobs under her belt, she’ll get snapped up by a retailer or brand and be on her way.
Having said that, if she knows what she wants and it’s a BS in Fashion Business Management from FIT, don’t stand in her way. You may just be postponing the inevitable. The fashion industry is addictive and if she joins a prestigious brand or retailer, she’ll use every ounce of her intellect and then some. Top merchants – the types who go on to be VPs and CEOs – are some of the brightest (and most highly paid) people I know.
I know someone who graduated from Cornell in the program linked above. She got her first job out of college at Bloomingdales as an assistant buyer and has been promoted. She transferred into Cornell from Union college, where she spent her freshman year. Maybe your daughter can do a year or two in FL and then transfer to Cornell, which will save you some tuition money. You’d have to see if credits would transfer if she transfers out as a junior. She may be safer transferring after her freshman year.
Should add, that she had internships every summer in retail or fashion merchandising in NYC. Her resume was strong by the time she graduated.
Indiana University has a program, I think, but it sounds like your D could get both the career and a less vocational education as noted above.
yes, I want her to apply to that but she prefers a more urban campus.
Thank you all. I appreciate the advice.
Cornell has a good record for accepting community college transfers from in-state CCs, so it would be worth asking the admissions office at the College of Human Ecology how they handle college credits earned in dual-enrollment programs.
It looks like Cornell - or at least CHE - has suffered some kind of electronic melt-down today. I can’t get to it either through Chrome or FireFox right now.
Was going to say Cornell, UMN and Marist, but @monrath is totally right: attending the best college she gets into, developing her eye, sense of supply chain/leadership, skills and taste, learning French and Italian (consider study abroad with internships), having knowledge in emerging markets (African markets are growing at rapid rates), majoring in anything she’s strong at, having internships will be more important than a merchandising major.
Have her look at the Honors college at USC Columbia - the application is due soon and it’s pretty elaborate. They have several “cohort” programs where students spend a fully integrated year abroad.
Not fashion merchandising, but WashU has a fashion design major through the Fox School of Arts. It might fit the criteria (urban campus) and students can take courses across different schools. There is the possibility of taking classes at Olin Business School. Your daughter’s academic profile should make the school a low reach, especially if she did well on the most recent ACT, although a 33 should be fine for WashU.
@MYOS1634 How much debt would seem reasonable for that? Post #16 Best school including Columbia.
I was under the impression that OP was able to pay for each child “out of pocket”. But I’d never advise on taking more than the federal loans (5.5K freshman year).