Ohio State (Fashion Program), or Fashion Institute of Technology.

So, I’ve narrowed my list of schools down to The Ohio State University and the Fashion Institute of Technology. I really want to do visual merchandising or become a buyer (I’d prefer being a buyer a bit more), but I’m very torn on which school to go to. Ohio State’s program is actually one of the best in the country – its ranked 12th on one site and 9th overall on another, out of 400 colleges in 2016 – but FIT is still regarded as probably the top school in the country for fashion and has a great deal of respect around the world. I’ve already gotten into Ohio State (I’ve been a massive Buckeyes fan all my life, since I could even watch football) and I’m still waiting on FIT but there’s a very good chance I get admitted there as well. I just wanted to get some people’s input on what to do. Living in NYC is crazy expensive (it’s $10 for freaking McDonalds there), but has a colassial impapct on your career trajectory because of all the internship opportunities around you. However, OSU has been my dream school since I was a little kid and definitely helped shape not only my love of football but also probably a large portion of my high school experiences and sports I took part in, etc. They’ve also got a great fashion program; it’s not as if I’m going from the number-one ranked school (FIT) to some obscure college just because I grew up a fan of the team/school all my life. The environments are comeplete opposites as well: OSU is a university setting (lots of school pride, togetherness), and FIT is much more of an art school, where most students are said to be in their own little cliques (like high school) and don’t have much school spirit beyond the fact that they love that they’re in the top fashion school in the country and call NYC their “campus.” Thoughts?

I am having the same problem with Kent state university and FIT right now. I know that ksu is ranked the 5th for fashion merchandising in the country but I am scared that I won’t be able to land a job quickly due to the lack of connection being in Ohio. I also want a campus and a greek like and its not possible for FIT. I think it is just a matter of fact on how you weigh the pros and cons. If you want to increase your chance of a job related to fashion it is better to be in NYC and get connections and internships(theoretically). However, if OSU is your top school and you want to have a campus life, it is the school for you.

Especially since I already got into KSU, it is easier for me to think about that option.

@ALOHAAA I’ve talked to so many people – from
FIT and people who go to university instead for fashion – and it seems like it’s all what you make of it. Like, there’s so many videos on YouTube of FIT that it’s a little easier to gauge what that experience is like. These are my takeaways: average to below-average dorms, a very insular social scene (everybody says you make friends initially and then nobody really strays from their pacts), awesome factuality because they work in the industry and help get you internships (most students say they can’t actually teach, though, because they’re not actual professors but instead industry professionals), predominately a girls school (I’m a guy, so not complaining there), extremely expensive for clothes and food (thrift videos of students who go there show them buying “cheap” clothes for $40 or more from THRIFT SHOPS), and most admit having the Fashion Institute of Technology on your resume is basically what it’s all about (most companies do cherry-pick FIT students and the name carries a lot of weight). Obviously there’s a lot of pros and cons there, but I’m on Linkedln as well and I do see tons of people who went to university from fashion doing just fine, yet FIT has a great deal of alumni at basically every fashion-related company I’ve looked up. Kent State, Ohio State – I’m not sure why Ohio schools are actually so highly ranked for fashion, but a lot of their alumni do very well for themselves. I’m just not all that sure that if you want to be a buyer or merchandiser that it matters if you go to FIT, because those are more business-oriented tracks anyway, not design paths that obviously you’d want to be in an art school for like FIT.

@Virgo25AD to me it seems like you already made your decision. FIT is a great school, but would you be happy there and would you get the better learning experience there? In the beginning, FIT was my first pick, but I started thinking about what I wanted out of a college, and just didn’t feel that it was the best pick for some of the reasons you said. So now it’s my second choice, but it is still a great school. I just don’t feel like I would be as happy there as if I went to VCU. Since I am transferring, and I have been to two schools where the focus is pretty much on one subject I now know I don’t want that. I want a little more diversity. My first school (a community college) was big into medical, but still had a good art program which I was overall happy with. My second school (four year college) major focus is politics and business even in my art classes which I knew right away I hated because I don’t feel like I get to focus on other things too even though the art program was supposed to be huge. I feel going to a school that was mainly fashion would be the same in a way since fashion isn’t my whole life and I have interests outside of fashion. The expense such be a huge factor too. Would you be getting a better price at Ohio State? It might not seem like a big deal now, but when you get into your field if you don’t have to worry about huge loans it could help in case you don’t get a job right away. Just because you go to FIT doesn’t make you have a guaranteed job. I have a process who mentioned it. He got accepted into one well known art program and a unknown art program at the time so did a friend. He picked the unknown program, and his friend picked the well known program. He came out with less loan debt and more experience. He received a job right away in his field and his friend never received a job in his field because he wasn’t taught the right things. My old professor is now a director of his art program, and his friend still struggles with debt 20 years later. So name doesn’t always mean anything.

@adorse26 Ohio State actually has internships as a requirement for your degree there, so they make sure you get experience in the industry. I’ve also already worked for PacSun, American Eagle and Dicks Sporting Goods, so I feel I have a good baseline already to start a career as a buyer (they really implore you to have retail experience first), and I was offered to be part of the Manager-In-Training program for Abercrombie by a store manager who works in Columbus. I told her my goal was to be a buyer or visual merchandiser for a company (not a store manager), so she said I could still interview and work there as a brand rep’ while getting my fashion degree from Ohio State (she’s an alum of their program). The thing is, geographically it makes much more sense to be in NYC – despite Columbus actually ranking third for fashion cities in the country right now, which was a nice surprise – because there’s a good chance I’ll have to relocate there anyways for interviews and potentially jobs. I do already have a college degree but in a completely unrelated career in health and wellnes, so I could complete Ohio State’s degree in 2 years – whereas FIT would take me 3 years no matter what. Because FIT would take 3 years, the cost would be more for me to go to FIT and then you have to factor in just regular expenditures costing more in NYC as well over that period of time. I also didn’t have a good college experience the first time around. I wasn’t passionate about my school (Buff State) and the love for my major was gone by the completion of my degree (I was forced to go there because I originally went to Arizona State and decided to come back home because I was too young to be that far away at 18 years old), so now that I have a chance to go to the school/team I grew up loving, combined with them having a great program that I love, it’s very difficult to pass up. I want a job and to get my career going, I really do (especially since I’m a non-traditional student now), but I want to love the environment I’m in too, and have that experience in my life of loving my alma matter. I know I’ll love Ohio State; I just don’t know if I could/would love FIT in that way. I think when you love where you are, what your beliefs are towards the surrounding environment, you produce much better work and actually achieve more than, say, going some place just because it’s ranked higher. I’d consider this like choosing a Johns Hopkins or Duke for medical over an Ivy League school. (That’s about how the rankings for those schools play out, in comparison to where FIT and Ohio State rank for fashion merchandising.) Is my future really going to be worse off because I choose an excellent school/program over the best? I don’t know. I think I’d actually wind up in the same place when it’s all said and done.

@Virgo25AD, I am a non-traditional too. I feel the same way about FIT since I am not sure could love it. I currently live in Maryland, and I can pretty much get to New York easily at anytime which helped me with my first decision. I know that I will end up in New York eventually and I know a lot of people who are going to my first choice get jobs easily in New York. After thinking about it, I knew that I wouldn’t have a hard time getting to New York to do interviews. I think it’s probably better to go to a school where you can enjoy yourself. If you have some sort of doubt, it is probably for a reason. I was originally supposed to go to Drexel last fall, and it was my dream school for a long time. What helped motivate to go there was I was in a relationship with someone who was attending. Within two weeks of being in Philadelphia, I broke with the person I was with and I realized I hated the atmosphere and it was going to change so I dropped out while I could still get my tuition back. I ended up at a different college this semester that I am equally unhappy with since it doesn’t have the major I wanted to do like I thought it was supposed to have. The major I wanted is more geared to the opposite of what I want to do and all the other schools I was looking at didn’t offer spring admission and I knew I wanted to be back in school after having a year off. Plus the school was commuting distance from family so I didn’t have to pay for housing. Having been at two schools that made me unhappy in the last year, I realize it’s more important to be at a school that makes you happy because two or three years can seem like a little bit of time, but it’s a long time when you hate being where you are. It will drag on. Right now, I feel like I am going through the never ending semester. I have dealt with depression in the past so being in a bad atmosphere or even somewhere I am unsure about makes me depressed. For me, I would go to the school where I know that I can be happy because you can make the experience better than being at the best school. You can be at the best school for what you want to do and not live up to you potential while be at a school that makes you happy can push you further. Right now, I feel like I could be working harder, but I am not since I am not into the atmosphere I am in. The thing is I am in a top college, and if I wanted to stay here and graduate I would probably get hired anywhere.

@Virgo25AD I forgot to mention if you think FIT is the best school and will make you happy that’s great, but don’t go by this was my dream school years ago because sometimes what you dreamed about and what makes you happy isn’t what good for you in the present time.

@adorse26 There’s really no telling how I’ll feel once I hear back from FIT. Right now, I’m all-in on Ohio State (always will be, really), but FIT is elite and I can still love/support Ohio State even if I choose FIT. It’s not like I’m picking Michigan here or anything lol. It’s an art school compared to a university. That’s apples to oranges there. That’s what makes it a more difficult comparison, because the schools have almost nothing in common.

@Virgo25AD, I’m just saying don’t go by the reputation of the school because 2-3 years is a long time. You can always move to New York later and you can make whatever school you go to the best school for you. Have you toured FIT? I’m going to tour after I get a decision, but I have toured the other school which helped make my decision so far for me. If you can spend a weekend near the campus, to see how much you would be paying for things near campus and to see the campus at all times of day. I wouldn’t recommend going further than 15 minutes away from the campus because if you are dorming that it makes a huge difference since prices and the area can be different further away. I kind of did this already at other schools to get the feel. I think visiting as a tourist, and trying to get the know the area you plan on living in are to different things because I have done it twice. I did it once where I loved the place when I was just sightseeing and hated it living there and had the opposite it another time with another city.

@adorse26 I’ve never toured FIT. There’s tons of vlogs online of students showing you around but I know that pales in comparison to actually being in that environment and experiencing it for yourself. I will say, however, the actual facilities of the school don’t appear to be top-notch – especially compared to a nationally recognized university like Ohio State that’s one of the richest and largest schools in the country. But, you know, that’s to be expected. Like I said: an actual university – whether it’s VCU or Ohio State – they’re structured completely differently because they’re essentially catering to a much more diverse group of students and have a greater cash flow because of the volume of people admitted. FIT is described by the students there as a very technical school that’s really meant only to get you in and out so you can set yourself up in NYC with a good job. In a sense, living in NYC seems to be considered part of your education there. The school spirit is tied directly to NYC, not the actual school itself. The other thing is, no matter what, NYC is hella expensive to live in . . . by like a mile over living in Ohio or Virginia. Yes, there’s tons of jobs there, but if you don’t land a good-paying job quickly after graduating or can’t find an affordable place to live – where does that leave you? Most likely, until you’ve really gotten set on your career and you’re accumulating an income that’s allowing you to live well there, you’ll need a small apartment with roommates to get by, and have to travel a bit to get to work. It’s a lot to think about. Some of the students there are pretty well-off (i.e., they come from money so they can afford to go to school there and not worry about expenses as much, or whether or not they land a job right away that pays well), so the amount of variables that go into this decision are mind-numbing at times.

@Virgo25AD, honestly for me it’s what you make it, and also it’s probably different for each program too. I feel like you can probably go to a school that doesn’t have anything related to what you want to do, but if you love where you are and work hard you can do better than going to a place that has the major of your choice that’s a top school. I plan to do fashion design, and open my own business shortly after graduating so I feel no matter where I go to school it doesn’t make a difference. I know a lot of people who did the same thing I want to do who went to schools that are way less known and are probably more successful than if they had went to top designs schools because they worked hard and they had professors who could work with them outside of class on out of class projects which you might can’t do at top schools due professors not having time.

We were talking to a professor at Alabama who got her PhD at OSU and she thinks the program is really hoping downhill. She said they brought back Dr Rudd because they basically have no real professors… all adjunct. Just something to look into