ID Schools for Athletes

To re-iterate what has already been said, sports really shouldn’t be a priority, especially if no scholarships are involved. Sometimes you have to get real, are you that good at your chosen sport? Sure, sports are fun and I was involved in numerous sports my entire life, hockey was mine. But when I had to choose my educational institution I put hockey second to what design school was best. I ended up playing club hockey for a season, missed a lot of games because of my schoolwork and when I transferred I joined the rowing team, 9 months of waking up at 5:15am. It wasn’t easy, but it was fun.

My recommendation: Think about it, are you going to be making money playing a sport after you graduate? 99.9% probably not, so choose the education first.

I actually started my ID education at Metro. It is a okay ID program if you are serous about being a designer you will need a better education. I am also going to jump on the athletics as a secondary concern if you want to do ID. I work in the outdoor industry and have so far my whole career. I got into it because I have a passion for outdoor sports. But during design school I focused solely on ID. I still road my bike and skied but it was a low propriety. Being in the outdoor industry I see designer all the time who put athletics first and ID second. I found them to be poor designers.

Remember ID school is pretty much your gateway to a job once you have that job you have the rest of your life to include sports into it. So don’t skimp on you four years in school because you want to play sports during the time. ID majors are beyond demanding and require the up most focus on your end goal just to get through them. You will work in the program everyday of the week for between 8 hours to 24 hours a day. If you are at a good program you will sleep 4 to 5 hours a night and the rest of the time you will be working on ID. ID programs are like an athletics program but instead of train to win an event you are training to win a career.

I went to Cincinnati with with a Shot Putter who managed doing both very well.

1390 isn’t a good SAT score anymore?

One of my designers played soccer at Western Washington University, all four or five or six years of his education.

Yes, I understand the part about setting my priorities. For me, it has been convenient to look at ID schools with athletics for another reason - they are generally universities that don’t require portfolios, and as I’ve said in other threads, I’m taking my first drawing class this year. I have other pieces that could work; I’m currently building a writing desk out of black walnut in tech class, and I have been taking photography classes as an interest for a couple years. But even with that, I’m worried about getting accepted into an art school such as CIA or SCAD. Heck, I’m worried I won’t even get into Cincinnati. :neutral_face:

I copied this from the DAAP site:

The freshman class profile is based on the middle 50% of the entering 2012 class:

GPA: 3.617 – 4.000
ACT: 27 - 31
SAT: 1230 – 1370
Average Class Rank: Top 18.8%

So with a 3.4 and 1390 I have no reason to be super confident about my chances. I have applied there by the way, as well as PhilaU (which I’m pretty sure I’ll get accepted to) in case I forgot to say.

Anyways, even if I don’t run wherever I go, I’m hoping the time management habits I’ve had as an athlete will transfer over.

I graduated from Metro, and there were a couple of student athletes in the ID program. (I don’t know how they found time for the ID work with the athletics.) The program’s been improving a lot, and they’re getting a new building / facility soon from what I hear.

Best of both worlds: Arizona State :slight_smile:

If I had to do it over again, I would have gone to a school in my home state or as close to home as possible, even if it wasn’t the best school. If you plan ahead and maintain a good focus on your education, the results will follow. Probably going to Art Center or CCS would make a difference, but results from the other schools depend on student initiative.

Studying ID and have time for an extracurricular activity? That would require mastery of time management!

For me getting 3 hours of sleep and a full meal was too much of an extracurricular activity to handle…

3 hours of sleep every night? :open_mouth: Is it really that bad? I can believe something like that can happen when deadlines and stuff are getting close, but I find it hard to believe that with reasonable time management, little partying, etc. that most days one could get a reasonable amount of sleep.

I will also echo Yo’s response. 3-5 hours a night of sleep is pretty common all the time. The hard part of ID school is it is not like studying for a test were you can short cut parts to make it faster. If you are trying to finish a model to a professional level you either have it to the level or you don’t. There are very few short cuts to doing 20 to 100 pages of sketches.

Sure its not 3-5 hr every every night. But for a large percentage it is around 5-6 hrs.

Think of it this way. You have 20 sketch concepts due tomorrow. You can finish all 20 before 8pm. You go grab dinner with your classmates and watch a bit of TV, gym, PS3, Internet. Its now 10pm.

Class is at 9am.

Now there will be half the class that spends 10pm-2am. Redoing there sketches and trying to one up and have the best concepts possible. The other half goes home and relaxes. Both are watching Netflix. But One is on the futon in the dorm, the other has it on the laptop in studio in the background.

Tomorrow at crit. Half the class has every sketch in perspective, good line weight and maybe tried marker. The other half has the concepts but maybe the perspective got away on one sketch. Or your lines were a bit sloppy. But its ok cause you got your 20 done right? Wrong. Half your crit will now be about these technical flaws and then half about your design. In design school. More time = better results.

The ones who stayed up at worked till 2am. At least will have less critique on technique and more on design. They may be half asleep. But the professor only cares about whats pinned on the wall. They don’t know that it was a 2HR render vs and 8 hr render. They will be critiqued the same. To them one person is just more skilled. But both students can put out the same level deliverable. The end is just a time difference to get the concept there.

Its not all about the college workload. Part of it is the “designer’s curse”, where things never feel done in the designer’s eyes. I knew people in my design class who started early, did their work, and went home at a reasonable hour. They did reasonable competent work but didn’t have that ‘burn’ to find something unknown and amazing. They got good grades and found OK jobs. They are currently now not working in design.

passion.PNG
When you have a passion for design…

A lot of good truths here, especially Sain and slippyfish.

The work, life, sleep balance is always tough, be it student or professional level. I distinctly remember working my ass off in school, but admittedly slept an okay amount and maintained an adequate social life. You just learn to work more efficiently and to target your work more effectively (aka, ignoring what doesn’t matter). Best advice I give to students these days is to invest yourself into it completely, or get out of it altogether. Plenty of other majors and jobs for those who want to half-ass something. ID takes a lot of energy, but is tremendously rewarding and inspiring to do everyday.

Also, “passion” is overrated, “doing” is the hard part.

I would get teased if I went home at an earlier time or if I had Sunday dinner with my parents, while my peers were working at school. If a classmate was going to pull an all-nighter, that means I would have to too. If a more talented classmate spent 5 hours on a hot car sketch, I would have to spend 8 hours to match that quality.

Looking back, I would probably be a more productive student if I was less paranoid and more focused on my priorities. I’ve gone through many all nighters and sleepless nights during school and I still don’t regret it. Its better to give it all and fail, then to just get by and do an ok job. As they say, “its better to lose a battle and to win a war.” I may not have gotten good grades in school and made plenty of mistakes, but I’ve learned a lot of technique and life experiences through those hard times. Those things are much more important to me now than a letter grade.

As a professional, I spend many long hours in the office and still pull all nighters. This time around, I’m more aware of time management, pacing and the importance of rest. Also as a professional, I still have to try to find the right balance between work and life!

Hey all,

Since November I’ve applied to 5 schools and have been accepted to most. I spent last week traveling Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia where I got to sit in on classes and see the campuses for a second time. I think I am getting close to making a decision, so it seems like a good time to throw up an update. Note: I go into some detail in case there is anyone out there also considering these schools.

University of Cincinnati - Sparknotes: besides all the hood around campus, UC is really cool, but I got wait listed.
I’ve been wait listed as an industrial design student (1st choice) at UC but accepted as an urban planning major (2nd choice). I got to sit in on a planning class, talk to students about DAAP and UC in general (dorms, food, etc.), and walked around the ID wing a bit. The campus is really nice, I like the atmosphere, co-ops, so it’s a bit of a shame I got wait listed. Anybody else have experience with this?

Cleveland Institute of Art - Sparknotes: I got into an art school! Just about tied with UC.
Takes one semester of art - gets accepted to art school. I got to see a small ID class and a freshman foundation class. I was impressed by the professionalism of the students and the seemingly intelligent/cool faculty. Likes: kick a$$ brand-new (not even finished yet) dorms, foundation year, renovated other building (jmc?), university circle, food at case western is pretty good, overall curriculum and level of work of students/alumni. Dislikes: Not as warm as Cincinnati, but anything is an improvement over Syracuse. A bit more expensive. Not as strong of a gut feeling as with Cincinnati. However, if UC flat out denied me, I’d go to CIA without a second thought.

Philadelphia University Sparknotes: 70% female! Very very cheap! Academics: meh. Campus: meh.
Accepted. Reasons to go to PhilaU: girls and money. PhilaU has offered me both merit and athletic money such that tuition could come out to be practically nothing. The xc program is pretty low-key division 2, which for an ID student who wants to be an athlete, that is a pretty ideal scenario. Also, the school is about 70% female, and it shows :sunglasses: . Reasons not to go to PhilaU: academics. Their selling point is ‘DEC’, basically a collaborative curriculum where design, engineering, and business majors share classes and collaborate on stuff. It seems that everyone there hates DEC (that doesn’t mean it’s bad though). Also, drawing seems very un-emphasized. Apparently they take a CAD/Photoshop course freshman year and don’t get around to rendering until junior year. Concept sketches by sophomore students weren’t anything I couldn’t do, but then again I wasn’t seeing their best work. Lots of focus on design process, ‘big picture’ stuff - how is this going to be manufactured, transported? How much will this cost? Is this sustainable? How does this product fit in the system? etc. Almost business like. I know a lot of this is important, but I think I want/need more help in the art department vs. the business-y practical department. Also, the small campus really isn’t within walking distance of any restaurants or entertainment. So it’s a different type of school, good in it’s own way, but not really my thing. dat scholarship tho.

Wester Washington University Sparknotes: warm weather.
Accepted to university but not yet to the ID department. Never visited. My impression of the school is somewhat of a PhilaU-west-coast-alter ego. Likes: The west coast! the ocean! Warm weather! Relatively cheap! Good reputation. Dislikes: probably little to no athletic scholarship money for a higher-end D-II program. Small ID department doesn’t have the…swagger that I like about big/famous programs like UC/CIA. In the end I don’t know that much about WWU’s ID program - there’s no a whole lot out there about it.

Virginia Tech Sparknotes: dueling banjo territory?
Not yet accepted (will not hear until April). Never visited. Likes: well known, big reputable program. Probably won’t be the most expensive. Dislikes: Not only have other people from my school heard about VT, there are some actually going there! (so mainstream :laughing: ) Unsure about their internship deal. Also, Blacksburg is in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks for the info Harrier, I’m sure it can be helpful to many people.

My advice: girls and money man! Do you even have to think twice?

That would be decision-making based on pure instinct :slight_smile: while at the end of the day, after you’ve messed with instincts, it’s just much nicer and more liberating to calm down, find some peace, and allow your talents to flow out. So let’s switch to the intellect!

My main advice would be to get a feeling (gut feeling will do) of what your main talent is. Maybe it’s design, art, business, or sports. If you feel like you want to have a main career as an athlete but still want an academic diploma on the side, I would go for the school that allows you to flourish as an athlete the best. If you’re more creative I would consider the art school. Sounds to me like Cincinatti should be the choice for you.

From an industrial design perspective, I would advise a school that has expert staff and facilities in order to incorporate interactive technology into your design work. The future designer will very much be a cross over between an interaction designer and an industrial designer. I know Virginia Tech has that option, I’ve seen some interesting things at Georgia Tech as well.

I heard only good things about Cincinatti and Cleveland, but I’m from Europe so I haven’t heard all that much.

So ID is still as demanding for professionals as it is for students?