Alright, I’ll chime in. As an alumni of University of Cincinnati, my vote would be for UC. I’ve said it before in other posts, but you really can’t beat their co-op program. Sure, other schools ‘allow’ you to take internships, but UC requires you. At the end of the day, you graduate with 6 quarters (a year and half) of real world experience under your belt. UC has longstanding co-op relationships with some of the worlds top companies: Motorola, Nike, GM, Chrysler, Ford, Fisher Price, P&G, etc.
During my day, I guess it could be said that some of the teaching staff were a bit on the ‘old’ side…still teaching gouche rendering skills, etc. That’s been changing over the past few years, with the addition of a couple new professors. Recently, UC hired Craig Vogel from Carnegie Mellon to head up UC’s new design research department.
It’s really hard to evaluate which school is the ‘best.’ On a dollar for dollar comparasion, though, UC would be hard to beat. And to be honest, just because you’re shelling out big bucks for Art Center, doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be designing Ferrari’s in Italy! If you’re talented and passionate about design, you’ll flourish at any one of these schools!