Why did you choose your school?

Design Discussions students and schools
148

I chose CSULB.

I went there for 3 main reasons:

  1. Convenience (was enrolled in a completely different major when I switched over)

  2. Price (was the cheapest BS degree I could find)

  3. Reputation (was suppose to be very respectable back in the day the original program founders still taught)

I would say that that it met and 1 and 2 very well, and was a disappointment in 3. All in all, I would say its an “ok” school. I’ve certainly heard stories of worse programs, and there are some exceptional faculty there. But there are also career professors who don’t have much field experience, and many professors have cycled out in my 5 years there. Some of them were quite good, but there weren’t enough classes to go around when full timers get priority. I’ve also never understood how they match professors with classes, as there were many instances where an otherwise capable teacher was required to teach a subject they were woefully unqualified for. The tools have improved during my stay, but the state of the shop was pretty embarrassing when I started, and it took a student petition to get things changed. However the program has doubled in size (20->40), and I think it will soon outgrow the facilities. I’ve always joked that the design program is the redheaded ginger of the college of the arts, as the fine arts get way better facilities and free foam.

It’s got a few things going for it though. It’s geographically close to a number of community colleges, art schools, and public programs that are very affordable, allowing you to expand your skillset in almost any direction. It’s part of a larger liberal arts campus, so you can get involved with other things besides design 24/7. It’s got a handful of great professors. The Duncan Anderson lectures do sometimes bring in very cool speakers. And its cheap.

There are a few cases where I would say LB is the place for you:

  1. You are poor. Did I mention its cheap? Its very cheap for a BS (~$3000 tuition per semester x 10 semesters)

  2. You came from HS and have never drawn in your life. If you’re starting from scratch and don’t want to spend years training up to apply for ACCD, then LB is the place to go. Many of the students are new to design, and the program will usually keep pace with your learning if you are starting from zero.

  3. You want a degree and a “life”. The program is honestly not that strenuous nor selective if you just want to graduate with a degree. There are some miserable semesters, but if you can put together a slide deck and a presentation, it’s pretty hard to fail. So we get a number of older students who are parents and they need a degree to advance their career and a workload that isn’t as brutal as ACCD.

There are a few cases where I would absolutely not recommend LB.

  1. You have a lot of talent and skills coming in. Chances are, you will draw better, model better, and CAD better than most of your teachers and peers. It is not hard to outgrow the program and plateau. I’ve seen quite a few very talented classmates either drop out from boredom, or barely improve until they got the right teacher.

  2. You want to be among the best and have the drive to do it. Most of your classmates are coming straight from HS and will go through a phase of dicking around (I sure did). Most will not be as serious as you and will not help you get better.

  3. You absolutely need a good environment to learn. This is mostly up to chance, but once you pass portfolio and enter studio, the faculty expects your class to police yourselves. I’ve argued against this to no avail, but if you have classmates that trash the workspace and leave food out, you better get used to the smell.

So would I do it all over again? Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to. I didn’t come from money and I wasn’t exposed to design until late in college, so it’s unlikely I could have gone to any other school and graduated at the same time. But there were many semesters where I felt like I was learning more on youtube than in class, so I think it’s important to manage your expectations. You definitely get more than what you pay for, but I’m a believer that anyone with a good work ethic and a modicum of talent will make more money for the rest of their lives, but nothing will get back lost time. So take that for what you will.