Thanks to everyone who commented on this thread. I want to keep this going in case it might help someone. I know it’s helping me.
I’ve emailed some schools for some feedback and I’ll share what they said. I’m still waiting on some and I’ll admit I’m judging these schools by how long it takes to get back at me. Some haven’t responded at all and I’m a little irritated, but that’s besides the point.
As for getting a Masters or a second Bachelors… if you want to get specific skills in industrial design you could consider the undergraduate program. This will provide you more core skills as an industrial designer. MFA, on the other hand, will show a more natural progression for your education and will expose you to wider types of opportunities, such as interdisciplinary collaboration, design research and theory, etc. Many grads from our MFA also get jobs as industrial designers but keep in mind that the program does not go as much in depth in core skills.
For the Master’s track, you can see the list of undergraduate courses in this link that you would need to take in the first year in order to “catch up” in the master’s level courses. This would be the only difference between the 2 year and 3 year tracks, however that is the exact reason why it has been designed. I don’t believe you would be at any disadvantage as I imagine the college admits students separately with their desired track in mind.I would defer to the Design School for more specific questions as they will be most familiar with the two tracks. Ultimately, it would remain a personal decision on whether you wanted to complete at least 30 undergraduate credits to receive the ID bachelors degree or the 42 mixed credits (21 undergraduate level, 21 graduate level) and work toward your masters degree.
As you can see it depends on the school. You’ll have to compare the tracks for each school and then see which school has the best program for you. I’ve reset my search from “which degree should I get” to “what do I want to do and what program is going to get me there”. I’m looking for a school that would give me solid sketching skills but also allow me to make actual models and develop it for production. (more than just a one class introduction of each.)
Getting away from cost for a bit. Here’s a comparison of what I think the school’s focus is based on their website (feel free to correct me if you think I’m wrong)
- +CCAD (prototyping, brand development)
+CIA (3d modeling, rapid prototyping, digital sketching, cars cars cars)
+UW-Stout (welding, very general art education)
+OSU (sketching, analogue modeling, 3d modeling)
+Wentworth (design/sketch/cad, modelmaking)
+Auburn (fabrication)
+RIT (drawing, prototyping)
+Drexel (model making)
+Art Center (everything!!)