I can’t afford Art Center or most of the private schools out there. I’m interested in going back for a graduate degree and even considering a bachelors in design. What public schools have decent design programs esp grad programs?
I’m currently working in the IT industry and have a Bachelors in MIS/Bus Admin.
I don’t know about their Graduate Degree, but the quality of undergrads I’ve seen from University of Cincinnati is really high. They have a great intership/co-op program that gets you LOTS of real-world experience & great relationships with potential employers…
The University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning is hands down the best public design school in the US.
You should check out nc state if you already have a bachelor’s degree. I am a graduate student with a background in installation art and just started in august. The program is three years long and they tailor their graduate program to people who are new to design. I have been very impressed with the amount of attention given to grad students new to industrial design. You definately get your money’s worth, after a year you can declare residency, and instate tuition is only 2500 a semester. Also, if you reside in the south and there is no industrial design program in your state, you can get instate tuition through a program called the academic common market.
The program has teachers that are not only skilled as designers, but more importantly, that are skilled as teachers. The program is small, with 60 undergrads and 28 grads, but the teacher to student ratio remains high. Each faculty member seems to have his own role in the program, which when coupled with the gradaute students range of backgrounds creates a lot of diversity in the department. For instance; Bong il jin, worked for Hyundai and Daewoo as the Chief designer, who is not only a very talented designer in general, but allows motivated students to pursue careers in transportation design. Sharon Joines is an ergonomics researcher and provides concentration on human factors and ergonomics in her studios. Bryan Laffite, whose studio class I am in right now, has brought 2 industry professionals to help teach our studio, one is the chief design strategist for IBM and the other is the principle fo think design, a local design firm. Other teachers also have there own contributions to the program.
I personally have been very satisfied with my choice to attend NC State.
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has a grad and UG program in ID and the school (UIUC) has the largest alumni asso. in the world (or so they tell me). the program is one of the oldest public ones in the country too.
Without question, University of Cincinnati College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning is perceived to be the best public design school in the nation. It not only is highly ranked but also has a very strong paid coop program that gives 1.5 years of experience. HOWEVER, for out of state students, it isn’t that cheap at $24,000 a year in tuition, although they usually give a Cincinnatus yearly scholarship of at least $5,000. This lowers the cost to $19,000, which is still high.
Other strong public design and art schools are Mass College of Art, whose tuition is under $10,000 per year for out of state students and SUNY Purchase and FIT,both state schools, whose out of state tuition is about $15,000.
Also, because a school is private doesn’t mean it will be expenisve. Many stand alone art schools such as Pratt Instittute do give some nice scholarships.
Finally, I should note that Cincinnati isn’t easy to get into. They have a strong academic focus for admission to their school of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning.
New to the this forum- looks like a lot of great information! What do any of you know about the strength of Virginia Tech’s ID program? My hs junior son is thinking that either the field of ID or possibly architecture would be great for him. We are in- state for VT (which makes it very $ appealing if he can get in there) but are new to looking at schools that have Industrial Design. He also is interested in Clemson and UVA (no ID but does have BA in architecture) and thinks if he went that route he could go to grad school for ID. Any thoughts would be very appreciated.
try emily carr in vancouver. it’s very affordable, even for us students.
Umea design institute, Sweden is the worst choice!!!
You will know that when you are there!!!