Canadian looking for ID school

Hi,

I’m a 20 year old Canadian who’s currently studying in ID at Université de Montreal in Quebec, Canada(I’m a 1st year student currently). However I’m considering transferring next year to another ID school/program. I was wondering if you guys would have any suggestions for me as to a particularly interesting place to study? My main gripe about my program right now is language(it’s in French and I prefer English despite being perfectly bilingual) and that IMO it lacks a bit of technical aspects; therefore I’d like a program that’s a bit more Engineering oriented(but still classified as an ID program).

I’m willing to look at any school/establishment so long as the education is either in French or English(preferably English though) and assuming I am eligible to enter. Another bonus would be the presence of scholarships.

So far I’ve looked at Carleton in Ottawa and it looks ok, but I’ve really no idea where else to start looking :confused: As I said, I’m open to just about anywhere currently, I just don’t really know where to start looking…

Thanks in advance!

If you are looking for a little more tech but still ID try considering Humber college in Ontario Canada. they have a good balance between the various aspects of design. Art / Engineering / Manufacturing / marketing…

Chevis W

I have talked to a few students from Carleton and they are definately engineering based. I would say go with them if that is what you are looking for. I think the majority of the design schools in the east are relatively all close together?? I’d research a few and probably go there and take a tour. See what they are doing as far as projects. Also could just check on coroflot the projects the students are working on.

Side note… not sure how the school is with helping out with jobs after you graduate. My current job search has shown tons of jobs (compared to rest of canada) in the French sectors. So might be beneficial to stick with a French school?

+1 for carleton (I’m an alum). Search the boards for more info. I know I provided some lengthy review a while back

R

I think the job base thing is mostly due to the fact that UdM is thr ONLY uni in Quebec to offer ID and therefore the only French Uni in Canada with French graduates. That being said I’m perfectly bilingual so I could still work in a French environment. Mind you, I’m not restricting myself to this region so I’m open to studying & working abroad too.

I just wanted to know where to start looking and what were my options.

Could you link that review on Carleton if you find it please?

Search. I’m not doing your homework for you. I’ve already written the info and told you its here.

R

Just wanted to say that I’m a University of Montreal graduate and it’s a good program. IMO the language doesn’t change anything to the qualification of it’s graduates and the quality of the education. Great designers have come out of the school and continue to do so, so I don’t know if you’ve really given the program a real chance. It is a less technical than Carleton, but IMO the technical aspects of the job are mostly learn once on the market. I’m sure you have your reasons, but I was very satisfied of my 4 years there and of the oppotunities it gave me in my ungoing career.

G.

Alright I’ve read up on some stuff and Carleton does indeed look like quite a nice school. Thanks for the review rkuchinsky; it was very helpful! I’m planning to contact them later this week to find out more (since initial contact with them says I could almost bypass most 1st year classes and part of 2nd year classes with my current study curriculum).

GHarvey, I like UdM’s program actually, just that I don’t think that it agrees with me as a person, but considering it was the only school in Quebec that offered ID(bar UQAM’s Environment Design program), I didn’t really have much options when I initially considered last year. It’s not a bad program at all and I enjoy what I do there, but I’ve talked to students from further years and I just think there might be better options for me. There are also personal reasons aside from pure academics making me want to change.

Also, idk if anyone has an answer to this, but at UdM they talked a lot about specializations in terms of what you do after school(ex: some students already know they want to do car design after their studies). Do some Unis have a certain pre-disposition (either in terms of education, contacts or location) to certain domains of product design? I’ve tried looking up on this but this topic I supposed would be better suited to people who’ve actually gone through different schools.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Cool, just expect to need a few math/physics crudentials to join the Carleton program, I think that’s what they go through the first year.

Chris you should check out OCAD University in Toronto. This is an art and design school with a fairly large ID program.
Very hands on.
A

Carlton is probably the best in Canada. Then OCAD.

The Three main ones are Carlton, OCAD and Humber. it all depends on where you want your focus to be… As the three will have you starting at completely different avenues, as it relates to the direction you can take your design career. They also fit completely different personality types also. These were the 3 schools I applied to and was accepted to 14 years ago.

Chevis W.