Anyone have recommendations between Long beach state, San Jose state, and San fran state as ID schools. I will be starting as a junior and would like any inside to which is better than the next.
I’ll give you what I can based on my own research and first hand experience.
Long Beach: No first hand experience here.
San Jose State: Lots of first hand experience here. Good program, very well regarded and not easy by any stretch. Bargain price. A fight for resources due to number of students per class. Good instructors. The head of the program is extremely controversial though. Check ratemyprofessor yourself or search this board for myriads of info. Impacted major, so you’ll need to pass review before you can move into upper div.
San Fran State: Not an accredited program - if you intend to go on to grad school, this isn’t an option. Not nearly as rigorous or as well respected as SJSU or others, but a nice school if you want to be more free-form with your learning.
…again, these are results and opinions based on my own experience - I’m sure others have their own interpritations. Best advice would be to go see each and decide from there.
Regards
LB is also an impacted program, and you’ll have to pass a portfolio review to get in as a junior. Also, if you’re seriously considering going there, talk to the dept chair and make sure you have all the required classes for portfolio review. When I attended LB, a lot of people who decided to come in as a ‘junior’ found out they didn’t have some (or any) of the required classes, and still took the full 4.5 years to complete the program. The average age of grads in my year was approx. 26-28 with this bieng one of the most common explanations.
But that bieng said, It was once a great program, (I don’t know how it is now) and the success rate of grads was quite high.
Good luck!
SJSU has had a great reputation in the past but they aren’t doing as well as they use to. SFSU has never had a very good reputation and still doesn’t. CSULB has been good in the past but I have no idea how good they are now. SJSU’s ID program takes 4 years min from the time you start there. So even if you are a “junior” you will not graduate until 4 years from now at best. Sounds like CSULB is the same. It’s obvious you are interested in public schools in California. I was in the same boat as you until I found out the hard way that the best ID schools in California are the private ones. I suggest Art Center, AAU, and CCA over all the schools you mentioned. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful from any of these public schools, it just takes more talent and self determination.
Good Luck!
Decide between SJSU and CSULB, I wouldn’t consider SFSU for ID. Visit both (see the campus and design dept.) The private schools mentioned are good but Art Center costs 10x as much as CSU, yes their stuff looks good but you certainly don’t get 10x the education.
I’d definitely stay away from SJSU. Migurski is one of the worst professors I’ve ever had, he has no job experience, and abuses his students. There are stories of him applying for i.d. jobs in the area using his students’ work.
I agree with above. A few years ago I read in this discussion board some comments posted about Migurski, and for the most part they turned out to be true. I believe the program would be much better off without him, heck I think the WORLD would be much better off without him!!! He can be irrational, inconsistent, and has no real work experience to share with the students.
- SFSU: didn’t know about their ID program there at time of application and don’t know too much about it now.
- SJSU: didn’t look into their ID program either, but did not consider it because I didn’t like their campus.
- CSULB: Went to city college and transferred to CSULB. Just heard it was a good program from a teacher and cousin who went to Art Center. I didn’t have much choice since I wanted to stay in California and couldn’t afford the private schools. Didn’t realize I’d be stuck there so long, 4.5 years. Had to take design classes from bottom up and pass portfolio review to get into junior status. I heard the program was great years ago, but based on my experience there I think it’s okay, slowly getting better again. People who pass portfolio review don’t necessarily have great work. Some got through if faculty are on good terms with them. I personally think before portfolio review it’s about if you get along with your teachers and skills in rendering, cad, modeling. After portfolio review it’s about how good your concepts and designs are. Since it’s a state university, faculty there are full-time teachers and don’t have much activity in real world. Good things are campus is nice, juniors and seniors have their own studio space w/ 24hr access, fdm machine, cnc machine and supposedly getting a laser cutter soon (down side no one who knows how to run the machines yet, so really it’s no use to students). Bad is teachers are not up to date, although a couple of classes here and there have part-time lecturers who are professionals. Only sponsor projects I’ve had are from 1 semester of junior year. Ultimately, how well you come out depends on how self-motivated you are. Definitely no networking or cool perks of private school, so nothing is handed to you.
I just graduated from CSULB. If I had a choice, I would’ve gone to a private school. If not, I’d evaluate based on others’ experiences at these 3 schools.