Was thinking of going back for Grad bit wanted to get some opinions on from everyone on thier grad program. I graduated from there and in the 4 years I have been out the school has changed alot. (for the better) I don’t know about the grad program though. I was also looking into design managment and thier design management program is very young. Sorry I know that looked a little weird.
Also wanted to get some opinions on the school. There is not a lot of us out there and this is a place where you can get the opinions of others on what they think of the school.
Also wanted to get some opinions on the school. There is not a lot of us out there and this is a place where you can get the opinions of others on what they think of the school. and how we are doing.
Just from a resume perspective I think it would be best to go somewhere else to grad, no matter were you undergrad. It would be good to diversify your educational investments.
If you like the school and can afford it, I say go for it. But since I graduated I’ve worked with a lot of talented designers that never even went to design school, or college for that matter. They just had a passion for design and developed it into a career.
I mean I see portfolios all the time from people with no standardized accredited design education who are doing way more than guys who went to top tier schools.
Look at Scott Hansen from ISO50. He has his own design business, clothing store, and record deal, etc and his background is in computer science. How many of you are that prolific after getting a four or five year degree in design? My guess is not many. But you probably could if you put your mind to it.
Going to RISD or SCAD or anywhere else guarantees absolutely nothing.
hey ppl,
i have a few questions for you. hope you can help me. this is also for everyone who has attended scad.
i had applied to the mid program at scad. I have done my undergraduation in mechanical engineering so i don’t have an undergraduate degree in ID.
my first question is how well do you think the mid prog. will be suited to my needs?
Tho I have been given the list of prerequisites required I don’t know if they will be sufficient.
Also I am interested in Transportation design, does the Mid program cover
any subject in this area.
Is the program holistic in nature?
I am also interested in learning the presentation techniques…to what depth are they covered?
I had applied to art center but got a reject from there. Does that in neway mean I am not suited for ID? coz if a certain college rejects an individual why should another accept him??
the reviews i have been reading have been really confusing.
Also scad is expensive and I can’t personally go to the college as I am an international student so i could use all the help i can get.
thanking you all.
Being the ex-Southern District VP for IDSA I have been very involved in the SCAD/NASAD issue, so let me try to set the record straight.
SCAD did look into NASAD accreditation. NASAD allows public universities to get accreditation for just one school/department within the University. For private schools they require the entire school to get NASAD accreditation. There were other schools within SCAD that did not want to do this so the Industrial Design Department was unable.
As to the quality of students I have seen their work for design awards and I would say they have the same percentage of good and bad students as anywhere else. One thing that you will get at SCAD is working alongside students from all over the world. They are like a design education United Nations.
As to internships in the South – What are you smoking? Most of the major companies have moved to the South in the last ten years including the likes of Rubbermaid. There are also large consulting firms, such as BOLT.
By the way, I am an NC State grad so you are not getting the opinions of a SCAD graduate.
We don’t offer an MID. We offer a MFA.
No, we offer exactly one undergraduate elective class in Transportation (ie, cars), and an undergraduate minor in Marine Design. If you want to do Transportation (again, cars), I would consider Art Center, CCS or Coventry…
To quote the director of the ID graduate program Robert Fee, "We exist to prepare students with diverse intellectual backgrounds to synthesize human needs, production, distribution, acquisition and consumption, in design for industry and social endeavors.
Students will lead the practice of design in the context of sustainability of society, commerce and the environment across the broad range of human conditions.
This will be done through the practice of original forms of research, collaborative relationships with industry, publishable articles and thoroughly developed theory based design projects."
They are certainly applied in the graduate program, but a graduate student is expected to know a fair amount about sketching and rapid visualization (I assume this is what you mean by presentation techniques). If your portfolio did not show these skills, but you were still accepted, you were probably assigned a number of undergraduate prerequisite classes.
Art Center accepts and sculpts a very specific sort of design student; each school has a unique personality and seeks to create a different type of designer, especially at a graduate level. I certainly wouldn’t think your chances are 0 just because one school passed on you.
hello
many thnx jkolko. and sorry abt MID. neways i have selected for the MFA prog at SCAD. looking forward to going there. you are definitely right abt the selection concept at different colleges.
could you tell me what qualities does SCAD actually looking for in a student?
Also …I was given a list of 4-5 subjects as prerequisites which is a good thing for a student for me as i have a background in mechanical engineering and although i do possess certain amount of drawing and perceptual ability they haven’t been honed to the extent of an undergrad in ID.
Thx again.
it’s an interesting question, how does a grad school evaluate the ability to matriculate for those applicants who lack basic skills/knowledge provided by undergraduate training or professional experience?
In the given example, Art Center vs. SCAD - jkolko?
hello
i was wondering if anybody knew where did scad rank as far as design schools in US are concerned?
what are the payscales for those graduating from scad? ne1 ne ideas?
thnx.
your not listening, your education and following job prospects are directly proportional to the effort you put into them. You can excel at SCAD or flunk out of Art Center - doesn’t ultimitly matter where you go - only that your portfolio kicks but.
That’s true nospec
I would also say you learn the most from your peers, which then leads to the question of what schools are attracting students that are already talented?
After my sophomore year one of the head instructors at my school told me he wasn’t sure my school could teach me what I wanted to learn. At the time it really went over my head. I didn’t get it. How could a school let me take out 10 years worth of loans for something they couldn’t teach me? Over time I realized not all programs where created equal. It’s not like an accounting degree where 2+2=4 no matter if you go to a University or Community College. Different schools have different reps and connections, and while I was able to learn what I needed to, the school could not help connect me to the world I wanted to transition to, the way another school would have been able to, I had to do that all on my own.
So how does this tangent relate? I’m not totally sure, but I guess I would not take chances on my education. I would go somewhere that has a track record for helping to educate the type of designer you think you might want to be, whatever that may be. It’s a lot to figure out getting out of highschool…
We touched on this back in this thread. All of our masters candidates need to show some sort of portfolio. If the candidate has a very sparse background in the fields of Making Things, then the other elements of the portfolio are obviously considered to be of more importance: undergraduate transcripts, letters of reccomendation, and statement of purpose. I tend to take a more academic approach to portfolio reviews anyways. While the portfolio is the best metric to understand a particular candidate for a job, I feel that the statement of purpose is the best metric to understand a candidate for a graduate degree. I analyze both what the candidate chooses to say and how they choose to say it, and I look for a great deal of passion for humanity and life.
One of our MFA Alumni, Ashley Menger, had absolutely no design experience prior to coming to SCAD. Her undergraduate degree was in some liberal art field (the specifics escape me). She’s now the Secretary of IDSA Texas, the Treasurer of IDSA Southern District, and happily employed at Milkshake Media in Austin. You can read her thesis here - it’s a good read and representative of the types of graduate students we try to create.
As the Florida IDSA Chapter Chair, I have to agree with TimF. There are many jobs and internships here in FL/South.
The Company I work for has an Intern Page. This does not include the Intern pictures we do not have prior to starting this page.
http://www.reflexdesigninc.com/Interns.htm
Regarding NASAD and IDSA. This is a very deep topic.
1- Accredidation is important, and IDSA should use accredidation to join/team with schools. The question is, which one? Or better yet, all. The top three are NASAD, ACICS and SACS.
2- NASAD has strick guidelines about certification. A “college” school(GT, RIT, etc) can get a single program certified by NASAD. They can also get the entire school certified. A “private” school (SCAD, AI, etc) can only do a full school certification. Why not allow a single program certification? So, sometimes a private school does not even have a choice. Why would a certified ID program at a private school attempt to get the entire school certified by another body like NASAD? For a student IDSA chapter??
If you look at certification only, then you are not doing your research properly. I have talked to NASAD and read the ID program requirements that were compiled in 1984. You need to look at student work, professional involvement, sponsored projects and the faculty of any school before you select it.
Savannah is not safe, there is a lot of crime, especially downtown because of all the ghettos/housing projects that are around. There are five housing projects in proximity to SCAD buildings.
Also, on campus housing is in the dark ages. There is a curfew for guests of the opposite sex, so your significant other can’t be in your dorm room after a certain hour even if you live in the same building, unless you’re homosexual. It’s like being treated like a kindergardner. Also, there is no married housing and it’s not safe to live downtown, so if you want to live off campus with your significant other/spouse, some place safe, expect a twenty minute drive to town.
Savannah is not safe, there is a lot of crime, especially downtown because of all the ghettos/housing projects that are around. There are five housing projects in proximity to SCAD buildings.
Also, on campus housing is in the dark ages. There is a curfew for guests of the opposite sex, so your significant other can’t be in your dorm room after a certain hour even if you live in the same building, unless you’re homosexual. It’s like being treated like a kindergardner. Also, there is no married housing and it’s not safe to live downtown, so if you want to live off campus with your significant other/spouse, some place safe, expect a twenty minute drive to town.
All of this sounds like an unhappy student or someone that really hasn’t spent any real time in Savannah.
Is there crime in Savannah? Yes there is but no more than any other major city. I can’t imagine where you were raised to think that just be cause there are some bad area in a city means that it is not safe to be in. Savannah has some beautiful homes and some very wealthy areas. Not only that there is alot going into that town to clean it up and push all of the crime out.
As for the rules at the school. There are some rules that are loosly followed. You can have members of the opposite sex in you room after hours if you keep it quite. They kind of go off of the if it not oviouse it doesn’t matter. Not only that most students after there freshman year move out of the dorms and get there own place because its CHEAPER.
I guess what I am trying to say is before you decide to bash the school and the town think about what you are saying. Savannah is not any more dangrous than say Brooklyn which is where Pratt is located or Chicago which has numerous schools or Providance RI which is where RISD is.
ghettos/housing projects
Lovely.
Is the NASAD accreditation important for Graphic Design as well, or just ID? I’m looking at SCAD (apparently my GRE scores automatically get me a fellowship if admitted, woohoo!), but I’ve heard such mixed messages about it that I’m pretty confused. Some people have said it’s an awesome place to be, really helps you out. Others say that it accepts anyone and is unsupportive. How does one find out for themselves prior to attending?
Savannah has its problems, but if you’re smart about it you’ll be fine. Hell, if someone said “Let’s run through Compton at night” would you?
As for SCAD, I am a recent BFA in ID and I got a lot out of the program. One of the deciding factors for me, as jkolko stated, is the “User Centered” approach. Designing for the user instead of for ourselves seems to be logical way to work.
Yes, they do accept anyone… but that doesn’t mean that everyone passes, graduates or even stays at the school. The ID department is your life when you’re there, if it’s not… well the work would reflect that. The teachers, like jkolko, will let you know what they think of the work that you’re doing (usually positive depending on how you read into it) and offer help at the most random hours of the morning (I’ve had assistance at 3am while in the computer lab).
Based on sthe tudent works coming from other schools (to avoid being flammed I refrain from naming them) I noticed that a number of them are designing “cool stuff” but little user testing/research… which to me turns them into “Little Karem Rashid” (just as CalArts turned me off because there were TOO many Andy Warhols) IMHO. I can’t recall the last time I saw one of my peers pose with their projects.
SCAD is good, what did I get from it? I left feeling that I can design anything, having an understanding of user research… “anything” can even be the construction of a hamburger!