Your opinions on schools you didn't attend

In the interest of stereotyping, what are your opinions of the schools you didn’t attend? This could be from word of mouth, experience with co-workers, whatever. CCS, Art Center, VT, Cincinnati, RISD, Carnegie Mellon, RIT…the list goes on.

Just so you know, I’m not using this to select a school. I’m enjoying my experience at Cincinnati and am really just curious.

CCS - We can design cars for bankrupt companies Woo!
Art Center - We’re the best. Please give us car design jobs instead of the CCS guys.
VT - Go Hokies! (My Alma Matter)
Cincinnatti - We’ll give you jobs and prepare you for the real world but were gonna force you to call soda - “Pop”
RISD - Lets all hump John Maeda’s leg about innovation.
Carnegie Mellon - We’re engineers who discovered colored pencils and markers.
RIT - Hey, theres a college under all this snow!

Thats my plot synopsis. I’m here all week, try the Veal. :laughing:

Art Center - Snobs…j/king. Phenomenal car and entertainment designers, but Product Design is a bit underwhelming. Got to have a rich daddy to go there.
CCS - Blue collar version of Art Center kids. Do more for less. Think Art Center students are snobs, hence my comment on Art Center kids!
Cincinnatti - Feeds the industry with what it already is. I don’t think the program itself is innovative.
RISD - Not as tied to the industry as UC, not as aesthetically driven as CCS/Art Center. They say they are more theoretical, but there’s still a gap from Cranbrook. Got to be prepared to be a starving artist upon graduation to go there.
RIT - I just hear that it’s pretty damn boring there(location).
Parson - Fashionized Design, reminds me of Karim Rashid.
Pratt - Still living on their past legacy.
AAC - Trying to be the third to Art Center and CCS.
IIT - Trying to establish the constitution laws for design.

I like to dust this quote off every once in awhile:

“Teaching is only possible in the very center of craft. Arithmetic and handwriting can be taught in schools.”
Le Corbusier, 1935

If I where to collage a school, I would take the freshman year at RISD, add the the sophomore year at Art Center, 2 years of co-ops (apprenticeships) finished by a semester of an independent study with the advisor of your choice, probably in San Francisco… and it would have nothing to do with Detroit.

MC, I don’t see CCS advancing the industry either, sorry dude.

Full disclose, I’m a RISD grad who spent a semester in Cleveland.

i don’t get why everyone is saying art center is so expensive…i mean its a lot of money, but RISD, CIA, Syracuse, and CMU are more expensive and CCS, RIT, and SCAD, are just a tad bit cheaper (in terms of college costs that is…) (like $2000/yr less…)
i guess im missing something., heh

Art Center - Snobs…j/king. Phenomenal car and entertainment designers, but Product Design is a bit underwhelming. Got to have a rich daddy to go there.
CCS - Blue collar version of Art Center kids. Do more for less. Think Art Center students are snobs, hence my comment on Art Center kids!
Cincinnatti - Feeds the industry with what it already is. I don’t think the program itself is innovative.
RISD - Not as tied to the industry as UC, not as aesthetically driven as CCS/Art Center. They say they are more theoretical, but there’s still a gap from Cranbrook. Got to be prepared to be a starving artist upon graduation to go there.
RIT - I just hear that it’s pretty damn boring there(location).
Parson - Fashionized Design, reminds me of Karim Rashid.
Pratt - Still living on their past legacy.
AAC - Trying to be the third to Art Center and CCS.
IIT - Trying to establish the constitution laws for design.

oh god, let the prejudice run free…

I think this a rather dangerous thread, a lot of prospective students read this and they will get a little, silly quote about a school by somebody who didn’t even attend it, stuck in their head.

Parsons “fashionized design”?? Just because it has a strong fashion program and is located on 5th ave.?

I think this a rather dangerous thread, a lot of prospective students read this and they will get a little, silly quote about a school by somebody who didn’t even attend it, stuck in their head.

Yeah - you’re right on that one. Maybe this thread needs a big bold “TOTALLY UNBASED OPINIONS ONLY” title. :laughing:

Well, that could extend to most of our threads…

Well I think for most of the threads it would be “TOTALLY UNBASED OPINIONS + 100% FACTS Courtesy of Zippy” :laughing:

Going to Art Center for product at the moment. Here’s what I thought of the other schools I visited:

UC DAAP: Very professional, high level, great internship program, great facilities. Unfortunately it’s located in a positively depressing area. The huge university campus makes it feel more like a factory than a community. Its strength is definitely in the co-op program, but as said above it seems short on innovation because it feeds so much into the industry.

Pratt: Brooklyn is looking quite nice nowadays and NYC is probably the main attraction. The program even at the masters level seems weak.

RISD: Not NYC, but still a fairly nice area, especially with Brown by its side. The program seems about on par with Pratt. Not as intensely professional and high-level as UC or Art Center. There is a greater focus on a liberal arts education.

ENSCI: Creative minds work there but the facilities are awful and completely outdated. The work is more theoretical and the main attraction is certainly Paris itself.

As for Art Center, it is very professional and high-level but keeps a sense of community and creativity due to its small size and cross-pollination with departments such as illustration, film, photo, etc (even though these are quite weak compared to ID). Certainly expensive, and runs a bit too business-like. Facilities are okay but as Art Center has expanded its number of students, the shops are becoming a limiting factor. Los Angeles may not please everyone but the design community is very strong.

This is why I phrased my reply the way I did.
Sorry if I misunderstood the intent of this thread.

And no, I never said CCS is any better than anyone else. The comment I made on UC is based on reoccurring experience with some of their students. It wasn’t out of any comparison with other schools either.

Next time I will try to remember to start every sentence with “IMO”.

Anyone got anything to say about Auburn?

Just wondering what the view is on us…

I think the IMO is implied, I’m just pointing out that those who live in glass houses should watch where they throw stones… not that I do, it just what I’ve heard… :wink:

I’m just starting to look at ID programs and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the Art Institutes? They are really the only one’s with an Industrial Design program in the Northwest. Is it above and beyond worth moving to California to have the Art Center on my resume?

Thanks in advance for your opinions =)

Hahaha, its true!
(BTW - I said “pop” once while I was at UC, and I swear, I lost a piece of my soul… its “COKE” not “pop”)

+1.
Go Bearcats!

Dude it’s not even about the resume, it’s about the education you receive.

For me, Art Center seems like a place you’d want to go to if you didn’t want a life. All you do is work work work, and the people there that are your age (I’m assuming you are going for your first undergrad around 18 yrs) are FEW. Few active student orgs, no dorm life. Completely missing out on the college experience.

RISD - Artsy fartsy douchebags who draw penises on everything and think they’re the shit.
CMU -so awesome possum multidisciplinary opportunities, but not enough drawing emphasis after sophomore year first semester, so we don’t have as flashy sketches as ACCD does, which makes me sad.

tarngerine, thats exactly the reason I didnt even apply to art center. Its on a hill, which means you would have to rent an apartment down the hill, and then drive up every single day just to go to school (there is no way you will walk up that hill with little sleep and tons of markers/foam core). The grads are great ad all, but its not worth it at the expense of fun/life. i guess thats just my opinion though

I think Ineo raises a good point. even though sure about the “hill” issue… I almost detect some sarcasm there, no?
But location can be a very good thing for your education if you know how to use it.
I study in Manhattan, so I have all these fantastic opportunities to meet and network with creative people in the business.
But nobody will take your hand and show you how to network though, these are things you have to do outside of school.

Yea, if anything, go there after your first undergrad if you realize you want to specialize in something else. Like I plan to go there for Entertainment Design if I find that ID isn’t for me.

Thanks for the input! I probably should have gave you a little more insight into my background. I’m actually 27 and have both a bachelors in music with communications and a masters in business. I’ve been doing marketing/sales/business development since I graduated from my bachelors. I’m looking for a career change and fell in love with the idea of industrial design. I wish it was available when I WAS 18, or that I was aware of it then. You guys have brought up some good points and I’ll definitely have to ponder more.