College wha??

[GrandMasterMe]

I would appreciate help from you, fellow playgrounders. In my lurking I have deduced that you are a fairly smart bunch. To that end, I would love some help. I'm a senior in the states and am trying to find a college. I am planning on majoring in some form of fashion design and or marketing. In an attempt to curb suggested universities in which I have no chance of being accepted, you should know the following. I have a 3.69 gpa, am going to graduate top 25 percent and got a 26 on my act's. Any help would be much appreciated :smallsmile:

[Nomrom]

What state do you live in? That'll help us out a bunch.

[GrandMasterMe]

Iowa, but I am inclined to find a school out of state as I've applied to several of our universities already.

[Fiery Diamond]

Depending on your religious affiliation, you may want to consider the academically excellent Calvin College (http://www.calvin.edu). It is a very tolerant school for its type, as well. Um... click on the link to find out more information.

[Cyrion]

A few years ago my step-brother was thinking about fashion design and was interested in UC Davis. I don't really know much about the fashion program, but it's overall a good school, and Davis is a nice town. It's also fairly close to San Francisco and within a day's drive of LA which might be a good bonus.

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

I should think the first question to be asked is are you interested in going to a small or large school.

[GrandMasterMe]

Large would be the first choice, but a more discerning factor would be out of state tuition costs. As far as priorities go, the ones that immediately jump to mind would be first the quality of the program, then the tuition, then the surrounding city, followed by campus size.

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

USNews puts out a magazine/book whatever you want to call it rating colleges and whatnot every year, I would suggest going and picking one up to help in your search. You can probably find it at Barnes and Noble.

[Stormthorn]

I cant tell you what to do, but what i did was go to nice communit college with a transfer program.
Im on whats probably going to end up as my second to last semester as the collapsing economy has forced many classes to be canceled, which has forced some students to wait until the next semester roles around and hope the class they need will be open then.

But that problem is sorta unavoidable unless you live in an area unnefected by the US economic crisis or have the income to afford a private college.

[Pocketa]

Davis is a great town, very quiet, relatively small (at least to me), great food, great people, bookstores! Libraries!

I recommend Parsons, Rhode Island School of Design, Academy of Art if they have that in your area, Art Institute, etc. for fashion design. Not sure about the rest.

My suggestion?

Sign up for Zinch.com (http://www.zinch.com/Anonymous/StudentRegister.aspx?affid=797450), that's my referral code. It'll ask you basic information and find you a list of schools that fits you.

[Cobra_Ikari]

Hmm. Are fashion programs usually best at art schools? A lot of my friends go to an art school near me that I know is excellent, and I'm pretty sure you can do fashion design there...but I also know that tuition can be pretty crushing. >.<

[KerfuffleMach2]

With something like fashion design, you might want to consider a trade school before a university, simply because of the way they teach. Trade schools can be more expensive than a lot of colleges, but they do have the advantage of a more focused curriculum, and more hands on learning.

So, spend some time looking at both universities and trade schools.

The one I'm going to has many campuses in the U.S., and I think the closest one to Iowa would be Chicago. Not sure, though. It's called IADT, the International Academy of Design and Technology. Most of the campuses do have a fashion design program. Might wanna check them out.

[Erothayce]

Look no farther than FIDM for your fashion design schooling needs. I have a friend going here now and I know a woman who graduated years ago who both say it is just amazing. It's located in San Francisco and here's a link so you can find out more http://fidm.edu/

[Quincunx]

Since the "and/or marketing" makes me think that your interests may be broader than just translating sketches to patterns, I must recommend the Fashion Incubator (http://www.fashion-incubator.com/) blog/website/book. In fact, think of the book as an early textbook to pique your interest and buy it before going further into a degree in the field; it'll be enough to tell you if you find the sorts of work associated with fashion design to be interesting, or whether you don't and should look at a purely marketing degree.