Anyone know any good colleges?
- Thread starter nboy22
- Start date
Sounds like you're going to be looking at an art school then? You might want to see how much you can learn from another type of school--say, a tech or enginnering place--majoring in something else, and picking up web design and an odd art class on the side... Just a throught, coming from someone whose had friends who are in a lot of debt from art schools, and can't seem to find jobs.
- Jul 18, 2002
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Hmm... I'm stuck at where I should be going and what I should be heading into then.. I've done a lot of web design work for my high school and I can't tell what I want to go into if Web Design and Graphics Design are going to be dead end sort of jobs...
Well, I'd just say be sure that's what you want to do. You might try talking with some people in your area, get an internship if possible, something like that, and see what their experience is.
My take on it is (mostly from working in an add agency one summer during college) that a lot of people end up going to art schools thinking that they want to be artists, and then don't do so well once they get into the real world, where people are more concerned with can they produce on a deadline rather than their inherent artistic abilities. Also, a lot of modern art training/theory (in art, not design) is based on the idea of uniqueness. People who will be paying you to make them a website often don't want you to be too unique. They'd just like your work to look cool, professional and fit in.
I think that you might do better trying to make some connections in another field (management, perhaps? if you're not into computer science), read a couple of books, or take a few classes on the side, and then be able to get in the door through a combination of your experience, and a small portfolio. I suppose it goes without saying to start volunteering your butt off now to design webpages for any clubs/friends/churches/groups, etc. who might need them, as well as perhaps a small business on the side....
My take on it is (mostly from working in an add agency one summer during college) that a lot of people end up going to art schools thinking that they want to be artists, and then don't do so well once they get into the real world, where people are more concerned with can they produce on a deadline rather than their inherent artistic abilities. Also, a lot of modern art training/theory (in art, not design) is based on the idea of uniqueness. People who will be paying you to make them a website often don't want you to be too unique. They'd just like your work to look cool, professional and fit in.
I think that you might do better trying to make some connections in another field (management, perhaps? if you're not into computer science), read a couple of books, or take a few classes on the side, and then be able to get in the door through a combination of your experience, and a small portfolio. I suppose it goes without saying to start volunteering your butt off now to design webpages for any clubs/friends/churches/groups, etc. who might need them, as well as perhaps a small business on the side....
- Jul 18, 2002
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I've done a few web pages.. HERE's one for example.. was a school project that someone came to my computer teacher for... another one is my school's website which I'm doing major improvement and final touches on after completely redesigning it 3rd trimester last year, that site is HERE ... I like web design but if it's not going to be very profitable I don't want to do it and I will stick to it in college as free lance work to gain extra money.
gsaldivar
Diamond Member
- Apr 30, 2001
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I posted this in a related thread:
Originally posted by: gsaldivar
There are countless unaccredited, fly-by-night vocational schools that will be happy to take as much money as you're willing to part with for promises of a job and a "degree" -- don't believe it. Do yourself a favor and invest your time in a traditional college/university 4-year degree (or 2 years community college + 2 years college/university). You will be taking out "insurance", broadening yourself as an individual, as well as making yourself more employable at graduation.
Don't let your high school grades doom you into thinking that you shouldn't shoot for the top -- with 2 years of good performance at any local community college, you can easily transfer into a top-notch university for your upper division for most majors.
Learn art, design, computer graphics, and game design on your spare time. Once you enter this market you will find that you are far from alone in applying for the small number of the much-hyped design jobs at glamorous gaming and effects studios. Designers and artists, while highly-talented and hard-working, are a dime a dozen these days. As a result, many vocational school "graduates" end up spending numerous years working at a depressed salary just to work their way up to what they would have otherwise gotten with a 4-year degree in virtually any major!
While you're working on a REAL 4-year degree, gradually work on building yourself a little portfolio to show people and you shouldn't have any problems competing with people holding a vocational "degree". You can get PLENTY of experience freelancing for local businesses ($$$!!!), volunteering for local non-profit organizations (an endless source of letters of recommendation), tutoring, etc.
All that's required is your spare time, and a bit of motivation....
STAY AWAY from those vocational schools!
Good luck! :thumbsup:
The first one looks pretty good.
It depends on a number of different things... as far as profitable... what type of money would you like to be making someday? You could always try to start your own business with something like this, but that's always chancy--especially if you don't have at least some business background; and if you don't have an art degree, it's doubtful that you'll end up being an art director. That pretty much leaves design jobs, and they don't offer much chance for advancement.
I'm guessing you're in the Idaho area? Do you want to stay there? Do you want to move to L.A.? All of these things also play a role in what type of job you could conceivably have...
Mrvile
Lifer
- Oct 16, 2004
- 14,066
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I'm looking to go into computer graphics (mainly 3D modeling) as a career and I've been looking into a few colleges myself - although I haven't been to any campuses yet. Maryland Institute College of Art looks like a nice fine arts school, but I'm still looking.
Originally posted by: gsaldivar
I posted this in a related thread:
Originally posted by: gsaldivar
There are countless unaccredited, fly-by-night vocational schools that will be happy to take as much money as you're willing to part with for promises of a job and a "degree" -- don't believe it. Do yourself a favor and invest your time in a traditional college/university 4-year degree (or 2 years community college + 2 years college/university). You will be taking out "insurance", broadening yourself as an individual, as well as making yourself more employable at graduation.
Don't let your high school grades doom you into thinking that you shouldn't shoot for the top -- with 2 years of good performance at any local community college, you can easily transfer into a top-notch university for your upper division for most majors.
Learn art, design, computer graphics, and game design on your spare time. Once you enter this market you will find that you are far from alone in applying for the small number of the much-hyped design jobs at glamorous gaming and effects studios. Designers and artists, while highly-talented and hard-working, are a dime a dozen these days. As a result, many vocational school "graduates" end up spending numerous years working at a depressed salary just to work their way up to what they would have otherwise gotten with a 4-year degree in virtually any major!
While you're working on a REAL 4-year degree, gradually work on building yourself a little portfolio to show people and you shouldn't have any problems competing with people holding a vocational "degree". You can get PLENTY of experience freelancing for local businesses ($$$!!!), volunteering for local non-profit organizations (an endless source of letters of recommendation), tutoring, etc.
All that's required is your spare time, and a bit of motivation....
STAY AWAY from those vocational schools!
Good luck! :thumbsup:
QFT, I think!
- Jul 18, 2002
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WEll the objective here for me.. Is to get out of Idaho and live somewhere more populated.. I don't want to live somewhere like L.A. though, I want somewhere that is decently populated, a pretty big city, but not a city that I will have to start 3 hours ahead of time driving to my workplace. I'd also like to make more money than the average person, But am having a little trouble finding what I could put my talent towards, right now it seems freelancing could get me money while in college pretty good.. But the whole 4 year college deal, I don't know what I would go into for anything, because I don't have a whole lot of interest there.
- Jul 18, 2002
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bump Any ideas of what might be a decent career path that might be good for me.. considering I like audio (car audio, home audio), going to a community college to learn about electronics this year for 2 periods each trimester of my senior high school year. Very into web and graphics design, and am pretty damn good with computers? What are some of the top careers that seem more "fun" these days?
Well, there's certainly something to be said for enjoying your job. At the moment, I get paid extremely little as a grad school TA, but, at least I enjoy going in to work every day.
That said, my guess would be if you want some money at bit later, you might try looking into some things like PHP, mySQL, and all of that... some of the background stuff that really makes websites tick.
A lot of times, the people who don't like school for the sake of school find that they really enjoy classes when they see that they're going to use them and apply what they learn in them. In that case, you might think about a general business degree--even though they're pretty ubiqutious, they seem to be a little more practical than some things. They can also make a big difference--especially if you can find an enterpreneurial program--if you ever decide to go out on your own. It can help you figure out how much you can afford to charge working as a freelancer and still cover your costs. ($85/hour is great if it's not your only job, but if it is your only income, then you have to worry about what all of your costs are (equipment, health insurance, advertising, rent, etc.) as well as making sure that you're working enough to make ends meet. ($300 /hour doesn't help if you only work an hour a month).
Anyway, if you decide to go off to college and don't know what you want to do, that's pretty normal, so I wouldn't really get hung up on it.
The only thing is, if you end up going to a regular college, you can usually get a job doing something office-like if you ever need to. Not saying that you want to do that for the rest of your life, but it can be a good safety net. If you go to an art school, that might pigeonhole you and keep you from getting just a regular office gig.
Good luck with whatever you decide, though.
That said, my guess would be if you want some money at bit later, you might try looking into some things like PHP, mySQL, and all of that... some of the background stuff that really makes websites tick.
A lot of times, the people who don't like school for the sake of school find that they really enjoy classes when they see that they're going to use them and apply what they learn in them. In that case, you might think about a general business degree--even though they're pretty ubiqutious, they seem to be a little more practical than some things. They can also make a big difference--especially if you can find an enterpreneurial program--if you ever decide to go out on your own. It can help you figure out how much you can afford to charge working as a freelancer and still cover your costs. ($85/hour is great if it's not your only job, but if it is your only income, then you have to worry about what all of your costs are (equipment, health insurance, advertising, rent, etc.) as well as making sure that you're working enough to make ends meet. ($300 /hour doesn't help if you only work an hour a month).
Anyway, if you decide to go off to college and don't know what you want to do, that's pretty normal, so I wouldn't really get hung up on it.
The only thing is, if you end up going to a regular college, you can usually get a job doing something office-like if you ever need to. Not saying that you want to do that for the rest of your life, but it can be a good safety net. If you go to an art school, that might pigeonhole you and keep you from getting just a regular office gig.
Good luck with whatever you decide, though.
ActuaryTm
Diamond Member
- Mar 30, 2003
- 6,858
- 12
- 81
Always thought University of Florida had an interesting approach:
No problem at all.
If you've got a decent library around you might want to find a copy of a book called "Working" by a guy named Studs Turkel. (Yes, I promise I'm not making this up). He was a writer/reporter, and ended up writing this book from a collection of interviews with people--janitors to CEOs. Of course, this is in the 50's-60's or so, so the jobs weren't exactly the same. But it's kind of interesting to see what different people think about their jobs. Sometimes you don't seem to realize what a job will be like until you've had it for a good while. This might be give you a few ideas about what you'll think of your career down the road.
If you've got a decent library around you might want to find a copy of a book called "Working" by a guy named Studs Turkel. (Yes, I promise I'm not making this up). He was a writer/reporter, and ended up writing this book from a collection of interviews with people--janitors to CEOs. Of course, this is in the 50's-60's or so, so the jobs weren't exactly the same. But it's kind of interesting to see what different people think about their jobs. Sometimes you don't seem to realize what a job will be like until you've had it for a good while. This might be give you a few ideas about what you'll think of your career down the road.
the thing about art school is it's not very focused on actual education. and it's expensive. my son is interested in similar stuff (graphic design, web design, print advertising, he's also really interested in photography), now at least, and looked seriously at SCAD, but we wanted him to have more of an actual.. education. book learnin', if ya will. in case he changes his mind, in case he can't find a job in those lines of work once he's done, there's more to fall back, and more of a foundation to build on if you switch tracks.
so he's started this semester in the journalism school at usc (south carolina) majoring in visual communications, which will allow him to concentrate on whichever of those things he's most interested in in a couple years.. for now he's getting his general ed requirements in at considerably less expense, will make it easy to switch to something else if he changes his mind, and if after 2 years it looks like SCAD would be a better fit to finish up, we'll see if they think so too.
anno
so he's started this semester in the journalism school at usc (south carolina) majoring in visual communications, which will allow him to concentrate on whichever of those things he's most interested in in a couple years.. for now he's getting his general ed requirements in at considerably less expense, will make it easy to switch to something else if he changes his mind, and if after 2 years it looks like SCAD would be a better fit to finish up, we'll see if they think so too.
anno
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