IWasaTeenApe

I applied for grad school straight out of undergrad. Got my Masters at the age of 24 (two months shy of 25) It's been a year since I graduated but I wasn't the only one I knew who did it. It depends on the school usually but it does happen.

This is so true. Thank you for saying this. I knew many people interested in gaining doctorates in design. If this is something that interests you guys, you should all be looking at Harvard. Harvard has one of the few Design phd programs in the country that's pretty well respected. If you don't have a direct background in Design or Code (or Computer Science), Bootcamp is kind of vital for you. Because once you're in the program, there's going to be a few offerings here and there that can help you get your leg up in design. Overall, most teachers will expect you to come in with a knowledge of your field. But at the same time, Bootcamp is not going to be the solution for all your problems. Most of the design teachers I had took the biggest interest in the strongest design students. Same with the teachers who teach code. In any event, my impression was always that the people who did the best in the program were the "talent": those who either came in with the appropriate skill set (They had direct experience and the faculty usually treated them as star pupils in class) or those who found a way to showcase their best skills through class projects. Sometimes it was one in the same. It was usually not the people who were trying in vain to learn new skills and improvise once thesis time came around, because when they did, it was always obvious. It's a shame that this is the way it was, but it's not surprising: on one hand, every big name school is going to encourage those who are already naturally skilled. On another, it's the function of every school to teach it's students. With some classes in DT, this is a possibility, but it largely depends on who you have. It's not the agenda of every teacher to go over basic fundamental principals. Maybe it's obvious I was one of the few that didn't sip the kool-aid there, but I tell you this so that you don't go in with any false illusions and see it for what it is and what it's not. And what it's definitely not is a vocational program. ETA: The program does (or did) have a couple workshops that once again, students taught on the weekends. These were called dorkShops and they were usually focused on subjects that interested students the most that wasn't offered in the curriculum (3D Printing, InDesign, etc) If you're interested in learning more, You'd have to ask if they still offer these and what they offered the classes in.

I like the name for this thread. This was the same boat I was in last year around May. I didn't really utilize my grad school connections for TA jobs because I wasn't interested in teaching, and my experience outside of grad school qualified me mainly for entry level stuff. Problem was, there's so much competition that I was nervous I wouldn't stand out. It turns out, however, that employers really love seeing Master degrees, especially if you're entry level. It's not hard to gain experience. It's just that right now, in the US, the job growth is really slow right now. If you're interested in traveling and you want to gain experience, you might want to look into checking out consulting firms. Despite what people think, Consulting firms don't just look for people with MBAs and hire lots of people with degrees outside of that. They especially love seeing people with medical backgrounds come into their firms. They're really good if you're interested in gaining more skills and would like to do work in different parts of the country and the world. Some firms even cover travel expenses. Check out this list for the best consulting firms in the US: http://www.vault.com/company-rankings/consulting/. If you're interested in looking at consulting firms in Europe, let me know.

I didn't really get any. All I got was approval for 10,000 a semester in loans and it barely covered my tuition. I had to take out an additional loan because I really couldn't afford the rest.

Hi, why isn't there an alumni forum? I would love to chat with people on life after Grad School so we can vent about the post grad life, whether our schools lived up to our expectations, and share advice on student loans and talk about career trajectories. The discussion on this board is too focused on people attending grad school and there's not enough input on those who have graduated with their Masters and can speak about the pluses and minuses about the programs they've attended.

Also I want to warn everyone: If you go through Bootcamp, none of the teachers that you have in the program will be teaching you during Bootcamp, but they will be looking at your projects towards the end of Bootcamp when you're presenting your work (This is to give you a taste of what's to come in the program, as you'll have to present your thesis project in front of the school as well). A big misconception that people have when they sign up for Bootcamp is that you'll be taught by the same teachers in the program, but that's only slightly true, because the guys being recruited for Bootcamp are mostly students who are interested in being TAs or are completing a teaching program (I know this because when I was attending, they would send out notices for anyone interested during the Spring Semester). If you do it, they will put you into a group according to color (Group Red, Group Green, Group Blue, etc) and it's usually from 9-5, every day. The program right now is also hiring lots of alumni as part-time faculty. If I were you, I would avoid any classes taught by anyone who is a recent graduate. Try to sign up for classes with teachers who have been apart of the program for more than 5 years. These guys tend to be the best teachers in the program.

I'm a MFA-DT alumni. I pretty much agree that they're not rivals. If anything, if you're a Parsons kid, you might have some of the same teachers from ITP. The Dean of the Program, Katherine Moriwaki is an ITP alumni. Then there's Zachary Lieberman (who created Open Frameworks), from ITP as well, who taught for a long time at MFADT and still remains in contact through the school listserv. With that said, I think there's too much of an ITP influence on the program as it is, because there's lots of physical computing in the curriculum. The program expects too many people to be a jack of all trades instead of encouraging collaborations between students. As for what the person said above, they are both very self driven, so I don't agree that the program has a structure. If anything, many of the students that come in through the program agree that the registration makes it very hard to know for sure what you're picking. If you are worried about being able to register for the classes you want, that's something you'd have to keep in mind, as classes fill up very quickly, though I imagine this is a problem in ITP as well. So if you are looking more for an Interactive Design experience, you're better off coming to Parsons, but I would advise you to be careful about who you register for and to always contact your professors so that you get a better understanding of their background. Some classes advertise themselves as something they are not and you also have teachers who don't necessarily have an eye for design leading a class, so you might not get the kind of focus and attention you're looking for because they don't appreciate your work. The Parsons program is much more design driven, but my experience has been that it's also kind of a mixed bag: DT is trying too hard to cater to everyone and because there's so many people coming in from different backgrounds, you see that reflected in the curriculum as well. There's a lot offered here in terms of exhibit and installation design (usually this is in preparation for the thesis), architecture, performance, and conceptual arts.