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Is there a particular area of design you're interested in? What's your particular interest or expertise, and what do you want to do after you get your masters? It isn't just a matter of what schools are good--it's a matter of what schools are good for what you want to do. I'm a first-year design grad student at Carnegie Mellon. It's a great program, but its focus is very different from traditional design programs, as we focus a lot on design thinking and theory/philosophy as well as practice, and a number of our students don't come from traditional design backgrounds. If you're looking for more traditional schools, though, check out USNews.com for a list of the top-ranked ones. I applied to schools in Chicago, Seattle, Boston, New York, and Baltimore as well, but I'm after a more interdisciplinary approach to design, and CMU has what I was looking for. It just depends on what you want. By the way (seeing that you're from ATL), I would have applied to SCAD, but I grew up in metro Atlanta and wanted to move somewhere new. I love Savannah, though, and the Atlanta campus is supposed to be pretty cool.

One of my managers was one of my recommenders, and my time at this job was pretty rocky at times--it's the most challenging job I've ever had (a senior level designer/art director-type job for software user interface layouts), and it took me a long time to feel even remotely settled here, and my work really reflected that for my first year here. We did have several rounds of layoffs, but my bosses were understanding enough to not cut me off just because they knew I'd be leaving eventually. I'd kept it really quiet among everyone else, though, so as not to have the use it against me somehow, but my boss finally "outed me" at one of our meetings a couple of months back just to congratulate me on getting into a good school. I'm down to my last 1.5 weeks now, though (the 22nd's my last day, to give myself ~10 days to vacate my apartment and prepare to move), and I think everyone kind of knows--I haven't made a formal pronouncement of when my last day is, but I'll be sending out an e-mail late next week or something. Ling, that's really rough. Too bad it's not possible for your boss to re-hire one of the people who'd just been let go...it's certainly nobody's fault, though. But I hope you don't feel too bad about it!

I'm 27--will be 28 after the first week of classes. I'm one of the older ones in my program--nearly everyone was required to have work experience for this program, and most are 2-3 years younger than me on average.

Hi everyone--I'll be joining the School of Design at CMU. We have a Facebook group, so that's given us a great chance to already get to know each other. Class info is already online--as a design student, I've already been registered for the 2 mandatory classes I have to take my 1st semester. Registration and class lists are available at http://www.cmu.edu/hub/ (which really IS the hub of almost everything we need...I've been spending a lot of time there lately). There are some deadlines for forms coming up in the next couple of weeks, too, like health forms and financial aid. It's all on the Hub. Congrats on getting in and good luck with your preparations!

Yet another incoming CMU grad student here. I was just in Pittsburgh last weekend--maybe it was because of a festival on campus or because the weather was beautiful, but the areas around both CMU and UPitt were really lively. It's definitely an older city than my hometown of Atlanta, but it doesn't seem like a bad place to be for 2 years (as long as you don't plan to drive a whole lot around the city...the roads are really not laid out that well at all). And for any classical music fans, students can get $14 rush tickets to see the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. They put on a great show last weekend. I'm planning to take a few days off sometime in June and go back to try to find a place. Our program's coordinator is putting together some helpful info for us, so I'll wait to see what she has to say. I liked Shadyside, and I visited the home of another incoming student that had been renovated fairly recently and was really beautiful, but it would be nice to be closer to a grocery store (like the Giant Eagle everyone keeps mentioning).

My answer initially was "no." But then I got into one of my top-choice schools and realized they were only paying me $8k in funding per year, without the option to defer my acceptance, and with two weeks to make a decision. However, I'm studying design and not purely fine arts, and graduates of this program have historically had no problems scoring good jobs with good companies and repaying their loans. I've talked to a number of other incoming students, and finances were everybody's primary concern. I felt horrible for not doing my research last year and applying to fellowships and scholarships months in advance. The only other choice I had was to go to my alma mater, which would have cost less than half because it's a public in-state school, but the program wasn't a great fit for my career interests. I have good credit and no debt of any kind. I'll have to take out $50k in loans and dig into my savings to pay my living expenses out-of-pocket, and it really does scare me because it's a gamble (especially considering the state of the economy)...but it's an investment in my career, and an excellent university. I feel good about this, but the financial aspect does make me really nervous. I hope I've made the right choice.

Oh, sweet! It's good to know I'm not alone, on all counts! What's your area of academic interest, if you don't mind my asking? I attended SVA's IxD info session in November...but I'd like to have a more conventional university experience, with more well-rounded academic resources and extracurriculars available, and SVA-IxD's evening-only course structure wasn't what I wanted. Not to mention, since it's their first time out, I'd really rather not be in the guinea-pig class...but how amazing would it have been to work with such an esteemed group of web/interaction designers? (I worship the ground Jeffrey Zeldman walks on. It was through his site that I first heard about the program!) By the way, an update...I got rejected from UW-Seattle today, which was one of my top choices. So that's one acceptance (Georgia Tech), one waitlist (Carnegie Mellon), four rejections (UI-Chicago, UIUC, Boston U, UW-Seattle), and 2 TBAs (Pratt, MICA). Eek! And it does look like Pratt released their results (thanks, aimelie!)...my Pratt ComD alum cousin tells me they aren't so great about e-mails sometimes, so I'm going to call them and Carnegie Mellon on Monday. All my hope lies with them now...it's a huge relief that I've gotten into Georgia Tech, but I grew up in Atlanta and I really want to move somewhere new and keep moving on. Again, good luck to you all!

(hi, I'm new. ) I'm applying to a few different programs--most are MFAs for or related to design, but I'm taking a more interdisciplinary and academic approach, and hoping to study design as well as cultural/interaction/technology issues related to design, so I applied to more general campuses than dedicated art schools. Hopefully this is the right place to post these. Accepted: Georgia Tech (my alma mater) - MS, human-computer interaction/digital media (via e-mail 2 weeks ago, then via official mailed letter) Waitlisted: Carnegie Mellon - MDes, communication planning and information design (via e-mail 2 weeks ago) Rejected: U. Illinois at Chicago - MFA, graphic design (late Feb. via e-mail, after I e-mailed them about setting up a campus visit, then an official letter later) U. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - MFA, graphic design (late Feb. via e-mail, after I e-mailed them about setting up a campus visit, then an official letter later) Boston University - MFA, graphic design (last week via mailed letter) Still waiting: Pratt - MS, communications design, digital design track (they mailed me Friday saying they didn't have my portfolio - it was web-based and I provided the URL in the packet on its own page, but I mailed them back immediately with the link) U. Washington at Seattle - MFA, visual communications design (should have released results on Monday...) MICA - MFA, graphic design (longshot) I've got my fingers crossed for either Pratt or UW...they should get back to me any day now. CMU's supposed to get back to me no later than April 15, but that's when I have to let GT know whether I've accepted their offer, so I'm going to call them and see what's up.