Remember the big plan I finally came up with, where I’d spend my first year of college at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco before transferring over to the School of Visual Arts in New York? Well, since I switched my major from Graphic Design to Digital Arts & Communication, that plan is dead.

See, I did all my college research based on various Graphic Design programs throughout the country, so now, I need to do it all again.

SVA is an impressive school to be sure, but they do not have a similar program. The closest departments they have are Graphic Design, which is what I’m getting away from, and Computer Art, which is more of an animation program. So SVA is out.

But will I? I’ve only been researching for a few days, but it’s starting to feel like the department I’m in now is a little on the unique side, and the truth of the matter is that it’s pretty much a perfect fit for what I want to do. The most important thing is that I be enrolled in the right program for me, after all.

Still, AAU and San Francisco haven’t exactly won my heart so far. I’m sure a lot of that can be chalked up to the usual stresses for new college student, and moving to New York City wouldn’t really do much to cure the homesickness stuff, but since I really liked New York City and was looking forward to getting
to live there so much, it would still be nice to find a really good program there that’s similar to the one I’m in now.

As of right now, the only school back east that seems to have what I want is Parsons The New School for Design. Why is it that art schools have to have frustrating names like that? First it was “Academy of Art Univeristy” being redundant, and now this school has the word “The” where it has no business being.

Anyway, Parsons amazingly has several degree programs that sound like they could possibly work, including Design & Technology, Communication Design, and Design & Management. They’ve also got a pretty good reputation, having been featured in BusinessWeek and being in AICAD (like SVA). Definitely worth more investigation.

Whether I decide to stay at AAU or transfer somewhere else, everything will work out. If you want to recommend any schools that you think have what I’m looking for, please leave a comment so I can investigate.

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