the dream schools... for designers, that is!

Have you ever feel like you want something really bad? Well, this one is my ambition. Going to a design school in the United States! I've been searching for design schools abroad. Looking at the requirements, costs, housing, alums, and everything else. I'm always amazed at every design schools I found, but these three have stolen my heart for sure.

Parsons The New School for Design

For me, Parsons is like the Harvard version of design school. The building was previously used for my favorite reality show, Project Runway, and it's located in New York, as in the fashion capital of USA! But the not-so-good part is the fact that this school is probably out of my reach. The full-time tuition is approximately $50000 and to enroll there is even more difficult. Not only you have to give your school transcripts and TOEFL score, you have to make a portfolio and they have this "special project" called The Parsons Challenge. The challenge is to discover something new within your surroundings and interpret it in three perspectives in any medium and write each one of them a 150 words statement. Gosh. On the plus plus plus side, the alums of Parsons are Alexander Wang, Anna Sui, Donna Karan, Nikki Hilton, Marc Jacobs, and many more. AHH this school is so damn awesome.

FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology)

This one is definitely a keeper. It's also located in New York and even better, it's in 7th Avenue--which is another word for Fashion Avenue. Another good news is that, this school is a state university so the tuition fee is way cheaper than Parsons. The full-time tuition is $12000 for international and out-of-state students. Even though it's cheaper, you can't underestimate its quality: Michael Kors is also one of the alums of this design school! Even so, this school is still hard to get into. The requirements are not as difficult as Parsons but for international students, you have to go through so many steps (much more than going into a private university) and only 40% of applicants are admitted to the school.

Academy of Art University

Made by Artists for Artists. That's their motto. I think it's pretty cool LOL. Anyways, this design school is another thumbs-up. Not only that this is a private school, the tuition-fee is $22000. And to get into this school is probably the easiest, portfolios are not mandatory (but recommended) and we only need a 2.0 GPA in our school transcript. Nevertheless, this school is still very-well known for its quality in designers. Jackpot! Well, not exactly. This school is located in San Fransisco, California. The thing is, it's not New York. There's no Bryant Park or Fashion Avenue there. It'd be more difficult to expand my experiences.

So... yeah, maybe I should really think more about which university is best for me and my interest.

Bottom line, whether it's Parsons, FIT, or AAU that I choose, I plan to enroll in one of those universities with a scholarship (partially or full, doesn't matter). I don't want to give troublesome to my parents. They've already raised me and so I want to give back by relieving one of their burdens. It's the least I can do after everything they've done to me. That's why I'm willing to work very hard to get that scholarship:)

Wish me luck!