NEWS

cat

I don't talk about school much around here, but I am currently an Arts Administration major. I took this year off to take a break, as it would have been my 5th year, and I was starting to do poorly in my classes. I ended up taking all the classes I was excited about and left all the boring and hard ones for the end. Big mistake.

The major was chosen as a plan B after an adviser at my university tried to guide me away from the Graphic Design program. I was a junior at that point (with not much experience in design) and the extremely competitive 3 year program only accepted 15 a year. Not only were the odds severly against me for getting accepted, but I'd be in school for an additional 3.5 years. That wasn't exactly what I had planned for when I had transfered to the school. So I chose Arts Administration, since my love for Art History and galleries had been growing.

Then after I had changed my major, my new adviser explained to me that the curriculum for the major had changed in the last few years and besides Art History and Marketing classes, it now included Theatre classes. Okay, so I took musical theatre in high school, but yeah, I'd much rather be taking art classes. Oh well. Well that no big deal has turned into a bigger deal.

There are no marketing classes offered for non-marketing majors. That essentially means that I have to take accounting, and possibly a few economics classes just to get into the 5 or so marketing classes I need to be in, and those prereqs aren't even listed in my curriculum. Then the theatre classes have evolved into these intense film script writing classes (which are cool, don't get me wrong, but not exactly the kind of creativity I need nurtured).

I was planning on going back to school next semester and kick accounting's ass for the 3rd and hopefully last time, but I started realizing about two weeks ago that I am not looking forward to school at all. And considering that I am paying for school myself, I better be enjoying it! I know that if I don't have a positive attitude going into it, I'm not going to do well.

All that being said, (deep breath) I am going to redirect my path. I decided that I need to go to school for what will fuel me and keep me excited on my path. I realized that all along, since I graduated high school even, that I wanted to be a graphic designer. I've spent the last two years building my skills and getting better at what I love to do. I think owning a gallery would be nice, but at the end of the day, it's not what I want to do. So because of this elite program at my school, I am going to look into two options:

1. Transfer to SCAD for design
This is an awesome, but kinda scary option. I need to look into the price difference in tuition and how many credits will transfer - as I only need 30 to graduate.

2. Change my major to Art and then do a year at a Portfolio school
Not the most glamerous route, but I'll have a creative degree (and spend the rest of my education learning more about printmaking and honing in on my drawing skillz) and hopefully a decent portfolio.



SO HOW DOES THAT SOUND?! I'm just gonna go run after what I love.

kinda exciting, yeah?






p.s. looking at two kitties tonight. eeee!
photo here

5 comments:

  1. woo, props to you for following your dream, girl! I'm currently applying for more design-y programs, too. (Secret: undergrad I studied English, Philosophy, and Piano. I've never taken a design class before.) I'm also going to be at SCAD this weekend! But just to visit some friends.

    ANYWAY. What I mean to say is this sounds totally sweet, and best of luck.

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  2. Very exciting, Ciara!!! It takes guts to make a change like this but otherwise you're stuck doing things you don't love and wondering how that happened. Better to follow your heart now than regret lost opportunities later. Best of luck!!

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  3. Thanks so much, ladies, for the support! I'm very excited! :D

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