Massachusetts College of Art and Design Top Questions

Finding a college is easy- finding the one you feel most comfortable attending is another story. It took me 2 tries before I finally transferred to the college I had initially wanted to go to. If you're completely serious about going into a successful career, college (especially a four-year one) is definitely right for you. But be prepared to work very hard and stay up late often; college is stressful! Be sure to make time for yourself and allow for a social life, however. I made the mistake of ignoring these two facts and it did me more harm than good. As long as you work hard and try to keep up with the work, you should be alright.

be open, dont control your kids,

I would tell parents and/or students looking at colleges to be open minded. Forget what everyone has told you about the school and look at it for yourself. Make sure you are paying attention to the things that are important to you and not what is important to other people. Take advantage of all of the things offered to you while you are in school.

Students should choose a college that has a small overall student population in order to get the one on one teacher/student interaction that is critical to their learning needs. The "right" college is one where you feel you're learning a sufficient amount and where all your questions are answered to be worth the high cost of tuition that you're paying.

Make sure you visit the school during the acedemic year if you can before you decide where you're going to go. No brochure or website can substitute for physically being there and getting a feel for the atmosphere of the place. Talk to people too, professors and students. They can give you unbaised opinions that you can't find many other places, and usually they're welcoming. If they're not, then their rudeness is just shows you another aspect of things. But also, don't let one opinion affect everything, unless that opinion is your own. Just as most things in life, you get out of college what you put into it. I go to art school, and I have a passion for what I'm doing that makes me pour every effort into my work. I do that for myself, not anyone else. That's what makes college different than highschool; you're not working just to graduate, but to gain the knowledge to get yourself closer to what you personally want to accomplish in life.

Don't overlook the location of the college you wish to attend. Just because the school may be perfect does not mean that you will love the small town or city it is in. The first two weeks are crucial for meeting people. Go way out of your comfort zone when it comes to being friendly to new people during those first two weeks. Do not get into a relationship within the first week you arrive at your college. It may inhibit your ability to met new people if you are hanging out with mainly one person early on. Chances are you will break up with the person and miss out on meeting new people.

Choosing a college is not a life or death decission; nothing is set in stone. All you can do is choose what seems to be the best fit and make the most of it. No college is perfect- but it is the individual that makes the experiance, not the college. A social person will make friends anywhere; someone who studies a lot will do well in school, and someone who loves what they do will succeed. No one should ignor wha they know about themselves... if you hated going to the city in the past, then you will not enjoy it now. You can only use the information you have, the experiances you have had- and just make the best decision you can.

The best way to finding the right college is visiting the campus, and stay a while to observe the life there. Also, ask the students who live there about their experiences.

I recently graduated college this spring and helped my younger sister, a high school senior, look at colleges this fall. The process of become an alumni and participating in my sisters college tours is that your college experience is so greatly influenced by those arround you. The biggest advice I can give is to think about environment and social community of schools your considering. Take class sizes, personable professors and availablity of academic help into consideration, especially when considering popluar name brand schools that attract many students. You may want to be at a school where people know your name, who can be a part of your growth and progress as an adult and professional; or you may be attracted to a large school that has many connections, bigger facilties and intense studies. Identifying your needs as a student will help guide your decisions to the school that bests suits you.

Some good advice for parents/students is that, from going to a school like massart I realized that this is not a school you would want to attend if you weren?t sure what you wanted to do with your life, because there are so many amazing things to do and one can become easily distracted. Small schools are better at preparing a student for the real life because we don?t live in the campus bubble that seems to surround so many big institutions. It is perfect for the person who loves a small school and one can learn a lot from their peers because most likely there will be some grad students in all of your classes. Freshman year was awful but if you stick it through and find your major it gets a whole lot better and going to school now feels like I?m going to see my family. It?s so small and every one spends so much time together that it really starts to feel like home.