Next year, I hope to get into one of three colleges; DAAP in Cincinnati, CIA in Cleveland, or CSS in Detroit. Now, I have been trying my best to do my homework on the three, but since I figured that there probably are students from all three colleges on these boards, I thought I would ask some questions about them and see if I could get a decent response.

• What is the required GPA for each college?
  
• Is it true that DAAP does not require a portfolio for acceptance?
  
• What score do you have to achieve on your ACTs?
  
• Do these colleges require you to also take the SAT?
  
• What is required for the portfolio for these colleges (i.e. guidelines, etc.)? Are there examples I could study?
  

That is all of the questions that I can think of at the moment. As for tuition, I already know that CIA and CSS run around $25,000 to $30,000 annually, but I am not totally sure on the cost of DAAP.

Any help is very much appreciated.

Thank you!

Why don't you spend 5 minutes, and read over each schools entrance requirements on their websites..?

quote:

Originally posted by LiGHTWORKEr:
Why don't you spend 5 minutes, and read over each schools entrance requirements on their websites..?

Did that. On a footnote, the last time I checked DAAP's requirements, they did not seem too precise.

Can anyone else help here?

Well you can find all the info on DAAP here:
http://www.daap.uc.edu/design/trans/admissions

They do not require a portfolio, but are fairly highly ranked in industrial design, I think coming second only to Art Center. Although I still do not have much faith in their program just because they don't require a portfolio.

You can get the info on CCS here:
http://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/hs/admissions/applying

and here:
http://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/hs/admissions/applying/portfolio

Portfolio wise CCS will accept pretty much anyone with decent art skills, but you start as a general student and move up towards trans and later auto design, and it's hard. I assume CIA is similar.

So in short, for DAAP if you have no art skills but excellent grades you will get in, for CCS/CIA average grades and average art skills will get you in (with emphasis on portfolio) but that does not necessarily mean you are good enough for trans or auto design (they accept only 20 ppl for auto design each year).

For art schools like CCS/CIA/ACCD, your portfolio has a lot more weight than your grades.

CIA isn't worth it. I went there for one semester then transferred to CCS. I'd apply just to see what kind of scholarship you get, but CCS is the better choice by far.

I hate to sound like a Broken Record, (seems this is all I ever post) but if your considering coming to the Detroit area, you should look into Lawrence Tech as well.

If you're planning on making a trip into town to visit CCS (which you should if you're thinking of going there) LTU is only twenty minutes north. You should stop by for a visit with Professor Nagara.

Thank you everyone for the replies. I really appreciate it. And thank you for the links, Burns.



Suffice to say, I believe a few of my priorities have changed as a result of what I have learned.

Also, I received an application to CIA today. I believe I will fill it out, just for fun ...

CIA, my second choice, is really laying it down thick. They sent a DVD and a phone call today in addition to the application they sent a few days ago.

CCS, my first choice, got an e-mail from me this evening. Lets see what they will say ...

DAAP is the last place on my list, and I will talk to a representative that will visit my school in the coming weeks.

Now I am really going to get into working on a nice portfolio over the coming year. I have my benchmarks ready and some tutorials at hand. Wish me luck everyone.

I will also look into three or four more choices (LTU being one of them) in the coming weeks and I have visits planned to all three of my current choices over the summer.