I am a high school student in Toronto, Canada going into grade 11. I am lucky enough to be taking graphic design and photography at high school (and have limited experience with CAD as well as an 86 average) I am extremely interested in pursuing a career in car design, but I am pretty sure that this would be hard from a Canadian school. Assuming that I can afford to attend an American college, I am wondering:
Is it wise to get a degree in industrial design at a Canadian college (OCAD, etc) and then apply to a car design course, or should I try my luck with American schools right out of high school?
How likely am I to get into a car design course applying from Canada?
Is there a benefit to obtaining a masters degree, and which schools can this be done at?
The Masters is of little use. Many if not most Masters students are people who had trouble getting the job they wanted so they stayed on in school. Or they are people from related fields who don't want to start at the lower level of a BS degree. I know several designers from Canada and they are very good. One attended ID school there and then studied automotive in the US, another went straight to Art Center. Don't let being Canadian stop you.
With a BA in industrial design, is it best then to apply for a BA in car design, or the masters? Also, what are the odds of getting the job with just the industrial design credentials?
I don't know much about Canadian design schools but I would probably suggest getting your academics out of the way there, along with a year or two of ID courses, then transfer to CCS, ACCD or AAU to finish the BS or BA. Much of the design credits may not transfer but they would help prepare you to excel in the auto design program. If you aren't near the top of your class you still won't get the job you want. You might want to check with the US school about transferring academic credits from Canada.
Your in the same position i was a couple years ago. To answer your question, you basically have three options, one of which is the hardest.
Option 1: If you cant afford to study outside Canada like me, then u attend Humber College of Idustrial Design (avoid OCAD it's bad), you'll have an option to choose car design direction in 2nd year which is basically one studio class where you get to sketch cars, the rest is an average ID program...but once your get the BA from that school u can apply to Masters degree at Umea, Phrozinham, or SPD.
Option 2: If your well off financially then apply to ACCD or CCS, develop a decent portfolio and show you have cash and your in. To give you a perspective of how much money they ask for: When you get into ACCD they will want a bank verification from you of $55 grand to show that you can sustain your study...CCS will ask for around $36 grand, but i'd avoid going to Detroit. With a dgree from these schools Masters will be optional, unless your company demands it.
Option 3: If like me you hate Humber and you can't afford ACCD or CCS, then work your ass of practicing from sketching to 3d modeling, participate in majority of world wide competitions, seek sponsors, apply for internships, and try to get into the Masters Course at SPD Milano Italy...they only accept 14 students so you have to be quite good.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Alexei,
Originally posted by jfm: I am a high school student in Toronto, Canada going into grade 11. I am lucky enough to be taking graphic design and photography at high school (and have limited experience with CAD as well as an 86 average) I am extremely interested in pursuing a career in car design, but I am pretty sure that this would be hard from a Canadian school. Assuming that I can afford to attend an American college, I am wondering:
Is it wise to get a degree in industrial design at a Canadian college (OCAD, etc) and then apply to a car design course, or should I try my luck with American schools right out of high school?
How likely am I to get into a car design course applying from Canada?
Is there a benefit to obtaining a masters degree, and which schools can this be done at?
if u,ve got the cash go for art centre at pasadena. dont waste ur money and time in european car schools. except Pforzheim which is the best car design school in the world
Originally posted by MJJ: covexstudent: What is your opinion based on? I'm not being argumentative, but what about Umea and RCA? Is Pforzheim really better?
mate. UMEA is okay but its not much into styling . they r more into usability .
RCA is post graduate school. which means u need a BA to start off with. RCA 's degree show has been poor for the past 3 years.and u can hardly find any new concepts at their shows.
Pforzheim has the best BA course in my opinion. the only turn off is that it is all in German. they also have a MA course which is way better than UMEA in many terms and it is not worse than RCA for sure.
Forget doing a BA in ID as it takes u away from auto styling.if u have a passion for styling,get few DVDs and a biro and start practicing for 10 hours a day.after a year or 2 u will bve amazed with what u have achieved .
Then rob a bank or sell ur kidney and go to Art Centre and in 3 years time u r reaDY to show off ur skills if u have the talent ofcourse.
Coventry's shiny days has passed. They were great till 1998 but the ship start sinking and nobody cared afterwards. NorthUmb is a joke,Hudd is even worse and coventry is waste of time.
There is this BROWN College in Canada which is not worse than any mid ranged car school in europe.
