KIS360

My daughter is beginning to research colleges as a HS Junior this year. She is interested in studying Fashion, so we would appreciate any insight into the Fashion Major at Delaware. She already knows she likes the school, as she has visited her brother there. We're also interested in knowing which other schools you (or your child) looked at when searching, and how they compared with the program at UD. Thanks very much for your advice.

nataliercoley

I am currently a fashion merchandising major at udel (and hoping to do an internal transfer to apparel design in the spring). I personally think that the fashion merchandising program at this school is absolutely excellent and offers a wide variety of courses. I've also found, with the exception of one teacher, that all of my professors have been very good and knowledgeable about the subject they are teaching.
The two other schools I had applied to were VCU and Drexel but I chose to go to Delaware because they gave me the biggest scholarship out of the three, and seemed to have the friendliest environment and students when I went to visit (drexel was a bit..snobby). I also looked at FIT but, while the fashion program there is very good, the non fashion courses you have to take (math, english, etc.) seemed like lower level courses than what I had done in high school and I felt that I would get bored.
The one thing I dislike about delaware is the location. I grew up in big cities all my life (I went to high school in Bangkok, Thailand and before that I lived in downtown Frankfurt (in Germany)) and so Newark isn't really what I'm used to. Granted, its a beautiful town and great for college but it doesn't really have all of the variety, diversity, and resources that I am used to having right at my fingertips. However, if you grew up in the suburbs, or don't really need a big, noisy city environment its great (its even starting to grow on me!).
Also, one of the nice things about the udel fashion program is that they have a year at FIT (junior year for fashion merchandising and senior year for apparel design) that you can choose to do. It allows you to live in NYC and complete a year of your coursework at FIT (enabling you to graduate with a bachelors from UDEL and a associates degree from FIT, while getting the opportunities and connections that come from living, studying and possibly working/interning in new york, while still getting a well rounded education at udel).
Finally, the university of Delaware has alot of good clubs for fashion students (any major can sign up for them, which is good for undecided students as well). I am a member of the fashion merchandising club (which has alot of great guest speakers and opportunities to go visit showrooms and such in new york) and I was a member of synergy, which organizes the school fashion show (I only quit because i figured it would have more opportunities for students actually participating in the fashion show..which as a freshman fm major I wasn't doing). They also have udress, which is the school fashion magazine which is great for people who love both fashion and writing, or are hoping to become fashion editors someday.
I hope this info helps you!