Fulbright for Interaction Design: Tisch ITP vs RISD vs CMU

JHS
Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:41:58 +0000

I have no idea what any of these programs are, but I would note that the universities and schools they are housed in are very, very different, and will probably come at interactive design from different perspectives.

NYU is a comprehensive university, but Tisch is its art school. Tisch has a very, very strong reputation in performing arts (acting, dance, not so much music?) and film; I have the impression that it either doesn’t address visual art or it’s invisible in that world. RISD is one of the premier visual art schools in the country. RISD is not a comprehensive university, but it is physically adjacent to Brown, which is. Carnegie-Mellon is a comprehensive university that is somewhat weighted to the technical side. It happens to have an excellent theater conservatory, too, but its computer science program is generally considered one of the very strongest in the world.

I’m sure all of these institutions have designed their programs intelligently and lined up appropriate faculty. But it’s hard not to believe that Tisch approaches Interactive Design from a theater/film perspective, RISD from a visual/spatial design perspective, and CMU from a technical perspective, and that each will tend to draw students with corresponding interests. That could be wrong, but I would check hard before concluding it was.

Also – in looking at RISD, you should look into whether you could do some coursework at Brown. I know there is cross-registration for undergraduates, but I’m not at all certain about grad students in funky masters’ programs.

And – Everyone else is right, and you are wrong, about Pittsburgh. People love it there, and CMU is located in a great, vibrant part of the city, along with the University of Pittsburgh, so there are students galore.