Theatre Design Major

Lizzy5851
Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:46:46 +0000

Thanks! She just loved everything about CMU and after looking at other programs it was clear that this is the right place for her.

Her portfolio was pretty strong, I think. In all, she maybe had about 20 boards to show, many with 2 or more images on them. She designed costumes for 2 youth theatre musicals last summer and included photos and sketches from those. She also designed and constructed collections for a local fashion show and included photos and sketches. She had a lot of other 2D and 3D art in there as well.

Syracuse was very generous and offered to review her portfolio in person and provide feedback to her early (we did this in October) which was a great way to get feedback on the portfolio and make changes before starting the real portfolio reviews.

Schools she considered: She wanted a University (not just an art school) and wanted to stay East or mid-west (not south or west coast) so our list of schools was limited by those parameters. We visited Carnegie Mellon, Ithaca, Emerson, Boston Univ, Syracuse, Purchase, DePaul and CalArts. We did not go to UMich, although that was probably going to be her 2nd choice if CMU didn’t work out. For her, she liked the schools that were clearly investing in the program (CMU, Michigan, Ithaca, Emerson and DePaul) and found that the schools that were not investing (Syracuse and Boston) didn’t appeal to her. She was very impressed with Purchase as well (in spite of their limited resources), but Purchase is a real lifestyle decision that wasn’t the right fit for her.

Good luck with your search!