Considering Stamps at the University of Michigan Watch this

having bangs is hard me whatever hi continuing our series with me pretending to know what i'm talking about we're going to discuss the university of michigan in more detail specifically stamps school of art and design my experience going there little bit of context about how got in what some takeaways and advice would be to those who are considering it and going transferred to the stamp school of art and design from community college made video about going to community college and about the transferring process little bit of context around that went to community college for one year but knew that whole time that was really interested in going to michigan so spent that whole year really focusing on how could get in visited the university of michigan and the stamp school of art and design how many times are we gonna say that we're just gonna call it stamps visited stamps and checked out the program talked to the counselors about what it would take for me to get some credits to transfer and what it would take for me to get in so you could check out all of that in that separate video but want to take this video to talk about what the experience was like going there little bit of information about how got in in addition to traditional requirements like sending your gpa and your sat scores and after school activities and basically resume you also have to submit portfolio to get into stamps maybe will include some images from that portfolio sought out lot of advice on what to include in this portfolio to really show that was to show that was well-rounded studio artist never really had passion about one medium so this was kind of just can draw could paint could do some basics but i'm here to learn lot more they were chosen to reflect certain skills to show that had breath of experience these are definitely amateur but they helped me get in michigan also asks for lot of essays when you're applying to school in addition to the standard common app question they ask for an essay about why you want to go to michigan what community you're part of why you're transferring if you are transferring and then one specifically about why you want to go to the program that you're interested in so had to talk about why was interested in art and design for my why michigan essay it was really easy for me to pour my heart out onto this paper about how passionate was to go to michigan there was just such an enthusiasm for the school with all the students when had visited and that had totally overtaken me and was just as enthusiastic about going there for what community was part of it was just quick little maybe 200 word essay so took this opportunity to make it little bit interesting so wrote about how like to wear eclectic socks some polka dots some stripes all different colors but never plain boring white or black socks which is funny now because all ever wear are no-shows but at the time was really into showing my socks and having them be as eccentric as possible for the art and design went into how had always wanted to be an art teacher but this desire actually pretty quickly changed once got to michigan and saw the opportunity with having an art and design degree overall i'm really thankful that got to go to stamps because of the opportunities it allowed me and where ended up in life didn't actually end up pursuing something that necessarily needed an art degree but who knows where would be if didn't pursue that but as thankful as am to have gone there there were definitely some downsides specifically the fact that we all kind of felt like guinea pigs they were testing out new program some new classes to build into the curriculum as required to graduate and there were some weird classes they were definitely figuring it out and in real time so we all kind of felt like what is going on when you can only take so many classes and put so much energy and time into the classes that you are taking it kind of becomes annoying when you're taking class that doesn't feel like it is super figured out sketched out it was overall just the kind of weird experience when you felt like they were making these arbitrary rules that they had just created in the last few years and then really forcing you to stick to these schedules when it wasn't really going to help you in the career that you wanted or it was conflicting with helping you graduate in time because you had so many other classes you needed to take was able to graduate college in four years so spent three years at michigan and got it all in met all the requirements but it was just kind of discouraging to feel like you were paying so much money for program that wasn't 100 certain what they were doing with you that being said when you did take classes that were with professors who were specialists did feel like was getting really great experience did learn lot from them and those classes were definitely worth it stamps also makes you take bunch of fundamental classes to kind of give you an experience with all of the different art mediums so you can say that you've tried everything at least once so we got to experience performance art and video art 2d 3d methods of inquiry which is kind of experimenting with all different forms wood metal clay what else open-ended and lot of people complained about this because they knew what they wanted to focus on they didn't want to do painting if they wanted to focus on graphic design for example but i'm thankful that they structured it in this way because it reminded me that had always been interested in video production and so instead of pursuing being an art educator an art teacher really focused on taking as many video editing classes production classes anything video related to try to pursue career in that field instead so i'm really thankful that they structured it in this way because who knows where i'd be now was able to get job as video editor and that led me down the career path that am now which is customer success at medical education startup so totally unrelated but am thankful to be where am today one thing that i'm so thankful for and this might be applicable to art school in general is the act of getting used to critique so in your studio art classes you will work on project maybe for week or two weeks and then you present it to the class you either put it up on the wall or slideshow whatever the medium is however that's relevant and you present your work and everyone is looking at your piece at the same time mentioning positives and negatives bonus points if you mention negatives because your teachers professors they actually really want you to get constructive criticism so they are looking for people to contribute in way that isn't just giving people compliments but also giving them constructive feedback on how to improve in the future and this really prepares you for real life because at work you're not just studying information and preparing for an exam you're often working out of projects for weeks or months or days then you have to present your work to your team or client and prepare for some critical feedback so throughout my career i've actually faced some instances where people were apologetic about the feedback they gave me because they weren't sure if they were being too critical and always think back at how had been prepared for this really well because of my art degree was so used to other students in these classes looking for what exactly was wrong and being really honest about it to be honest sometimes just for better grade for themselves for participation points think lot of people think pursuing an art degree is kind of silly sometimes because they are thinking that you're not going to make any money as an artist you know that classic starving artist cliche but in hindsight see how valuable this experience was to me even as someone who ended up in totally different field specifically because of this critique experience and just the experience in general constantly being given problems to solve and to think creatively through instead of just having to memorize old information and regurgitate it on an exam or paper but taking research and applying it to your creative process and presenting it for your class so to all the haters thinking that an art degree is silly okay some interesting things about going to the art school was that they required study abroad and this experience was so near and dear to my heart i'm so thankful for them requiring this because don't know if it would have happened without that requirement really had to squeeze it into my final summer with an internship on the other half of the summer it was tough but we made it work one thing that was annoying was that they didn't give me scholarship for the program chose because needed it to fit in the beginning of summer so it wasn't stamps program therefore they could not give me this damn scholarship for it and this kind of broke me down because was like this is requirement from you now this is going to cost me lot more money how can you put this all on me and not give me the scholarship that would have been entitled for if it was stamps program so just do your research you know before you pick program if the money aspect is really critical to you that you are aware before you make that call like had to and then kind of suffer the consequences because had no other choice don't know if it helped my skills as an artist but it definitely was earth-shattering experience coming from suburb of new jersey basically suburb in michigan and then living in this amazing city where was experiencing some culture shock living with host family who i'm so grateful for it's just you're in somebody else's home where you don't know the language highly recommend study abroad if it isn't requirement to you anyway it is kind of once in lifetime opportunity to be afforded that amount of time in city outside of your country where you get to experience it with in safer environment with students your age and program that's watching over you think it's just so special and couldn't recommend it enough don't think i've met anyone who wouldn't recommend study abroad though so don't know if that's hot take another thing about scholarships from stamps is that if you do find an internship opportunity but it is unpaid stamps actually provides scholarships so you don't have to deny an opportunity because of finances it was kind of amazing because one of my internships not only gave me college credit but then got money from stamps to pursue this opportunity and the internship itself reimbursed my travel credit so kind of was making pennies on the hour at the end of the day because it wasn't huge scholarship but it's still nice bonus and to know that you're not making nothing that summer so this is an unpopular opinion but would recommend living on north campus at michigan if you are in the art school at least for the first year you spend so much time in those studio classes and when it's really late at night it's hassle to get back to central campus it was super nice to be able to go back to my dorm really quickly between classes because it's just quick walk away whereas people who lived on central campus did not have that opportunity because it does take little bit of time to get back to central from north in my junior and senior year wasn't as important for me to be on north campus so actually did live on central campus because lot of my classes were digital art which allowed me to do my projects from anywhere because all needed was laptop so if you are freshman or sophomore and you're little bit bummed that you're on north campus wouldn't be so upset because of the amount of time that it saves you when you're constantly commuting to the stamps or spending lot of time in those studios i'm debating on going into this in greater detail because there's lot to say about going to school at michigan in general but will say highly recommend michigan had such great time even got little michigan tattoo line ridiculous but did think it was such valuable experience specifically wanted to go to the stamp school of art and design because it was attached to michigan was really interested in michigan more than stamps this is because love the campus love the enthusiasm that people had for the school they had an amazing athletic program which made game days very exciting so every weekend basically felt like holiday pretty much every program at michigan is ranked so you know that if you want to actually transfer or take classes in another school at michigan that you are going to be going to good program no matter what and this means you're also going to meet people in all these different fields that are very smart as well think great example of how true this is is by the time was graduating my closest group of friends had jobs lined up at some crazy places including goldman sachs google and the who by the time was graduating did not have job lined up so that was little bit scary but it was encouraging to see like with the michigan degree you can go some pretty great places i'm wondering what else i'm gonna wish had said in this video loved ann arbor the food in ann arbor was amazing fritta potatoes the lunchroom detroit street feeling station love going back to ann arbor because the food scene is so good there's just so many great things about that school the campus is so beautiful the la quad the diag unfortunately was in an older dorm so my dorm didn't have the beautiful bathrooms like some of those on central campus but am still very thankful for the dining halls my gosh the dining halls are so good at michigan so looked forward to eating there when didn't even have meal plan was always eager to go to the dining halls on whoever would swipe me in or even just pay out of my own pocket because love buffet kind of went vegan in college because of the amazing options at the dining hall had so it is very friendly to all sorts of diets what the heck else do want to say there's so much to say about going to school feel like should just cut it here and maybe make another video about michigan overall would give michigan an a-plus and would totally recommend going there if you have any questions at all about my time there something might have left out that you're really interested to know please leave comment below because i'd love to help future wolverine current wolverine whatever the situation friend of wolverine was so thankful for those who had posted on youtube about their michigan experience so that's kind of what i'm doing here for you understand the passion about michigan if you're passionate about it too here we are we're here for each other all right go blue bye if you know you know