Oh hello mid-life existential, identity crisis.

May 21, 2009 10:46 PM

20 years old. 3rd year of college. Rejected from the design program I applied to. Now what?

I'm 20, 3rd year in college and was just rejected from the graphic design program I applied to. If I got into the program I would have been done in two years so I assume my parents (who foot the bill for my tuition+rent) will give me another 2 years. I'd have to wait a year to apply again. I don't want to do that.

I've spent 2 years studying Japanese but I can only minor in it. I think I'm going to continue on with that. Other than that I don't know what to do. I came up with two possibilities: Art (because I have a lot of art units) or linguistic anthropology (only because I love languages). I'm not too fond of either of these options because I don't know what the hell I'd do with either major.

I didn't get in not because I wasn't creative enough or for being a poor designer but because my craft was sloppy. I feel like I could still be a designer in the future, but I don't know how since I won't be coming out of school with a nice, neatly packaged student portfolio.

I am very confused. I feel kind of liberated because I feel like this is going to force me to be more interesting but at the same time very scared.

I know I want to do the JET program when I graduate.

That's it. I don't know what to do with the rest of my college career.
Any ideas? Similar stories? Comments? Suggestions?

posted by ad4pt to education (12 comments total)

You're 20, lots of time, and being scared isn't really something that should spend time doing. Spend a year honing the sloppyness out of your craft, reapply if that's what you want to do. There is nothing stopping you from building up a neat portfolio without school. Knock on the doors of a few agencies and throw yourself at their mercy. You will learn heaps more than school can teach you, and if your parents are supporting you, it's easier to offer yourself at low rent.
posted by mattoxic at 10:55 PM on May 21

You can have a mid-life crisis at twenty? You can have many a crisis at 20, but mid-life? Uh, no. Last year - you were a teenager! My advice would be first, to put things in perspective and be a tad easier on yourself. You've got lots of time.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 11:16 PM on May 21 [2 favorites]

I meant to put "quarter life crisis", sorry.
posted by ad4pt at 11:24 PM on May 21

Yeah, please don't go dying at 40 or some shit.

Mr. F did the six years of college plan-- two community, four state school-- to get into the state school's excellent film program. He spent the first two years at the state school busting his ass in every possible way to get in good with the film program-- production assistance to the juniors and seniors, helping shoot school football games, whatever it took.

Can you commit a year to art classes and spend it busting your ass against the design faculty, sharpening your portfolio, being their bitch, and then reapplying with your newly-superior portfolio and record of demonstrated utility?
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 11:40 PM on May 21

Why not continue working on graphic design? Surely your Arts department has classes you can take to continue to hone your craft. If not, take graphic design classes at a local community college. Find out first whether the credits transfer. If graphic design is your passion, you should pursue it. Don't let one rejection letter get you down. Next time, hedge your bets and apply to more than one program.

Japanese as a minor makes sense. Even majors do not graduate with functional literacy in the language. It's just that hard.

JET's just one of many ways to go to Japan for work or study. Don't limit yourself to JET.

Consider applying for a Fulbright to go to Japan the year after you graduate. Propose a graphic design project! That would definitely catch someone's eye on the selection committee.

Dig around and you might find an option that suits you better if you really want to go to Japan.

Bottom line: get your BA as soon as you can and get on with your life. Don't spend more time on it than necessary, whether you're considering post-graduate study or not.

I'm a professor (in a Japan-related field, of all things). This is pretty much what I'd tell any of my students in your situation.

Keep at graphic design. That appears to be what you care about. Seriously, do not let one rejection letter discourage you.

(I like languages too. I find reading books and blogs about linguistic anthropology satisfies my interest in the subject. But if you're serious, take a class or two and then consider framing a Fulbright or Monbusho Research application on a linguistic anthro project for Japan. It's well-established field over there-- maybe too established. The field is very conservative. The field's founder, Yanagid(t)a Kunio (柳田國男) is revered almost as a religious figure above reproach in some circles. It gets old very fast.)
posted by vincele at 12:29 AM on May 22

Talk to your academic adviser or your departmental adviser, not to internet strangers. Your advisers have to answer questions pretty much identical to yours every single day, and I'm sure they can offer better answers than anyone here could.

We have no idea what this art program you are talking about is (also, sloppy craft? what does that even mean?), what prospects it would offer for your future, why you want an art degree when you plan to enroll in JET; we don't even know where you go to school (CSU: is that Chicago State University? Cleveland State University? California? Colorado?).

It's your third year in college: what have you been studying these past three years? Surely no college would let you study for six semesters without declaring a major?
posted by halogen at 1:45 AM on May 22

To be fair the OP gave us a good idea of the classes she's taken (arts, Japanese), her interests (graphic design, JET), and it seems clear that she's closest to earning an arts degree.

Sure, she should talk to her academic advisor, but not all are created equal. Especially at large schools like the ones you mentioned advisors are overburdened-- at mine each advisor can have hundred-plus advisees, and no time to offer individualized help.

It never hurts to ask for advice like this on AskMe. 20 is a daunting stage in one's life. Plus, getting a rejection letter is never easy. I bet many of us have been there.

And yes, at a lot of places you can study for six semesters without declaring a major, or you can decide you want to change majors at that point. The bigger the school, the easier it is to fall through the cracks and get lost. Even at small schools it happens.
posted by vincele at 4:06 AM on May 22

You're 20, the world allows you to not have everything figured out. Allow it for yourself. Hell, look at me, I'm an old fart and I still don't have it all together, but I get on just fine. I have a nice family and a nice house and I'm comfortable. You'd better believe I've been rejected a time or two.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:05 AM on May 22

If you want to be a graphic designer, an art degree is perfectly good preparation. You can tailor your coursework to better fit those goals (maybe even take as electives courses from the design school?).

At the same time, though, you need to think about your sloppy craft. It doesn't matter if you are creative and have the other technical skills if your presentation is not good. Assuming you will be doing commercial work, you have to be able to mat your work and make a nice final presentation. It's part of being a professional, it's part of marketing, and it's part of graphic design.

This is advice coming from someone who is only watching while her boyfriend goes through design school. But I hear the stories and see some of the agonizing little details that keep him up all night.
posted by hydropsyche at 6:26 AM on May 22

At the same time, though, you need to think about your sloppy craft. It doesn't matter if you are creative and have the other technical skills if your presentation is not good. Assuming you will be doing commercial work, you have to be able to mat your work and make a nice final presentation. It's part of being a professional, it's part of marketing, and it's part of graphic design.

Yes, this.

But, I think you should at least apply for the linguistic anthropology degree, if you love languages and are planning on going into the JET program. The one person I know who got in was a communications major, and had only had a year or two of Japanese (wasn't fluent). If I understand correctly, they don't necessarily want fluent speakers.

Go to the department chair of the anthropology department and ask them what you'll be able to do with the major. The answer might be that you'll need a graduate degree to work in the field, but if it's something you're deeply interested in, that's not the worst thing in the world. With any bachelor's degree, you'll be qualified to do office monkey work, at least.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:34 AM on May 22

Consider this your first lesson in graphic design. You will be lucky if, over the course of your career, you solve the problem right the first time once, maybe twice. The rest of the time, you'll do something close, but not quite right. But you'll get some feedback that will tell you where to go. The best designers aren't the ones with some innate brilliance that can poop out masterpieces all day long. The best designers are those that work, fail, listen, and try again, and keep doing that until they get it right.

You've tried. It wasn't quite right, but you've been given valuable feedback. (Work on sloppiness.) If you're not the type of person who is more excited about nailing hard-won success than tripping over easy solutions, than please don't be a designer. There are already too many bad ones who won't put in the necessary work, and all that does is make our world a more ugly place. But if you're willing to do the hard work, then get to work.

Work with your parents on financing (or work on your own financing), talk with design faculty or grad students and have them unofficially critique all the self-directed work that you're going to work on over the next year. Study design from books, lectures, etc. Do the work. If you actually do that, I have no doubt that you'll not only get into the program next year, but that everyone else will think that you're one of those brilliant designers that poop out masterpieces all day long. In truth, you'll just have learned the secret - hard work.
posted by ochenk at 8:09 AM on May 22 [3 favorites]

Thought I'd chime in that PhoBWanKenobi is correct about JET. They don't want people who know too much about Japan or the language. The less you know, the less likely you'll figure out how to complain about injustices you suffer or understand disparities in class, race and gender all around you.

On JET your job, be it in a school or local government office, is to grin and speak English with whomever approaches you. Some people love JET. Others don't.
posted by vincele at 6:43 PM on May 22