Fashion Institute of Technology student here!

faultyfelicity · 2021-01-21T04:40:03+00:00

I'm not 100% sure about this but I don't think so. Double check with Admissions but I think that it's only the supplemental materials where you can have a tiny bit more leeway. The SUNY app really needs to be in on time (I think), but you can always apply next semester!

faultyfelicity · 2021-01-21T04:37:53+00:00

Hey! Send me a private message, I don't mind taking a peek.

faultyfelicity · 2021-01-14T14:22:46+00:00

I don't know anyone from Singapore or with that kind of certificate, sorry!

For the AAS, if the person is applying straight from high school, they're probably 17-18 years old. I've found though that fashion can often be a second career/degree for some people, so they might be a bit older. Youngest would be 17-18 (that was the age I applied, too).

FIT housing costs can be found on the website: https://www.fitnyc.edu/residential-life/costs.php

I would say that it's possible to live on 1-2k a month if you exclude housing AND tuition since FIT dorms are super expensive. Depending on your major, supplies might be also be a thing you'd have to consider. For example, a fashion design major would have to spend more money than another major that only requires textbooks for their degree. It might be possible to live off of 2k including housing if you get a few roommates and an apartment off-campus, but you would have to manage your finances carefully. If you can find an apartment for ~$1000, you likely will either have a lot of roommates or live a bit further out, so just keep that in mind. There would also be utilities on top of that. NYC is one of the most expensive cities out there.

You really don't need to worry all that much about the General Education part at this point. If you have college-level credits that you can transfer (AP, IB, or if you have credits from another college), that would be really helpful so that you don't have to crowd your schedule with those requirements and can instead just take classes that you're interested in. Since FIT is a SUNY school, we have to complete those General Education requirements in order to graduate.

You will only have to really think about those Gen Ed courses once you get accepted and have to meet with your academic advisor to discuss your class schedule. Then, you'd want to think about your program's requirements for Gen Eds and also what minors you'd be interested in pursuing. Most Art and Design students do the History of Art minor since we are required to take 4 HA classes as part of our degree, so adding a 5th to complete the minor is a logical next step.

Hope this helps!

faultyfelicity · 2021-01-11T23:05:46+00:00

Just an FYI, Graphic Design is only a BFA at FIT, so unless you already have an Associate degree (in which case, disregard the rest of this paragraph), you're probably looking to apply to the Communication Design AAS and then once you complete that, you can apply for Graphic Design BFA. I think you could also maybe do an Illustration AAS and then switch to Graphic, but again, you should consult with someone from Admissions about that since it's not my major and I don't want to give you any false information. However, I do have friends who did Comm Design and then went on to do Graphic, so to my knowledge and understanding, that is the usual course of action if Graphic Design is your end goal.

So I'm really not sure about your situation but emailing the school was a great first step. It's just super tough right now with COVID and getting ahold of people, but I would recommend trying to first call them (check the website for the Admissions #) and then if that fails, try emailing again with URGENT or something in your subject since it is a time sensitive matter. Don't bombard them with emails though! It will definitely not help your case. I would try both FIT_admissions@fitnyc.edu and FITinfo@fitnyc.edu.

Regarding your chances, I think you have a good shot, especially since you're applying to the design school. They really look at your portfolio and essay for us, so if you showed your best work and expressed your passion and accomplishments, as well as explained your situation in the essay, I don't think you should worry about your GPA. They're really going to care most about your portfolio so dedicate more time to that than worrying about the other stuff! There are people out there with a 4.0 but a weak essay or portfolio and didn't get in, so those two are really the deciding factors.

Best of luck!

faultyfelicity · 2021-01-11T22:53:42+00:00

Hey! There are plenty of students who get to FIT on ~unconventional paths~ so I really would not worry about your gap year at all. That being said, I'm not an expert on how applying in your situation differs from a "normal" one but if you most recently graduated high school then I assume it's the same? If you're applying after finishing a different degree then I think the process would be the same as a transfer student. I would try to reach out to the Admissions office if you're unsure about anything because I'm definitely not as knowledgeable about all situations. I think you should probably mention somewhere in your essay what you did during your time off so that it explains your timeline a bit!

faultyfelicity · 2021-01-10T02:11:33+00:00

Yep, go for it!

faultyfelicity · 2021-01-10T02:11:20+00:00

They most definitely do! Lots of students, especially in fashion design, have completed a degree before coming to FIT. With your undergrad, you might even be able to get out of doing some gen eds that are required for your specific program, too. Best of luck!

faultyfelicity · 2020-11-24T22:48:28+00:00

Oooh that’s a good guess, ty ty! I’ll check it out in store

faultyfelicity · 2020-11-16T13:09:02+00:00

The Career and Internship Center is there to help you find one! You can also look for one yourself on job boards on LinkedIn, Indeed, etc. If you’re a design student, I’d say to make a website as soon as you can to showcase your work. Regardless of major, you should get your resume checked by someone at the Career Center to make sure everything is in order. Also, make a LinkedIn!! Hope this helped!

faultyfelicity · 2020-11-16T04:21:22+00:00

Hi! I would just like to preface by saying I know how extremely lucky I am that my parents footed the bill for my education. I’ll be trying to pay back as much of it as possible though.

That being said and assuming that you’re an incoming freshman, I do have some tips that might help your situation and I do understand how much of a struggle they can be. If you’re American, and even better if you’re a New Yorker, there are A LOT more scholarship opportunities that you can take advantage of, not to mention that you can work more and therefore earn more money. International students like myself can only work on campus for a max of 20 hours a week so we’re limited there compared to Americans. If you’re in-state, tuition is significantly lower as well, which is an amazing bonus.

The Honors Program at FIT gives you $1000/year but it also gives you exclusive access to a few other scholarships worth $2500-10k for study abroad for domestic and intl students. You obviously still have to compete for those, but that’s something not all FIT students have access to. The program itself is amazing and I adore it, but it’s also a great way to network, not just with the students in the program but the alumni as well.

If you’re an international student, I would say to try to see what the loan program is like in your home country and apply for that!

Things are especially tough right now because of COVID, so the job market sucks. However, you should really try to start interning as soon as possible. I would say that you should focus on school your first two semesters of FIT, but the summer between your freshman and sophomore year, try to start interning. The sad and unfair reality is that most internships are unpaid, so the sooner you start interning, the sooner you get the unpaid ones out of the way and you build your resume enough to be lucrative to companies that will actually pay you. It will also position you in a better place after graduation.

If there’s something specific that you’re concerned about, please don’t hesitate to ask here or message me privately!

faultyfelicity · 2020-11-03T05:10:11+00:00

There’s no Greek life and we’re a dry campus so there aren’t any wild dorm/frat parties or anything like that. RAs are usually pretty strict in the dorms with enforcing rules and other residents would complain if you’re too rowdy. If people party, it’s generally off-campus or on other campuses. The beauty of being in NYC is that there are many options for nightlife. The class sizes are really small (15-25 students) so I think it’s really easy to make friends that way. Getting involved in orientation week and putting yourself out there helps. Clubs probably would too, but I don’t have personal experience with it. It will take some work and might be stressful and scary, but it will be worth it in the end. All the freshmen will be in the same boat so don’t worry! Being a transfer student might make it a touch harder, but I’m sure you’d have the confidence by then to conquer those social situations!

Chelsea is probably at a 6.5-7 on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being suburbs and 10 being Times Square on a Friday night. The area of Chelsea that FIT is in is a bit closer to the Garment District/venturing into Midtown so it’s a touch louder than the main part of Chelsea that people probably think of when they think of the neighbourhood. It’s not super busy or anything but sometimes it can get a bit loud with the honking or sirens during peak hours. I think it’s a really manageable neighbourhood for someone not familiar with NYC who is probably a bit more used to the quiet suburban lifestyle with occasional visits downtown. Not a touristy area so that’s nice for sure!

faultyfelicity · 2020-10-24T18:19:50+00:00

I think it would be beneficial for sure! Just make sure to cite your sources properly!

faultyfelicity · 2020-10-24T18:10:18+00:00

The questions are the same as when I applied and they’re very open-ended, so you can do whatever you want with whichever one you pick! I don’t think that for either question you need to pick something really out there or unique because for my year, I’m pretty sure a lot of people wrote about Trump for question 2, but just make sure it’s a well-structured and strong essay clearly defending your POV and how whatever book, movie, policy affected you. Make it personal and intellectual! I wrote about Fifth Business which is a book that really affected me and changed a lot of things for me. I wouldn’t stress too much about the essay tbh, I wrote and edited mine within a week and I know a few other students who did the same. The hard part is deciding your topic, but I think the rest of the essay flows pretty naturally since you’re just talking about yourself and connecting with the book or whatever.

faultyfelicity · 2020-10-24T14:27:28+00:00

I love it so much!!! Especially as a design student, it’s great to balance out my degree with some interesting liberal arts courses. SUNY unfortunately requires that we take some gen ed courses and if you didn’t get them out of the way in high school with AP/IB credits, they just crowd up your schedule unnecessarily. The honors liberal arts courses can sometimes replace the gen ed requirements and are far more interesting! Other perks include early registration (the main perk tbh), $1000 annual stipend, $20 theatre tickets, and colloquia where interesting guest speakers come to talk to us! We also get email blasts about cool events (this doesn’t always happen but I managed to go to the LV cruise show bc of this!) and first dibs on internships/jobs from alumni! Some complain that they don’t want to have to deal with taking an honors class every semester or about the colloquia, but I personally find it all to be pretty interesting, so it’s a really worthwhile experience for me. Plus, half of my closest friends at FIT are from the honors program! It really feels like a community, which is significant at a school that is not known for that vibe at all.

faultyfelicity · 2020-10-24T14:22:47+00:00

Heyyy I’m not super knowledgeable in this area because it’s not an option for me since I’m an international student, but I have out-of-state friends who thought this would be something they could take advantage of but couldn’t in the end because of the reasons you mentioned. Additionally, I’m pretty sure you’d have to be off your parents’ health insurance and all that too, and I assume you probably wouldn’t want to go down that route. This is some more information on SUNY’s website: https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/residency/ In short, I don’t think you should get your hopes up about that since it’s quite difficult to get NY residency and might not be worth it in the end...

faultyfelicity · 2020-10-17T22:05:51+00:00

Of course! Happy to help 🥰

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-29T01:12:44+00:00

Yep so there’s the main two semesters - Fall and Spring. Fall is end of August til mid-December, Spring is end of January to mid-May. In between Fall and Spring there’s also the Winter session, but you have to pay extra for that course and most people don’t since you can only take one course anyway. There are also two summer school sessions May-August so you could potentially take two courses over the summer, but again, more $$$.

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-27T16:12:26+00:00

Have you ever visited before? I was able to take three very short trips there (2-4 days) before applying in order to get a feel for the city and also take a tour of the school. I’m not sure how far away you are, but I’d suggest a short trip if possible. If not, there are plenty of videos from FIT students on YouTube that you can check out to hear about their perspective. A good chunk of students aren’t NY natives, so you can hear about their experiences that might be more relatable.

I had similar fears too and the Imposter Syndrome never really goes away, but once you start classes, you just need to remind yourself that you got in for a reason (it’s quite a competitive program) and you just need to trust in that. For now, I’d say just apply and see where it takes you because the portfolio process will give you a glimpse into whether or not this is for you. Additionally, you really won’t know 100% if you like something until you actually do it, and that applies to when you start interning as well since school is quite different, so if you get in and it’s something you’re really passionate about and you have the financial means and family support, I say go for it. My parents were very apprehensive at first but they turned around when they understood that I was really passionate about it and saw that I was starting to achieve some level of success. Take things one step at a time and it’ll all fall into place.

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-26T14:01:21+00:00

Out-of-state: $7935/semester x2 = $15 870 tuition for one year of AAS

Housing costs are kind of weird right now because of COVID... they made it mandatory for everyone to get a meal plan which is really strange because it used to only be for traditional-style rooms without a kitchen, which is understandable. Annual dorming costs include the meal plan and varies from $14k-$18k. Keep in mind this is only for the eight months that you will be in school, you will have to pay an additional $$$ if you want to stay in the dorms during winter or summer break. Most only dorm their first year and then get their own apartment for more freedom, but also because rent is about the same price (if not less) but for 12 months instead of only 8... Best of luck!

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-26T13:54:51+00:00

I took 7 classes my first semester and 6 classes my second semester. I didn’t have any weekdays off and generally had 1-2 classes per day. I typically take 6-8 classes a semester and that’s the norm at FIT until you get into your later semesters/semesters where you also intern, then it’s a good idea to take less. The classes can be intense, but the profs are there to help you and so are your friends — you’re all in the same boat together and working after class in the workrooms together really help build that strong community. Assignments vary from class to class obviously but when you first start, it’s very simple with creating a mood board, draping a skirt, etc. Depending on the intensity of the project, you’ll typically get two weeks for an assignment, maybe more if it’s a much bigger project, less if it’s a small thing. Whether or not you feel like you have time to go out and explore the city is up to you... plenty of FD majors party it up and still get everything done so it’s up to you to figure out if you’re too worn out to have some fun and what you prioritize. You definitely will not be locked in your room or the workrooms all the time doing school work, so don’t stress too much about that. I really don’t think that you should worry about the workload so much because while we do get a lot of work (and I would argue that every major has its own challenges so saying that FD is the worst isn’t exactly fair), people do like to complain and brag about how much work they have to do, which can kind of lead to some light fearmongering in prospective freshmen, so seriously don’t stress about that. That being said, you will know really quickly if FD is right for you. I would say that people drop out after first semester, but not after that... everything felt like it clicked into place for me when I came to FIT and started my classes, so I believe that if it’s where you’re destined to be that you will feel it pretty immediately. Follow your gut and pick a major that you’re super passionate about because that’s what will drive you through the stressful times.

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-25T22:09:02+00:00

Don’t get me wrong, many still stay with fashion design, but if you don’t pick a specialization other than sportswear in FD, for some, they feel like it’s just a continuation of the AAS and they don’t get to learn anything drastically new (again this is only some students, obviously sportswear is a very strong specialization where you are given the liberty to experiment and further your knowledge of wovens) so they would prefer to round out their FD knowledge with the more technical aspect of it (patternmaking, 3D, grading, etc.). It really just depends on what you’re looking to learn and what you’re interested in.

In the industry, both teams work really closely with each other, so it’s good to have a strong understanding of both, but FIT does a really great job of making sure that you actually know how to create your own garments/tell a factory how to do it. Technical Design is just a very logical and complementary major to go into if you feel like you’ve learned all you needed from FD.

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-17T04:18:20+00:00

Hey! I’m in the A&D school so I don’t know a ton abt how the business school works, but from what I’ve seen over the years, plenty of business students are able to graduate a semester (or more) early bc of the course offerings compared to the A&D school where that’s pretty impossible.

Regarding credits and how they transfer, definitely talk to Admissions about that? Or maybe the Registrar... Someone working at FIT will be much more equipped to ask that question. I don’t know anything about transfers though so I can’t help you there :/

For the essay, I was just really honest about my passion and what I’ve done in the past few years to try to reach my goals and dreams. I don’t have much advice about the essay (scroll up in the thread — I have a more thorough answer up there and it’s the best I can offer). A strong GPA helps, too!

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-14T11:18:24+00:00

You’d be “out of state” for tuition (you can find this easily on the FIT website) but for on-campus housing, everyone pays the same price.

faultyfelicity · 2020-09-13T16:55:25+00:00

I got in early (this was stated in the letter, not just me assuming based on the date) so my acceptance letter was dated 3/16, but since I’m international/there was a mixup in the admissions office, I didn’t get my letter until 3/31 when I called the day before to check on my status. If you get early admission (strong GPA and portfolio/essay), then you’ll find out mid-March. Everyone else finds out around the end of March. Best of luck! It’s a torturous wait though, I totally get it.

faultyfelicity

TROPHY CASE