The Degree of Unnecessary

Mike Tracy - Former Ai Teacher

So I have been hearing some rather unpleasant things lately about the "college" I attended for my "degree" in Graphic Design. And I have to say: I'm not that surprised. Some other students have been speaking out against their system lately and that makes me smile. (More Links Links Links)

For me: After I was convinced that I should go to this school by some crafty salesmen, and told that my lack of funds wouldn't ever become an issue, I enrolled. I made it far enough in my program to realize that the major I'd chosen wasn't what I'd wanted at all. The Multi-Media program I'd chosen turned out to be a web-design based curriculum with very little to hardly any video production involved. So I changed majors (to something "good enough") under the continued assumption that I wouldn't lose out on anything. In the long run though, the school continued to mess up my classes, schedules, and credits from that point on. For instance; I was enrolled in a class, finished the quarter and found out the last day that I was no longer enrolled in that class. (The staff had put me in that class themselves, I did not enroll personally). Turned out I was required to take another class, then retake that first class and not receive any credit for being there at 7:30am every week for Eleven weeks straight. I was displeased but I soldiered on.

I did enjoy and respect a handful of my teachers there. I did learn a lot from them. But near the end; the forces that were, were making the "don't worry about the money" fairy disappear. I was so close to the end, and I'd been promised so much. I couldn't give up having received nothing... To make a long story a bit shorter; When I graduated I was unable to find work, and six months after I finished; the school refused to continue to help me. Not that they were much help prior to that. So here I am; a college graduate with thousands upon thousands of dollars in debt, with a piece of paper (actually; they never sent me my diploma, so without a piece of paper and no way to pay dear old Sallie Mae.

In hindsight, if I could have taken maybe a max of 10 of those classes with those teachers, and only those; I'd be well off and know that helpful information I know now. But I'd still be in an industry I didn't care for in the first place. In other words: I just wish someone had warned me before I dove headfirst into this mess called the Art-Institute.