Dear all, I want to transfer to another university where I have to make 80 credits out of 120 for my BFA degree. But wherever I ask, they say the remaining study time is three and a half years because one design course builds on the other. Who knows of colleges, more in the western U.S. (not California), where there is a less rigorous sequence of courses?
That’s the way it works.
You take courses in specific order because each level builds on the one before.
That’s why they are 101 courses, 201 courses, 301 courses and 401 courses.
You can’t take 401 Advanced Layout until you take Color Theory, Typography and 2D design.
What you can do is ask what you have that is tranferrable to skip some of those courses. The 40 credits you have, do they include core courses as well as art courses?
I was in the same boat. I went back for a BFA after a BS and had 3.5 years of art classes to take even though I had all the core courses done. Knocked it down to 2 years by going summers and nights on top of regular semester classes
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I was in a similar situation years ago. I already had a two-year degree in a different field, then decided to switch from a science major to fine arts. I ended up putting in an additional four years, which enabled me to go through the step-by-step, sequential design program.
Tuition was much less expensive then, so money wasn’t really the issue. For that matter, it worked out well because I already had most of my general education courses out of the way. This enabled me to concentrate almost exclusively on design while holding down a series of part-time design jobs and internships.
What it’s like today, I don’t really know, but I doubt it’s changed at the better state and private universities. As PrintDriver mentioned, the classes build upon each other, so skipping classes would put you at a disadvantage. You might be able to find a less reputable for-profit college that will cater the program to whatever you need, but I would avoid them.
Not long ago, I worked in the dean’s office at a big university college where I got a good look at how things work behind the scenes. When prospective students contacted the college, they got a response from people whose job was to answer questions. You’ll get standard answers from these people because they’re not really in a position to make exceptions.
However, exceptions can sometimes be made when the situation warrants it. At the state universities, many rules are quite rigid since they’re written into state regulations. It’s doubtful that you’ll get one of these schools to alter the sequence of their core design curriculum. But there might be some wiggle room when it comes to elective coursework if you’ve taken similar classes from accredited institutions elsewhere. You’re still looking at 3.5–4 total years, though, but you’ll have extra time left over to pursue internships or design-related part-time jobs, which look pretty good on a resume when you finally graduate.
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Thank you very much for the informative answers : )