The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale

Date: Oct 25 2009
Major: Industrial Design (This Major's Salary over time)
I graduated top of my class and have a great job, great pay, with a good company. But, these comments are not about or for me per say. I just want to offer an honest opinion about my experience. I went to Fort Lauderdale Art Institute for Industrial Design during this time I always tried to push myself to grow as a designer. As far a the school went the teachers didn't really care if you showed up to class or turned your projects in 3-4 weeks late. It really didn't matter on the quality of work you turn in if you turn it in. After turning in something in late and missing half of the assignments everyone would A's and B's. So it was a little discouraging to try hard and push myself when I would watch other skip class and get marked here - not turn projects and still get the same grade I got when I stood up all nights working on mine. After joining a few blogs that offered advice for designers I heard that in the professional world the Art Institute is a school for those who cant get into real design schools. (Not to discredit the talented student the graduated with me or who are unfortunately enrolled there now. ) But- it was these blogs that I learned more about thinking , drawing, CAD programming , rendering and more. The teachers at the Art institute of Fort Lauderdale DO NOT push the students to achieve and accept ANYTHING turned in and give and ?A?. Yet in the design blogs when I turned something in I was ?critiqued and showed? how to make my designs better. Honestly, I learned more from the blogs than I did from the teachers at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
EX: Teacher 1:

this is perhaps the worst teacher at the school. This teacher intimidates the students by talking over them but not before coming into class and boasting about how sketch book pro wants this teacher to do lessons for them or how Solid Works wants this teacher to do lessons for them. Yet - when it came to teaching the student that were each paying over a 1000.00 dollars per class this person couldn?t find the ability inside to have the patience to help them learn. This teacher only blurted out a response to a students question and walked away bothered that they were even asked in the first place. Heaven forbid that student wasn?t fast enough to get everything down the first time.. But the students wouldn?t ask for help the second time. I heard from another student that the school had a sponsored project from Motorola. Motorola, yes Motorola - the individual that came representing Motorola came in with a project in mind and even took the time to make a chart to help the students think about their intended market on top of that he modeled a motherboard, housing unit, and battery case so that the student would have limits and expectations to build a prototype housing around. This teacher quickly dismissed all efforts set by the individual and told the students to design what ever they wanted. When the reprehensive of Motorola came in so check on the progress of the students he was shocked to find that all the time he set aside to help the students was dismissed by this teacher. I wouldn?t think that Motorola would ever sponsor a project with the school again. ?Way to go ?
EX: Teacher 2
In this class the teacher would assign tutorials from websites for homework and then have us turn them in. Not - do the tutorials and then do our own version using what we learned from it. No - just the tutorial, that?s it. When you did some design that this teacher didn?t like they would merely say that don?t like it. Not explain what?s wrong with the design itself ( ergonomics ..etc..) just that they didn?t like it. This was an opinion it had nothing to do with the design itself.
EX: Teacher 3
Oh one of my favorite. No matter - No matter what you turned in you passed. If you didn?t sketch anything - pass. If you crapped in a box and said this was your project - pass. I watched as students never showed up didn?t do anything and then asked for and extension and got it. Did I mention that some students missed 7-8 classes out of 11 and was awarded with an extension and of course - PASSED.

I could go on - but, why - you get the point.

I hope that I have gave you and insight to what the school offers. If your looking for a great school for Industrial Design may I suggest - Ohio State, Road Island, Pratt. Any similar

P.S. Not to totally discredit all the teachers at the school Brent Wortham was/is a very strong teacher. He always took the time to help the students grow and learned from their mistakes. He even came in to help a students on his days off. Brent - you are the best at what you do and you deserve a better place.