RFI: Photography degrees and studies online

[Jim Poor]

I asked this elsewhere a while back, but thought I'd get different perspectives here.

I've looked at New York Institute of Photography, but they don't offer a degree.

I'm looking at Academy of Art University as well.

Any other recommendations for either online degrees (BA and up) or something in VA?


I know I'll probably get better and faster instruction from IPTs and the like, but with an Army career, I put my degree on hold for 17 years. My day job is great and I'm doing really well considering that I have 230+ credits but no degree, but I might as well get a degree in something I'm interested in to make sure all the doors stay open.


Thoughts?

[Amy DeStefanis]

I'm not sure about the degree in photography online, but I can say this about working and getting a degree: Every class you take now is one you won't have to take later. So, while you're busy trying to decide how to go about it, just take one class. You might turn around one day and realize they add up to a degree. I would think your other hours would transfer to give you at least some headway toward your goal.

I say this because I have a family member who has spent about 20 years wishing she'd gotten a degree, but lamenting that it would take too long to do and work as well. If she'd just started slowly, and step-by-step, she would have it. So, it's a subject that I've thought about a lot, and I understand the frustration.

So, regardless of whether it's in photography, or just finishing what you already have started, once you get going, you will be able to look back at your accomplishment, and before you know it, you'll be graduating. It all adds up - whether it's one class or a crushing load that is impossible to live with.

I finished about 32 hours of catch-up undergrad work (catching up on all the math I used to avoid) while working full time, and then those hours helped me years later to get into a graduate program here at USF - and I took 2 courses per semester while working full time. Took me about 2.5 years. The shame there is that the company I worked for basically shrugged, and said "good for you, you have your masters in field that is directly related to your career - don't get all uppity about it". It really made no difference to my career there.

So, don't beat yourself up as time goes by. Life's too short for regrets.

I'm sure my dad wasn't the first to say this, but I don't know who else to attribute it to: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Good luck!

[LeeOtsubo]

...I'm sure my dad wasn't the first to say this, but I don't know who else to attribute it to: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Good luck!

Usually attributed to John Lennon, 1980. You're probably too young to remember a group named the Beatles of which Lennon was a member. :D It's also attributed to others prior to Lennon. The most likely candidate is John La Mance. I have no clue who he was.

As for the OP, I took a different tack and finished my BS and most of my MS coursework in 2.5 years and graduated summa. I crammed in as many as 24+ units per semester and ate nothing but ramen noodles. The GI Bill and a job at the school computer lab, where I basically ate, slept and studied, paid my expenses. It's all about commitment and focus. School is a test to show employers how bad you want it. Good luck!

[Jim Poor]

I've been looking at options. I have narrowed things down to two I think. One is an accelerated program designed to do four years in one, and considering that up to half can transfer in I could probably cut it down even more. The degree is something I'm interested in but not as much as other things.

The other is a four year program with little hope of speeding things up, but it is a photography degree. . .

Choices choices.

[Amy DeStefanis]

Hey Lee, Thanks for taking a couple of decades off for me! I do remember the Fab Four, and was even on the planet when they broke up. I guess it's time to resort to Wikipedia for the origin of the quote, because I'm pretty sure my dad wouldn't have gotten it from John Lennon. (He was too old to like the Beatles at that time, and Lennon would certainly not have been one of his gurus).

Meanwhile, Jim, Lee's right - it's about focus. I do think that employers really are interested in whether someone has a degree simply to know whether they're capable of focusing, completing projects, and are willing to jump through hoops - sometimes really stupid hoops that you have to jump through even though you know they're stupid - those are the kinds of things that often frustrate students.

Just look at the step you need to take today, and take it - and then tomorrow, and take it.... Make it a priority, and before you know it, you'll be at your goal! Plan a reward for when it's done to make up for the sacrifices you're going to be making.... My husband and I couldn't take vacation for almost 3 years. So, when I graduated, we did our first diving live-aboard. We both had earned it (after all, he had to put up with me all that time too.....)

[Jim Poor]

The funny thing is that the degree or lack thereof doesn't phase my employer at all. The contract that I can't work because it requires a degree is for a position that I was offered as a govt employee at the GS-14 level. Funny, you can be a govvie in that position with no degree, but a contractor has to have one. :confused:

I found a school I'm interested in today for a BFA in graphic design. The cool thing is that they are willing to let me test out of whatever I can.

[LeeOtsubo]

Hey Lee, Thanks for taking a couple of decades off for me! I do remember the Fab Four, and was even on the planet when they broke up. I guess it's time to resort to Wikipedia for the origin of the quote, because I'm pretty sure my dad wouldn't have gotten it from John Lennon. (He was too old to like the Beatles at that time, and Lennon would certainly not have been one of his gurus)....)

And here I thought you were some kid who could be my granddaughter if I had one. :D You must be as old as dirt, like me...

[Maxis Gamez]

I don't know if there is an Art Institute in VA but they have an amazing reputation.

http://www.artinstitutes.edu/

[Jake Tiefel]

All I can say is what my wife said to me when I decided to get my engineering degree at 55, "Go for it." Fortunately I work for a large airplane company in the Pacific Northwest and they paid for my degree--my only investment was a lot of time.

Then my wife went for her degree. She had no credits before starting and worked a lot harder than I did. She took a combination of online and in-class classes, tough, but she did it.

I have gone from an hourly job, to a tech job, to an engineering job-only in America.

Go for it!

Jake

[Fabs Forns]

All I can say is what my wife said to me when I decided to get my engineering degree at 55, "Go for it." Fortunately I work for a large airplane company in the Pacific Northwest and they paid for my degree--my only investment was a lot of time.

Then my wife went for her degree. She had no credits before starting and worked a lot harder than I did. She took a combination of online and in-class classes, tough, but she did it.

I have gone from an hourly job, to a tech job, to an engineering job-only in America.

Go for it!

Jake

Good for you!!!! Both of you :)


Thanks for sharing your experience, hopefully it will inspire others.

[Jim Poor]

I don't know if there is an Art Institute in VA but they have an amazing reputation.

http://www.artinstitutes.edu/

I visited the campus of the Art Institute of Washington. I wasn't impressed by the staff, facilities or the work of the students. I'm sure some of the other campuses fair much better though.

AI won't accept any of my transfer credits, nor will they allow testing out of basic general ed courses :(

Edit: I know they don't award a degree, but how did you like NYIP?

[Tim Gleason]

Edit: I know they don't award a degree, but how did you like NYIP?

Having been through the NYIP program, I can tell you that it really deals more with architecture, portrature, news, tabletop skills. Lots of theory and practice with lighting and exposure. The assignments are fairly flexible. I was able to incorporate some of my nature work into the projects. With a little more imagination, I probably could have done more.

Like anything, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

If you decide to go that way, let me know, and we can talk some more.

TimG.

[Maxis Gamez]

I visited the campus of the Art Institute of Washington. I wasn't impressed by the staff, facilities or the work of the students. I'm sure some of the other campuses fair much better though.

AI won't accept any of my transfer credits, nor will they allow testing out of basic general ed courses :(

Edit: I know they don't award a degree, but how did you like NYIP?

Shame on them!! You have to see the Ft. Lauderdale facility!! I loved that place!