WHO I AM

WHAT I DO

WHAT I'M
THINKING ABOUT

WHAT I'M STUDYING

Thursday, June 26, 2003

Tuition

I've debated whether or not to put boring stuff like tuition and student life stuff on this blog, and have decided to include them. This is the age of transparency, and it isn't fair to tell all the benefits of going to school without the costs. Literally the cost. I just paid my first tuition payment for summer session. Cost for the six-week Communication Design Fundamentals class (and accompanying "software bootcamp"): $2016.00. Which is a drop in the bucket compared to the $14100.00 I have to pay for Fall Semester. Which doesn't include health insurance, activites fees, books, or beer.

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

School Countdown: 5 Days

The last two weeks have been hectic, to say the least, but I'm really looking forward to finally starting school on Monday. It's good to be in Pittsburgh, even if I am surrounded by boxes (not boxes and arrows, moving boxes. I've got my fresh copies of Macromedia Studio MX and Adobe Design Studio at the ready. Unfortunately, the 15" G4 Powerbook I bought for school had a faulty Superdrive in it and has to be replaced, so I won't see it until the middle of next week.

As I've been meeting people (neighbors, movers, random folks), I've had to say that I'm a student, which is weird for me, since I haven't been one in over a decade. It feels especially strange since I haven't yet taken any classes! Note to self: I really need a better, 10-second description of what "interaction design" is. Typically, when people ask me what I'm studying, I'll just say, "Design" and leave it at that. But if they dare ask what type of design, then I either launch into an overly-long description of user interfaces, experience design, interaction with digital tools, yadda yadda yadda until the person's eyes glaze over, or I'll just say, "Computer Design," which is totally inaccurate. Must work on this.

On another note, I'm heartened to hear of CMU grads going on some pretty cool-sounding jobs. First it was Kevin Fox going off to Google, and now Micah Alpern has gotten a job with eBay. Both of them were in the HCI program, not interaction design, however. It would be nice to know what the Design school alumni were up to.

‹‹ preceding entries