If you are interested in pursuing a fashion career (be it in designing or marketing), you would definitely want to get into the best fashion colleges and institutes out there. So how do you know which are the best? Well, it will take some research on your part to find the top fashion schools. Here are some tips to help you get started:
Make sure that it is accredited. First of all, it's important to check if the fashion school you're interested in is accredited by the appropriate agency in your country (in the US, for example, it's the National Association of Schools of Art and Design). For a fashion institute to be accredited, it should meet rigorous standards in curriculum and teaching. This is the safest way to know that what you're learning is really within the industry standards.
Check out annual "best colleges and universities" ranking. Many agencies release rankings of the best colleges and universities, and some examples of these agencies are the US News and World Report, and the Princeton Review. Check out which fashion design schools are highest within these rankings; or, you could check out if the highly-ranked colleges and universities have existing fashion design programs. You could also check out BusinessWeek's Top Design Schools list; find it at bwnt.businessweek.com.
Look for students' ratings and reviews. Go online and check out what students have to say about their fashion schools. You will get insider and unofficial information about what it's like to study in these academies. These ratings will include what the current students think about the faculty, the student body, the school culture, the classes, and the job placement assistance. Be guided also by the numerical or letter rankings assigned to these schools.
Check out important factors about the school. Other factors you should check out should include the location (whether it's a convenient one for you), the tuition fees, the alumni (whether it has produced successful figures of the fashion industry), the classes and program emphasis (whether these are related to the specific fashion career you are interested in pursuing), the method of teaching, their technology (whether the school is capable of keeping up with the latest trends in fashion and design) etc. Remember that rankings should be taken as a guide only; in the end you should compile your own research to make sure that the school you're going to enroll in is definitely the best for you.
There you have it! Now you can find the top fashion schools. To help you further, here are some regarded to be the best in the world: Parsons The New School for Design in New York; California College of the Arts in California; Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, also in California; Instituto Marangoni in Milan, Paris and London; Paris Fashion Institute, and School of Fashion Design, both in Boston. Feel free to check out the websites of these schools, and hopefully they'll help you find the fashion designing courses and school that is just right for you. Good luck!
