The process starts at 8:00 a.m.
Students hoping to gain admission into NC State’s college of design and students who have made it through the first round of applications flood Leazar Hall and scurry to set up their portfolio for admissions to evaluate. Once their pieces are set in place, interviewees are given a time.
Then they wait.
Vibrant buzzes laced with nervous tones bounce around the open area and tall ceilings as they watch their competitors go in to interview one by one. Brandon Edwards, a sophomore studying graphic design, was among the many students who stood there last year.
“I didn’t sleep the night before,” Edwards said. “But I was thrown off when I started the interview. I thought I was going to have to be professional, but the interviewer and I talked about “The Hunger Games,” so I left with a good feeling.”
Though the design school application process may seem intimidating and stressful, Tameka Whitaker, the assistant dean of student and academic services for the College of Design, said it is not meant to be.
Whitaker said if design is a student’s passion, she or he probably already has the 10 pieces required for the application.
“It’s not meant to stress anyone out,” Whitaker said. “I guess it would be stressful though if you really love design and you are trying to only pick 10. It’s like in a normal interview, it’s hard to pick facts if an interviewer says, ‘Tell me about yourself in one minute.’”
The college of design includes: architecture, graphic design, art and design, design studies, industrial design and landscape architecture.
The design school application is separate from NC State’s application. It requires applicants to submit 10 pieces electronically in addition to an essay question about design. If one’s application is accepted, the student will either be asked to do an in-person interview, or they will surpass the interview and be admitted into the program.
According to Whitaker, the interviews give admissions the opportunity to see students’ passion for design. She said before connecting electronically, interviews are where students had the opportunity to show their pieces.
One student who surpassed the interview was Morgan McDonnell, a sophomore studying graphic design.
“I tried to create a really diverse portfolio; my art teacher in high school was really helpful,” McDonnell said. “I submitted graphite drawings, photography and digital art but focused on digital art because I wanted to get into graphic design.”
According to McDonnell, one day in mid- December, around the time when people were getting news about interviews, Whitaker left a message on her phone. When McDonnell called back, Whitaker told her she got accepted into the College of Design, and this year was the first year applicants were able to skip the interviews.
“I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but everything went blurry, and that was the first time I ever cried tears of joy,” McDonnell joked. “It was humbling and solidifying; at the time I didn’t even know that was possible.”
The top 10 applicants from each major were admitted without interviews.
According to Sarah Lasater, a senior studying landscape architecture, critical thinking skills are extremely important to being successful in design school. She said if students want to apply, they should use a variety of techniques and materials in their portfolio.
Lasater also said applicants should put pieces they are passionate about in their portfolio, not what they think the design school would want.
“I really just chose pieces to show them what I could do visually and aesthetically,” Lasater said. “I didn’t really know what design school would be like, so I didn’t fine tune it to the school. I just wanted to show my personality.”
Lasater said in her opinion the design school does a good job admitting students in a thorough and fair way.
“The whole application was a big creative process,” Lasater said. “No matter what major you were going into they want critical thinkers, and I think they do a really good job figuring out who those thinkers are.”
