Should You Go To College Or Fashion School?

There is an ongoing debate in the fashion industry on whether or not you should attend a fashion school such as FIT, Parsons, FIDM, etc. if you want to work in the industry. I wanted to weigh in and give my thoughts on the subject.

As a bit of back story…

I have had a bit of an unconventional career path; that maybe I will go into detail on one day but for now, I will just summarize it for you. I went to a huge state university and ended up leaving to finish my degree online after two years. During the spring/summer of my junior year, I ended up having two internships, both unpaid obviously, that were based in Los Angeles. I grew up about 30 minutes out of the city so it was an easy commute. At the end of that summer (July to be specific) I got a full-time job working for a high-end designer, also in LA. I worked there for over a year while I finished school which was such a struggle trying to juggle both. I did not have a single connection and every opportunity I got I worked for and made happen for myself.

Now that storytime is over, I wanted to give my thoughts on this title question. As time goes on and things get much more progressive there isn’t one single path anymore, you hear so many stories of people that dropped out of high school and become a huge success. Now that does happen, it is very rare, and getting a college education is still something that is important and many companies require. Almost every single job listing or internship has in the description “needs bachelor degree” or “must be enrolled in university.” Even in such a creative industry, a degree is almost a deal-breaker.

Now…

The benefits of attending a traditional 4-year university:

Let me start off by saying, YOU 100% CAN GET A JOB IN FASHION FROM A REGULAR COLLEGE! I personally attended a typical, traditional school because I wanted the stereotypical college experience that you see in movies and on tv. I also didn’t even realize I wanted to work in the fashion industry until I was a freshman and looking back I don’t regret it.

The thing with fashion school is that the majors are a lot more specific like “fashion merchandising” which leaves little wiggle room if you end up not liking the career path you got your degree in. On the other hand, universities offer much broader degrees like business, communications, or journalism that allow you to go into many different routes in the industry. Traditional universities also give you that college experience you see on TV like joining greek life, sports events, and there are a lot more parties. You will also get a more diverse mix of people since there are students going into all types of fields instead of just pursuing a career in fashion.

The downside of attending a traditional 4-year university:

Even though attending a university won’t set you back in any way, there are some disadvantages that may arise. A typical university will probably only have one, maybe two, fashion-related degrees while at a fashion school they will have many to pick from. The classes you would take at a fashion school are going to give you a ton of insight into the industry and allow you to get a feel for possible career paths that you wouldn’t get at a university.

Fashion schools are often located in big cities like Los Angeles and New York so being a student in a major fashion hub allows you to have access to fall and spring internships with designers and various companies that you wouldn’t have in a small college town. Also, since those schools are focused on fashion they have a much better chance of finding connections whether it’s through the school or their alumni. Fashion is all about experience so if you are at a university you are really going to have to hustle to get internships and build up your resume because it won’t be as easy.

So the question remains, should you go to fashion school?

It is obviously 100% up to you, you know yourself better than anyone and can choose what is best for you. But, if you can’t decide here is some advice: I think if you know that you are set on working in fashion and you know what kind of job you want to have, then fashion school is the best choice. If you are still figuring out what you want to do then I would recommend going to a university because there are more opportunities to fall back on than at a fashion school.

I hope this helped if you are currently trying to decide this for yourself. College is such a stressful time and it is so hard to make these big decisions at such a young age. If you want to reach out and chat about it or have questions, my Instagram is @lolojeanbb or you can go to my contact page and leave me a message.

xoxo Lauren