Pasadena City College

I am actually a parent of a student who is ending her sophomore year at PCC.
My son is, my eyes, a hard working, hard-driven kid, with average intelligence. His SAT scores were quite average. At the end of his HS senior year, he had various choices of colleges. He was accepted to one UC campus, to some CSU choices, and to several private schools ? none of which was an Ivy League school.

From the beginning, we curtailed the option of a private school. We are middle income family, too rich to get any financial assistance, and too poor to ignore the financial burden. And he did not show a great motivation to solicit scholarship on his own. So our rule was made clear: If it is not an Ivy League, a mediocre private school is not worth the investment and would imposed an unduly financial burden which we were not ready to assume; nor were we ready to allow him to finish school in debt up to his eyeballs.

The one UC campus to which he was accepted had very little appeal to him. All of the CSU choices were still available, but he decided to go to PCC with the hope of having a second chance.

He is finishing his second year at PCC. He has already been accepted to four of the best UC schools: UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, and UCD. We are still waiting to hear from Berkley. This was an amazing investment. Our son had a second chance to get into some of the greatest schools, and we save a ton of money.

Do your math.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2012

Education Quality: A+, Campus Aesthetics: D

This school offers the options of either attaining an Associate's Degree (A.A.) or a certificate of completion. It is located in the heart of Downtown L.A. There are 2 other locations in San Francisco and in San Diego. When you first see the school, it does look impressive and the campus is beautiful and it's connected to a nice park where lots of students eat lunch. But under this facade is a really expensive reality...

The admissions people will give you a tour of the school and they are basically a salesperson- they get paid a commision every time they enroll a student, regardless if you finish or not. You can count on recieving a call from them pressuring you to hurry up and apply to FIDM.

COURSELOAD: the 1st year at FIDM there are certain classes you must take, regardless of your major. 2nd year you take classes more relevant to your major. I had a couple of excellent teachers but others were self-absorbed and very critical to the point of being nasty. Most of the work is simply "busywork"- as an artist, I didn't learn anything I didn't already know and I know had about 10+ hours per week worth of homework that taught me nothing. Teachers don't grade easy, but I did fine nontheless. I did learn alot however from the required marketing classes- it gave me insight on how business is operated and how the average joe is marketed to, and duped into buying things they really don't need. Their graphic design program is relatively new- started back in 1997 or so. Some of the people I knew back then who completed the graphic design track said that while they did learn some things (Adobe Photoshop, the usual graphic programs, etc.) they felt they were guinea pigs that FIDM was testing their graphic design program on.

**INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS BEWARE:

FIDM will try to make you stay longer than the average 2 years it takes to complete the A.A. degree. How they do this is that they will measure your ability to speak, read, and write in English. Then they will make you take ESL (English Second Language courses.) You will then have to pay additional tuition fees on top what you're paying for your A.A. or certificate!

But in reality, you can take ESL classes at other centers for free or for a nominal fee. FIDM tends to recruit a high number of Korean and Chinese students. Perhaps an American degree of any sort goes along way in Asia, not sure.

ABOUT THE STUDENTS:

Most of the students are either fresh out of high school or are 25 years+. Majority of the students are women. Most of the fashion major students simply wear their favorite designer's clothing, and not necessarily their own creations; I just didn't see much originality while I was there. Their is definitely that snooty, aren't-I-hot attitude amongst alot of the students, regardless of age or major. But part of this has to with the vibe of Los Angeles anyway. Nonetheless there were a handful of nice people that I had the pleasure of knowing.

MY ADVICE:
I recommend you look elsewhere but if you do decide to go to FIDM, do it only if you're receiving grant (free) money or scholarship. But even then, your grant money would be better spent elsewhere.

CURRENT DISSATISFIED STUDENTS: Best to leave as soon as possible, especially before the 3 or 4 quarters (or whatever the full year at FIDM is, can't remember now) is over. Know that if you try to leave (like I did) your advisor will give you a hard time for it, as it reflects poorly on the school, & they lose money of course. If you leave after you have completed one year, you will get billed as if you attended almost half an additional year beyond the first. You will then have to pay Sallie Mae, and also FIDM directly. You will pay interest to both, and if you don't pay on time to FIDM, you will get a nasty call and eventually a letter from FIDM's lawyers. Just pay the whatever you can afford to get them off your back.

To All Majors:

*If you're interested in being a Fashion designer/Costume designer, drive down another 15 minutes and go to Trade Tech Community college- they have an excellent fashion program. I believe L.A. Valley college offers traditional dressmaking classes as well; but in reality you do NOT need a degree to do fashion- you just need the right connections.

*If you want to major in Merchandise, just get an A.A. in business management from any community college or a B.A. at a state school.

*Visual arts or graphic design majors? Go to Santa Monica College- they have phenomenal art and graphic art classes.

For the kinda money FIDM charges, you might as well go to a reputable school like Art Center, Otis, or CalArts. Better yet, just go to either a state school or just do your thing- be it fashion, art, creating a webiste- and people will take notice. You just got to put yourself out there, and ultimately it's about having connections in these fields.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2007

Campus Aesthetics: A, Useful Schoolwork: F

I attended this school back in 1997-part of 98. This school offers the options of either attaining an Associate's Degree (A.A.) or a certificate of completion. It is located in the heart of Downtown L.A. I believe there are other locations in San Fran and in San Diego. When you first see the school, it does look impressive- but under the facade is just a well-decorated museum offering really expensive classes! The beauty of the facilities is all part of the presentation package that you are about to be sold.... The admissions people will give you a tour of the school and they're basically a salesperson- they get paid a commission every time they enroll a student, regardless if you finish or not. You can count on recieving a call from them pressuring you to hurry up and apply to FIDM.

While they do make it clear that they do not promise a job after you're done, I was not able to put to use what I did 'learn' at FIDM to any professional, or economical use. Everyone else who I went to school with at the time- most of them did complete their respective programs- also found that there wasn't much they could do with the both the A.A. and the skills they were taught.

COURSELOAD: the 1st year at FIDM there are certain classes you have to take, regardless of your major. 2nd year you take classes more relevant to your major. Most of the work is simply "busywork"- as an artist, I didn't learn anything I didn't already know and I had about 10+ hours per week worth of homework that taught me nothing. Teachers don't grade easy, but I did fine nontheless. I did learn alot however from the required marketing classes-it gave me insight on how business is operated and how the average joe is marketed to, and duped into buying things they really don't need. Their graphic design program is relatively new- started back in 1997 or so. Some of the people I knew back then who completed the graphic design track said that while they did learn some things,(Adobe Photoshop, the usual graphic programs, etc)they felt they were guinea pigs that FIDM was using to test their graphic design program on.

***INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS BEWARE:

FIDM will try to make you stay longer than the average 2 years it takes to complete the A.A. degree. How they do this is they will measure your ability to speak, read, and write in English. From there they will make you take LOTS of ESL (English Second Language courses.) Of course, you are being charged the same amount of tuition for these classes as you are those classes relevant to your major! In reality, you can take ESL classes at other centers for free or for a nominal fee. They tend to recruit a high number of Korean and Chinese students, and alot of them go back to their respective countries- perhaps an American degree of any sort does go a long way there.

ABOUT THE STUDENTS:

Most of the students are either fresh out of high school and others or are 25 years+. Majority of the students are women. Most of the fashion major students are simply wearing their favorite designer's clothing, but I did not see much originality. Their is definitely that snooty, I'm-better-than-you-and-aren't-I-hot-sh** attitude amongst alot of the students, regardless of age or major. Part of this has to with the vibe of Los Angeles anyway. But then there were some genuinely nice and creative people there that I personally had the pleasure of knowing.

CURRENT DISSATISFIED STUDENTS: Best to leave as soon as possible, especially before the 3 or 4 quarters are up.(Or however many quarters makes up a full year at FIDM, can't remember now.) Know that if you try to leave (like I did) your advisor will give you a hard time for it, as it reflects poorly on the school, & they lose money of course. If you leave AFTER you have completed one year, you will get billed as if you attended almost half an additional year beyond the first year. You will then have to pay your loan company back, and also to FIDM directly. You will pay interest to both, and if you don't pay on time to FIDM, you will get a nasty call and eventually a letter from FIDM's lawyers. Just pay the minimum to get them off your back. I knew one student who had to declare bankruptcy as a result of leaving FIDM.

OTHER OPTIONS:
*If you are looking to be a fashion designer/costume designer, drive down another 15 minutes and go to Trade Tech Community college- they have an excellent fashion program. I believe L.A. Valley college offers traditional dressmaking classes as well; in reality you do NOT need a degree to do fashion- you just need the right connections.

*If you want to major in Merchandise, just get an A.A. in business management from any community college or a B.A. at a state school.

*Visual arts or graphic design majors? Go to Santa Monica College- they have phenomenal art and graphic art classes.

MY FINAL ADVICE:

I recommend you look elsewhere but if you do decide to go to FIDM, do it only if you're recieving alot of grant (free) money or scholarship. Even then, your grant money would be better spent elsewhere.

FIDM is similar to Brooks College in Long Beach, and the chain of schools known as Art Institute of California,- similar in that they charge alot for what they offer- which isn't much. (That said, beware of any private school that is a chain.)

1st Year Female -- Class 2006

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Education Quality: F