8 Questions to ask before you apply to any creative program

A question checklist to help you choose programs that fit your goals, budget, and actual life.

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Applications cost real time and money. Many schools charge fees just to review your materials, and those can add up quickly.

So instead of firing off applications to every school you’ve ever heard of, it’s worth slowing down and asking better questions up front — especially for art and design programs, where the experience can be very different from what you’re used to.

Here are eight questions to ask before you hit “submit.”

1. Does the school actually offer what you want to study?

It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to assume a program exists based on reputation alone.

If you want to study ceramics, a chemistry degree isn’t going to get you there. Maybe you’ve seen “UX” or “game design” in a school’s marketing, so you assume there’s a full major. But when you check the catalog, you find a single elective tucked inside a generic “Digital Media” degree. Or you want to do animation, but the school only offers one intro course inside a broader…