Christine Brooks was at the perfect point in her design career to consider graduate school. She had six years of professional experience behind her, no kids, some time, much ambition and a yearning to push herself to the next level.

“I had always thought about going back to school,” she said. “I really wanted to learn from other designers.”

After much consideration, Brooks whittled her choices down to one Boston-based school. She set an appointment with the dean to learn more about the program, but what the meeting revealed surprised her.

“With my experience, he basically said I wouldn’t learn that much,” she explained.

The dean’s description resembled Brook’s BFA coursework at the Art Institute of Boston. Students learned through design-based projects and ultimately built a portfolio. Brooks wanted a more academic setting that would push her design to new levels.

After the interview, Brooks rethought her plan. Ultimately grad school wasn’t for her. Years and a baby later, Brooks, a senior designer at TR Design in Massachusetts, doesn’t regret her choice. Upon reflection she admitted, “I’m sure I would have learned, but I’m not sure [the schooling] would have made me a better designer.”

The big decision
Whether or not to return to the classroom is a question many designers wrestle with at some point in their careers. According to the 2005-2006 National Association of Schools of Art and Design’s (NASAD) Higher Education Arts Data Services (HEADS) summaries, 366 students graduated with design/art schools MAs or MFAs compared to 293 in 1985-1986, marking a meager 25 percent increase. The study surveyed almost 250 schools/institutions nationwide to compile aggregate figures of institutions participating in the given year’s survey. While throngs apply for the many coveted spots in America’s top design schools, few get in. For example, according to Yale graduate program director Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Yale receives about 200 applications yearly for 10 desirable slots in the 2-year program.

Analysis of the HEADS data revealed that over the past twenty years the number of schools offering design or design-related master’s degrees has grown only about seven percent. And according to research, only a handful of schools now offer design-related doctoral programs.

In comparison, the summaries indicate an interesting increase in baccalaureate design study over the past twenty years. The numbers show that 16,221 students enrolled in the fall of ’05 to study the subjects of ad design, graphic design, design and communication design. That same year 3,722 students graduated from the very same institutions. Twenty years ago 11,780 students signed up to study the above mentioned design majors, and 2,453 students graduated with BA degrees. These figures mark a 38 percent increase in enrollments and a 52 percent increase in graduates from undergrad programs.

The numbers are telling and beg the question, with many flocking to study design why aren’t more designers acquiring higher educations? And if you do become one of the select chosen for one of these prestigious programs, what’s the benefit to acquiring a graduate-level design degree?

Answers
The answers depend entirely on whom you ask and then partly on when you ask them.

If you ask Carolyn McCarron, a designer and writer based in Princeton, New Jersey, grad school provided exactly the experience she needed. “It’s about learning how I can be better—a better designer, a better thinker, a better professional...With the field getting more and more complex, and [with designers] collaborating with other fields such as engineering and the sciences, designers are required to know and do more...” McCarron said.

After several years working at Houghton Mifflin upon graduating from RISD, McCarron applied to the now retired Independent Study Master’s Degree Program at Syracuse University. The program resembled many graduate business school models. Students were required to be working professionals. They attended classes on weekends and by using vacation time for nine mandatory residencies. Emphasis was placed on creative problem solving through sketching, brainstorming and developing complex solutions to business problems through deeper thinking and case studies in a team environment. The course culminated with an extensive graduate thesis.

“My graduate education at Syracuse gave me the professional development I needed. Besides being pushed to think, I learned to work collaboratively, and how to best present creative ideas to business clients,” McCarron added.

Gaining assets
Elena Grossman, a designer at The Yale Center for British Art in New Haven and a Yale master’s graduate, echoed McCarron. Grossman meandered from job to job as an editor then Web producer upon graduating from Columbia University. After several years of working with designers, she discovered she was “more interested in doing the work than managing the work.” Despite her lack of training, Grossman landed a junior designer position. But though she was doing the work, she felt insecure with her ability. “I always felt like a fraud,” she said. “You can’t just go out and practice medicine. You need the training... It’s the same in design.”

Then the dot-com bubble burst. Grossman was laid off providing precious time to reflect. She researched a handful of programs and set her sights on Yale.