Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

The Fashion Institute of Technology situated in the city of New York, USA is one of the top five fashion institutes in the world. Fashion career aspirants from all over the world are landing at the Fashion Institute of Technology every year hoping to become the most sought after fashion industry professionals in the world. The Fashion Institute of Technology is one of the most famous colleges of the State University of New York and the most reputed fashion institute in the United States of America. Though the Fashion Institute of Technology offers several academic programs in communications, media and arts and design, its fashion courses are most renowned courses among all of them. The Fashion Institute of Technology boasts of many world-famous fashion professionals and jewelry designers. The Fashion Institute of Technology’s reputation is built upon a strong liberal arts foundation based on a real-world course curriculum; a global network of alumni; a strong collaboration with industry leaders; and a world-class faculty of fashion professionals. No wonder, the institute enjoys such a high stature in the fashion academic world. Admission Procedure The Fashion Institute of Technology runs several full time, part time and evening or weekend degree programs for fashion career aspirants. Course intakes are twice in a year – Spring Session and Fall Session.  The institute has a set of admission standards for every academic program. Admission to any of these programs in highly selective and the applicant must meet the admission standards of the Fashion Institute of Technology in order to get selected. Admission process is done in two steps. First phase of the admission procedure requires the career aspirants to file an application form online. Within one or two weeks of the filing of the application form, the candidates will receive two confirmation letters of receipt of the application form, one from the application services center and other from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Spring applicants will get this email after 15th of September while fall applicants receive the email after 1 st of November.  Email from the Fashion Institute of Technology will contain confidential information such as the assigned SIN (Student Identification Number) of the candidate and a FIT username and password for future purposes. In the second phase of admission, candidates are required to submit supplemental admission materials such as online academic history and an essay form provided in the user area which can be accessed by the applicant using the given username and password. While filling the online academic history form, the applicant must provide information about all his academic achievements starting from his higher secondary education. He must be clear while stating the dates of attendance, location of schools or colleges, and degrees or diplomas obtained. Since scrutiny of essay is an important part of selection process, the applicant must be careful to present a well written essay. It should not be more than 750 words. Generally the essay is assessed in order to find the candidate’s self-assessment about his/her own eligibility for admission as well as the candidate’s areas of interest in the fashion industry. An applicant must always remember that the essay is his only chance to tell the admission panel about his experiences in the fashion industry, his activities related to his field of choice and his accomplishments in the field of fashion. After the completion of these two steps, the admission office starts processing the application forms. During the screening of the applications, the applicants are assessed based on their academic excellence. Generally applicants with OGPA (overall grade point average) of 3.0 or better are considered. Sometimes students are required to submit a portfolio for review purposes (applicable only for art and design students). SAT and ACT test scores are required for domestic students who are seeking admission into the Honors Programs. International applicants seeking admission into an honors program must have obtained a good score in any of the English language proficiency tests such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System). If they do not have an English test score, they may have to appear for a FIT English Placement Exam conducted by the Fashion Institute of Technology upon their arrival on the campus. More details about the admission procedure are available from the official website of Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) at www.fitnyc.edu. Schools of Fashion Institute of Technology Fashion courses of the Fashion Institute of Technology are offered at the School of Art and Design which offers 17 academic programs and at the School of Graduate Studies which offers 7 graduate programs. Annual student intake of Fashion Institute of Technology is approximately 10,000 including both full time and part time students from all over the world. There are approximately 6,500 full-time students and 3,000 part-time candidates a year. Tuition fee for full time academic programs for the year 2010-2011 is estimated at $5,438 for domestic students and at $13,820 for international students. Professional Fashion Courses Offered at FIT Fashion Institute of Technology offers both BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) and MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degrees in fashion designing and fashion management. In addition to this, Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts academic programs are also available. Master of Arts in Fashion and Textile Studies offered by FIT is a highly reputed course. Normally a bachelor program may be completed within three to four years of study while a master program may be completed within two years. Fashion Institute of Technology also conducts Master of Professional Studies Programs and Executive Education Programs for fashion industry professionals. Master of Professional Studies Programs Master of Professional Studies Programs consists of master level programs in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management and Global Fashion Management. These are offered for experienced fashion industry professionals. Course focuses on the development of marketing and leadership skills among the participants. Executive Education Programs for Fashion Professionals Major objective of executive academic programs are to provide a wide range of fashion solutions for senior and mid-level fashion executives on creativity in fashion, fashion entrepreneurship, and fashion leadership.  This program is meant for working fashion professionals with considerable professional experience.