FAQ: My experience at the Corcoran and in design

Please reference this article before reaching out on LinkedIn about my experience at the Corcoran. These come directly from questions potential and current students in the program have asked me. Thank you in advance!

My bachelor’s degree wasn’t in Interaction Design. Can I apply to this program if my portfolio has different design disciplines represented?

If you want to attend GW’s Corcoran, don’t let the lack of “interaction design” roles on your resume or portfolio stop you. Nothing on my resume said “interaction designer” or “designer” at that. Maybe one role was specific to design, and it lasted a few months long.

I didn’t let this stop me. I applied to the Corcoran knowing that my experience in operations showed that I considered the principles of human centered design in my own work. Your experience matters but equally important if not more important is your ability to connect the dots for your reviewer about why your experience makes you a great fit for a program or role.

What should I put in my portfolio?

That’s a very personal question. That said, always consider your audience and if there are any constraints to keep in mind. In my experience I included examples to show I had an at least basic understanding of the programs we’d utilize in class.

I also thinking it’s important to turn the question around — what do you think you should put into your portfolio? And why aren’t you putting that in your portfolio?

Could you please share how the networking opportunities function at GWU?

Networking is what you make it. I look at it as getting to know people and helping them where I can. GWU is a vast university with lots of opportunities open to you regardless of you being in that particular School. I recommend signing up for listservs from any school with resources that you may find interesting. I personally signed up for the Business school’s services on recommendation from a family member, and it was the only listserv that mentioned the organization that provided me with my first 40 hour/week design opportunity. This role made so many more roles possible for me.

When I went, there wasn’t a formal mentorship program but that didn’t stop me. I made connections with everyone — teachers in the program, students from other programs, alumni in design, administration. I attended events outside of the Corcoran and attended events outside of GW altogether. My philosophy was to find people that I shared interests with and not to let the made up boundaries of which school we attended stop me from interacting with people.

Could you recommend any professors known for their supportive teaching methods?

I never came across any professors that were unsupportive. I think the teachers that didn’t curate a fail-proof, cookie cutter design practicum experience and required you to put in the leg work more prepared me for the expectations of a professional design environment. They provided great feedback as I tried a lot of different things regarding product and service design that I implemented in addition to the strategies I tried.

What is the average rent in the area, and how can I secure campus jobs, RA, and TA positions?

There are several news outlets as well as analysis from more reputable housing sites that do a better reporting of average rent in the area than I could. I didn’t have an RA or TA position so I cannot comment on those. I recommend reaching out to the appropriate school personnel about that. GWU has its own campus jobs site which will have RA, TA and general campus full-time and part-time roles. I’d refer to GW’s website for that info: https://careers.gwu.edu/

What advice can you offer on applying for jobs?

Again, always consider your audience and tailor your resume to that. If you can’t get the full time role yet, can you get the part time role? If not the part time role can you get the internship or freelance or volunteer experience? If the role you have is 0% in the industry/role you want, are there opportunities to make your role 5% aligned with the industry/role you want?

How can you differentiate yourself from people that are applying? What makes you unique? Are you trying to get the job in the same way 1000 people are or are you finding the door that fewer people take?

Could you tell me why you chose GW out of your acceptances? And do you think you made the right choice, after spending time in the program?

I had the option between doing a bootcamp and getting my master’s. I don’t believe that anything is unequivocally a “right or wrong” choice and I believe that for me it was a good choice. The reason I chose to get my master’s degree and specifically at GW, because:

• I wanted a master’s degree.
• I didn’t just want to work in digital product design and GW had opportunities to do projects outside of that small slice of interaction design.
• I wanted to work in government at some point and GW Corcoran classes did projects with clients in a social impact and government context.
• Attending GW at the time made more financial sense for me over the longer term.
• I loved multidisciplinary learning and loved that taking classes at GW allowed me to explore learning opportunities outside of art and design. Public health, business, engineering, innovation and entrepreneurship were all particular interests that I could explore while attending the program.
• I liked that I could spend more time with the content than a quick 6–12 month bootcamp. I like a slower learning process where I can apply what I’m learning to my full-time role and vice versa. I think it makes for deeper learning.

What classes should I take?

Definitely the ones that are required I’d imagine 😅

All kidding aside, I can’t really answer this question because it’s very personal. Think about where your goals, the industry you want to work in and the opportunities and risks for that industry. Perhaps structure your projects, what you work on, how you work on it with your goals in mind.

It’s also OK not to know all of this and to just take a class based on what you find interesting. The worst thing that will happen is you realize the topic isn’t for you. I know for a fact that no knowledge is ever wasted — in fact, if you believe you’ve wasted time learning something, you will definitely waste knowledge you’ve previously gained. I’ve taken Accounting classes for a degree program I was previously enrolled in. That turned out to be incredibly helpful for new growth areas for me in my design career.