The academy I thought I wanted to go to the most is the Design Academy in Eindhoven (the Netherlands). Seemed like a great place, near to my close relatives, great website. Of course I couldn't have known the school very well; I don't know anyone who goes there and didn't have the chance to visit and look around. I did admissions to several schools thinking I'd be accepted to only one or two of them (now it seems I dug my own grave) and I don't think anyone has time or money visiting all of the schools they applied to.
Admissions day
First of all, the entrance of the academy can be found on the third floor of the Witte Dame, which to me was pretty tricky. I asked at least three or four pedestrians where the hell that Witte Dame can be found, but that's just me.
After arrival I took a place in the waiting area and found someone to talk to. I also met a guy who I got to know on the admissions day in Utrecht and he was accepted there as well.
At some point two women appeared and gave us each a number ranging between one to six. I got the prettiest number, 5. In each section there were eight tables where we could put our projects on. We had to wait a quite bit, so I started looking around. Our section had seven people including me, but they weren't very talkative except for the Belgian guy with the table in front of me. We also looked at the tables at other sections and had some great talks. Some had very serious works.
Some time later the judges appeared, teachers, a man and a woman. The man was clearly very dominant and did all the talk. We had to introduce ourselves and then each had to present our projects. I found the man very rude and disrespectful towards all of us, and felt like he took advantage of the situation, as he said the admissions will go like a normal lesson at their school (but of course noone was going to start a debate since we all wanted to be accepted).
After the presentations we quickly looked through everyone's works again and got a tour around the building. I left feeling insulted and misjudged.
Of course this doesn't mean noone would like this school, after all, all I'm doing is telling this from my own perspective and my own experience. Their education is highly respected and everyone should form their own opinion on them.
Outcome
To my surprise, I was accepted. I still am not sure why.
Maybe they made a mistake, maybe there weren't enough applicants, so they had to take me is what I thought. But I know someone who wasn't accepted (though, I thought he would be) and I also did some calculations. In total, there were around 300 applicants and they should be taking around one class (20-30 people?) a year or something.
After doing al these calculations, I would feel crazy not to take their offer, but maybe I am crazy. Or not. They do not offer graphic design as a course, only communication and also I noticed, that their expectations conflicted mine very much. I might feel very uncomfortable and/or unhappy if I went and that's something I really want to avoid.
