Wrong. The best way to know whether or not your message hits is by analyzing the results of applications such as google analytics and others like it. I don't want the biased opinion of 20 or 30 other "aspiring" designers. It's a flawed group. The best way to see if your message is being conveyed or not is done a real environment, the real customers, with split testing. And another good method is by having a feedback form on each page.
Logo designs don't go through analysis. The client says "move the R over a touch". I'm sure all your clients sit there and multivariate test their sites with different logos. Reality, in most circumstances, is that groups decide designs. Whether it's a designer and a client or a design house and an entire company votes on which logo they like, etc.
Also, again, my background was in Industrial Design. We had to RP everything; it takes money to design on any medium other than web.
There could be exceptions, but not every design school is "good"
If it's an accredited university, it's probably pretty decent. There are lots of crappy design schools, but most of them aren't accredited. They're just fluff factories.
GE's are what you learn in high school. Secondly, a person can alternatively research marketing success stories completely on their own without spending an arm and a leg to do it through a college.
You don't learn GE's in high school. You learn how to learn in high school. General Education frosh & soph years is pretty valuable. You get a fundamental, rounded education on a variety of topics. Not only that, but the idea is that the topics that you study, even at the GE level, are things that you're interested in. For instance, I took 3 Philosophy courses because I found them really interesting. Professors are in place because they can help guide students through the material.
You want to network, use the internet. That's how I've networked and it has worked great. The significance of having "peers" is over-rated, especially in a college environment. Once you're finished, you all forget each other anyways. If you want companionship you can seek friends else where and you don't have to spend $40,000+ to do so.
Once you're finished you all forget each other anyways? Damn bro, you've got a bad opinion of the college experience, eh? I've got industry friends, I've got "virtual" friends, but college is an excellent place to meet people. Let's not forget: chicks. Duh. There is no better pickup line in the world than, "Hey, aren't you in my Chem class? How'd you do on that midterm?"
Experience, and understanding the necessary concepts of effective design are all something a self motivated individual can learn/achieve on their own. And learning on your own through trial and error makes for a more well rounded designer than one who came to learn it through a book or a college professor. Nothing beats real world experience.
I agree that real world experience is valuable. But fundamentals and theory are valuable as well. Art history, for instance, was a fucking drain. Don't get me wrong. I would NEVER volunteer to study art history for 10 hours a week for 16 weeks. BUT. I actually understand the process that happened throughout the last 500 years to get us (artistically) where we're at now. In itself, useless knowledge. But if a client says to you, "Man, that's a little too Baroque for me" would you know how to respond?
Well I wouldn't expect someone who actually went to design school to agree with me. If I went to design school and dropped all that money, I wouldn't agree with me either no matter how right I was. I'd rather bullshit myself into believing it wasn't a waste haha.
The moral of the story isn't that you're not a talented designer. The fact of the matter is that I hear a lot of web folks arguing that an advanced education is a waste of time. There are ample examples of people that have gone online and done well for themselves. But for every online success there's probably 20 failures. Probably more like 50. College isn't for everyone, but it's easy to say that you don't need an education when the web market is doing so well. If / when things go postal again, and your clients dry up, a BA, Graphic Design will open a lot of doors that even a stellar portfolio won't open for you.
