Tag Archives: acceptance letters

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2022!

Congratulations one more time! As FIT sends out your acceptance letters / emails about housing that tell you got accepted but you’re still freaking out because you didn’t receive the actual acceptance packet yet….literally me, lol. Here’s some FAQ’s that I constantly get asked!

What are some of the things to do at FIT?

FIT is home to over 50 clubs and organizations. From W27, the campus newspaper, to Black Student Union. Our institution provides an array of activities throughout the school year. With New York City as our greater campus, there is never reason to be bored!

What is the best dorm for me?

Depending on your personal preferences, FIT offers an array of dorm types. As a freshman at FIT you’rerequired to stay in the 27th street dorms if you choose to live on campus, these include Alumni, Nagler, and Co-Ed Halls. From traditional to apartment style rooms, it really is up to you! To find out more information on the dorms, check out the Residential Life page on FIT’s website!

What is the best meal plan?

Similar to choosing your room, it really is up to your personal preferences! The FIT Cafeteria provides an array of healthy choices to satisfy your appetite! FIT does it’s best to provide for those certain dietary requirements or preferences. Choose a meal plan that you feel would best satisfy your needs!

Do you feel safe at FIT?

The Fashion Institute of Technology is one of the safest schools in the nation. Security is very tight and IDs are required to enter any campus building. The campus also obtains emergency kiosks for any time of need. An additional shuttle service to 27th Street is provided for those who reside in Kaufman Hall.

I hope these questions help make your decision or clarify any confusion. Feel free to leave more questions, I’ll be happy to answer them!

The Day My Life Changed

March 17th, 2012 – St. Patricks Day of my senior year of high school. It was an unusually relaxing Sunday. My mother, sister and I had all gone for massages earlier on in the day. It was actually my first massage, and definitely not my last. My body and mind were feeling great. My two best friends and I drove into downtown Saratoga, got some coffee and chatted. You could say I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

It was one of those oddly warm March days, where you start to believe its already spring. You break out the light jackets, forgo the socks, and proudly don your favorite sunglasses. The drive home with my friends from downtown consisted of all windows down and blasting our favorite music. Ugh, it was a wonderful afternoon.

As we pulled into my driveway, I said my goodbyes to my best friends. We each complained about the amount of homework “we would be doing” later on that evening. We were seniors in high school with full blown senioritis, to be honest, that homework was probably never completed.

I walked into my kitchen and my mom was standing at the counter. She asked how my afternoon was, we talked, and then she went silent. I looked at her and she was holding an envelope out to me. It looked like junk mail, in one of those business letter envelopes. It wasn’t super big, it wasn’t too small. When I grabbed the letter and read where it was from, I stopped breathing. “Fashion Institute of Technology.”

This was THE letter. The letter that would make or break me. The letter telling me if I was going to college. The letter that determined if I was going to be leaving home in the fall or going to community college, seeing as I was too lazy to apply anywhere else. I wanted to go to FIT so bad I didn’t have my sights set on anywhere else.

But who get’s their college acceptance letter in a small business sized envelope?! I was picturing some big package, with the famous “Welcome to the Fashion Institute of Technology” red and black folder I had so often seen in my research on Facebook. If this small envelope had a big folder in it, I would be pleasantly surprised…but I wasn’t about to get my hopes up.

I began to laugh nervously, spouting out a hundred “Oh my Gods.” My mom and I stood in my kitchen, as I ran my thumb under the seal of the envelope. My heart rate was unhealthily high at this point as I unfolded the single sheet of paper in this business size envelope. My mom read the letter next to me, our eyes scanning immediately to the first sentence.

“Dear Brendan, ………Congratulations! You’ve been”

I’m pretty sure we each let out a big scream…and then immediately we both began crying and went in for a hug. I cry when I’m happy, I cry when I’m sad – something I definitely got from my mother.

I was beyond happy. My dreams were coming true! I would be moving to New York City. I would be studying at one of the most prestigious fashion schools in the WORLD. I would be taking the first steps in achieving my goals! I couldn’t believe it. Now I could take a deep breath, I knew I was going to college. The rest of my senior year would just be about having fun and enjoying life. No stress.

The reason my acceptance letter was so small was because I was accepted early, into a group of “exceptional students.” It was such a privilege to receive my acceptance letter so early. And don’t worry, a few weeks later I received that famous black and red folder I had been dreaming about…in a much bigger envelope!

My life changed that day. Its hard for me to remember life before NYC and FIT. But here I am, living in New York, working hard, having fun and still making my dreams come true.

I don’t think any other St. Patrick’s Day will ever be as special as that one. Maybe it was the luck of the irish that brought me that acceptance letter that day. Whatever it was, I am so thankful that it happened.

Be looking out for some exciting pieces of mail within the next few weeks! Your life could be changing too 🙂

xx, Brendan

To go or not to go: That is the question.

So, letters have been sent out and you have either been accepted to FIT or not.

If you haven’t, I know it is extremely disappointing, but it is not the end of the world. Of course, it would be nice to have gotten in the first time, but I have many friends who have gone to a liberal arts school or community college for the first one or two years and then transferred to FIT. In fact, it is a great way to finish your liberal arts requirements so that when you do get to FIT you have more time for your major and minor classes, or to work or do an internship. Just be sure to check which liberal arts are required by FIT here. If there is one thing I have learned from meeting working people, it is that life will take you on a journey of many twists and turns, and that you will most likely end up doing something you never thought of on your way to your goal. I know it’s hard, but try to look for the silver lining and make this an unexpected, yet opportune moment to grow.

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For those of you who did get that acceptance letter, congratulations! Now comes the herculean task of deciding whether or not to actually attend FIT. If this was the only school you applied to or got accepted to, the choice is a little easier. However, the majority of applicants have received acceptance letters to multiple schools. Here comes the fun / devastating part: making a decision. I personally love the pro/con list. It is a great way to visually map out what will give you the most benefits while also helping sort out your priorities. For example, will the fact that FIT does not have a fraternity/sorority culture make you feel like you are missing out on the college experience you want? Does going to football games on Saturday mornings take precedence over going to Central Park? It is important to be honest with yourself during this time as well. If you know you do not prosper under stress, it might be more prudent to attend a more rural school with a more slowly paced curriculum. There’s no shame in choosing a school that will help you gain more from your experience despite having a less recognizable name.

One of the best ways to determine if the school is right for you is to attend accepted students days. (FIT’s admitted student days are April 5th and 6th this year.) Yes, you can read a lot about every school and it’s facilities on its website, but there is nothing that can make you feel the true personality of the school and its student body like actually being there. Here is an example:

My Mom made me apply to Syracuse University because she thought I should look at a school that was more of a traditional university rather than just the art schools I was applying to, even though I really didn’t think it was worth it. A few months later, acceptance letters arrived and as luck would have it I was accepted into FIT and Syracuse (plus a few others, but who’s counting amirite?) So began the long car rides and extensive tours, and I was begrudgingly dragged all five hours up to Syracuse despite my persistent decelerations of disinterest because, let’s face it, the school with the best program is FIT so I would obviously be going there. Well guess what? I got on campus and I flipping loved it! The wide open quads, the buildings that look like Harry Potter castles, the downtown arts warehouse, the quaint surrounding town. It was everything I had been told college would be like. And that’s where life got complicated.

I mean it’s not really a fair comparison, sigh.

Obviously I chose FIT, otherwise you would not be reading this right now, but it was a hard and arduous decision. Mainly, it came down to price, location and curriculum. FIT had Syracuse beat on all of those, but I knew that by giving up Syracuse, I was giving up my chance at that “traditional college experience”. Now, as a rising senior, I do not regret my choice at all as I do not think that experience could out weigh the ones I have had here (and I have managed to visit my best friend at Penn State for many a football game and frat party, so no loss there), but I did realize the importance of experiencing the campus in person at least for a day in the decision making process. An open mind and self awareness are key for making the right decision.

Plus like I said before, your life will take you through many unexpected detours, so if you do end up deciding that the choice you made was not the best, you can always transfer!

–Emily–