University vs Web Designing school

I may not be qualified to advise you, but I can offer my own insights on this.

A few semesters ago, I took an "advanced" web design school in my college. It was good, but not very relevant to Internet marketing. Basically, we learned how to use HTML, CSS and Dreamweaver to design sites. But it offered very little in even the most basic of Internet Marketing strategies, like the use of the title and meta tags.

But you have to understand that the any course's syllabus is put together by academicians who may not have the benefit of a "modern" (i.e Internet) marketing perspective or experience. But if you focus on understanding what you are taught in school, you can easily marry it with what you learn online from other Internet Marketers and you will have an advantage over others.

Sometimes, you might even get web design contracts through your faculty. Just let them know what you are up to. A lot of times, they draw a line between being "academically savvy" and being "cyber savvy."

Plus, you have a whole demographic of potential JV partners, clients and customers right there in your college. Those are the consumers of today. You just have to look at the cup as being half-full, not half-empty.

At least, that is what I think and do.

I hope you arrive at the best decision.

All the best.

Muhammad

A few years ago I met the instructor for the web design classes at a local community college, and he recommended a few recent graduates (of his advanced class) to me, since I was looking to hire another full-time web designer.

It turned out, they could only hand-code (they had no working knowledge with any WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver, etc.) Sure, the coding was "pure", but when I'm paying somebody by the hour to do a job, I'll take the person who can do it 3 times as fast using software instead of starting from scratch.

If you haven't checked it out, you should get a subscription to Lynda dot com and go through the web design video training, it'll give you more useful working knowledge than you'd get from any college classes IMO.

I see both sides on this. It depends on how much you value a College Diploma and what a diploma with get you when you're done. College is good for technical (php, sql, java, etc.) and graphic design when it comes to Internet Marketing - but 4 years is a long time. However, you can do the IM thing part time from your dorm room while you get you education and fill in where university is lacking. Many IMs are starting from their dorms. Nice thing is - you don't need a diploma to market on the internet.

But college Marketing is not Internet Marketing. I haven't really seen any good Direct Marketing taught in college. I would expect that Internet Marketing is far into the future.

College has its typical courses. Beyond that - colleges feed business trends - when 'business' demands certain skill sets, colleges create cirriculums to meet the demand from students to get those skills.

This cycle has a delay of several years.

When you talk internet marketing to me, to 'us' here - we get it. When you talk Internet Marketing outside of 'us' - they don't get it. Until Business 'gets it' na d 'needs it' - you won't see colleges providing 'it'.

You may be best served by locating a direct marketing or internet marketing company (small or large) and go work for them. Join the people actually doing what you want to do. Sometimes, they are hard to find but they are out there. That's where you can get the skills to do what you want to do in internet marketing.

Otherwise, stick around WF and learn, take some seminars, buy some courses - that will get you going but the 'education' in internet marketing come from DOING and finding what works. Or - from DOING and failing fast, learn from your mistakes, adjust your approach and re-DOING what you did until it works.

Me? 10 years in Internet Marketing and I got a Masters in Information Systems back in 2005. I'm employed as a consultant for a software development company and the MIS, PMP, etc. allows me to make and charge more. I also enjoy learning and enjoy the process of schooling.

Just some thoughts.

Yep you are right the university don't teach about making cash and becoming rich.
Robert Kiyosaki talk about this "The University teach to be a good employed when your finishes your career."
I am student marketing too. This is my last year on this career.
I learn about IM for my own. I bought videos for adwords clickbank CPA etc.
On this moment I'm planning my next proyect.
I really like Internet Marketing. And this people in this forum are a genius.

i wanted to go in a graphic design school too.
maybe just an online school

If you are looking for a certification of current internet marketing check out FullSail or WebCEO which offer training programs. Of course as you know Stompernet also offers a wide variety of training resources.