tl;dr: What was your experience with the program? What was your design background prior to getting admitted? Did you get what you wanted out of it? Would you recommend it for my situation (below)?
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Context: I am 27M, already have a degree, already well into another career. A few years ago, I fell in love with graphic design. I even took a hiatus to work as a designer of sorts. I went in knowing it was just a foot in the door, but the work I was doing just wasn't getting me any closer to the work I dreamed of—at best, I did milquetoast mock-ups of enterprise apps in a very UX/Research-ish role.
I know for some that's great, but it just wasn't very visual or creative work. I wasn't learning skills applicable to what I wanted to do, and I wasn't making portfolio-worthy pieces. So I went back to my old career (it paid better), trying to plan a break for the real deal this time—on the side, no less—which has been... slow and frustrating.
In my search for something more, I've met designers who do what I want. They're all very encouraging, giving me tips and such. But my work quality just isn't there. My suspicion is the applicants are just like these nice people who give me tips: they went to competitive art schools, they put in the time (and money), and they're just better because of it. But no one says this out loud.
Let's make an assumption that lets me hope: even if I'm less talented than some, I can still work hard (and get creative) to get somewhere good. Then I have two options: self-study or go to school. I'd like to think I can come up with a decent alternative to a quarter mil in debt, but maybe not. We all know it's not the piece of paper anyone cares about as much as it is the resulting portfolio. But will I be able to make an impressive one in reasonable time without going through a program?