Colleges For Designers

[futuredesigner]

I am looking at schools and i want to pursue a career in yacht design, where is the best school to go to for a yacht design degree? I was looking at Michigan and I think they have a good program.
p.s I'm only a sophmore in highschool

[timgoz]

If you are seeking a degree in Naval Architecture there are alot of choices. I think MIT has a N.A. program. Thats probably one of the "top of the line" schools. Big $$$ though.

There is a place called the Webb Institute that takes talented students for no tuition. Books & such??? A couple of correspondence schools, Westlawn & another (?), could be considered also. But these are not degreed colleges. You could not obtain a Naval Arch.. degree there.

Many fine designers Do Not have NA degrees though. They Do posses advanced knowledge in all the areas critical to boat design. You can never know enough.

Search some of the applicable threads on this forum. If you are not already reading alot on the subject and boats, seamanship, ect... get to it now.

Hope things work out well for you.

TGoz

[edneu]

Check out Webb. If you you can get in you won't have to pay tuition. While it is not yacht design, it is naval architecture, for such things as designing ships. It is designed for incoming high school graduates. If you are a sophmore, contact them and see what you should study to get accepted.

http://www.webb-institute.edu/

[Greybarn]

Check out the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor. A lot of today's practicing Naval Architects in the yacht industry have gone through that program.

[Ike]

If you want an NA degree, Webb, Michigan, MIT all have fine programs. However if you want to design yachts, get an ME and then take the Westlawn Course.

I started at Michigan, but a war got in the way and it took me many years and many different schools to finish up. I never did get an NA, BUT i have spent my entire life working in the marine industry as an engineer. I took the Westlawn course. I worked along side NAs all my life and did the same things they did. So. You do not need an NA to be a yacht designer.

That said, an NA is a big advantage, and during those times when the economy tanks and the bottom falls out of boat sales, you can go do something else, because an NA is really just about the only engineer that is conversant in almost all of the engineering disciplines.

Good luck to you. By the way, somewhere archived on this site is a long list of schools around the world as well as the US that teach Naval Architecture.

[Willallison]

It's worth making the point that you don't have to be degree'd in order to call yourself a naval architect. I have a letter from the chairman of RINA stating as much.
However, it's also worth noting that most without degrees call themselves yacht designers

[longliner45]

I must also step in and add that Im not to impressed with what they are handing out as education these days , it seems like if you can sit in a classroom for 4 years ,you know something ,but it shows the true colors in the real world .,many of the real designer ,dont have the degrees they have common sence,,,,,,,,,,,to be fair , the same goes for new age craftsman,I went to lake erie to some glass shops to find out about epoxies and the tecks could only tell me that they do what the can says ,,,just like the guy on here that wants to know how to get into design, been to 2 or 3 different schools ,if he was seriouse, he would have been hanging around at some boatyards by now ,longliner,,,,,,,,,,,once again buyer beware

[Willallison]

aww - c'mon longliner - give him a break - he aint exactly old....

[longliner45]

futuredesigner this was not aimed at you. you do need school,just dont relie on computers too much ,Im willing to bet a good portion of designers dont know how to loft lines the old fashion way,without programs they are lost.and this dependancy on computers and general lack of sense is in every otherfield of work,from top to bottom,,,,,,,,good luck longliner

[mmd]

I'll be the crusty ol' bugger here - I think that it should be a prerequisite that to obtain a degree in N.A., one should have to prove a year of time aboard ships. And deep-water experience, too; not flitting about the bay on an over-sized dinghy with a head. Coast Guard experience would suffice, or Navy, but small boats in big seas would be best so commercial fishing would be ideal.

There is nothing like real-time experience at being scared silly in the middle of a storm at sea in a small boat to bring home to a designer of floating structures that designing a boat is more than a mere exercise in number-crunching and drawing pretty pictures. They ought to know what it is like out there when the sea gets ugly.

OK, rant over... <grin>

[TimClark]

I'm in the same boat you are...Sophomore in high school. What I have learned is the following schools are at the top:

MIT
Webb (basically no social life though...only 86 undergrads)
Michigan
UC Berkeley

Webb would be a dream school for me, with the exception of the amount of students, or lack there of. Also, these schools don't exactly have what I would call a "top-level" sailing team so they defenitely have some downers, but these schools are defenitely at the top of the NA field. A big plus about Webb is that during the month of January and February, you actually work in the industry and have different jobs according to what grade you are in. The following is a quote from the website:

"Typically, freshmen work as helper mechanics in a shipyard; sophomores work as student/observers in the engine room of a ship; juniors and seniors work in a design office as draftsmen or junior engineers the third and fourth years. Among the jobs students have had recently: naval architect at Computer Sciences Corporation in Arlington, Va., and yacht designer at C.W. Paine Yacht Design in Camden, Maine."

Tim Clark

[joz]

I am looking at schools and i want to pursue a career in yacht design, where is the best school to go to for a yacht design degree? I was looking at Michigan and I think they have a good program.
p.s I'm only a sophmore in highschool

futuredesigner

Have you tried the Southampton in England which does both small craft design and as well as Ships Design.

Here are some of the course that they run

Ship Science Degree Programmes
MEng Ship Science Interdisciplinary
MEng Ship Science Naval Architecture
MEng Ship Science/Yacht and Small Craft
MEng Ship Science Advanced Materials
MEng Engineering Management, Ship Science
MEng Ship Science Marine Systems Engineering
BEng Ship Science
BEng/MEng Engineering with Foundation Year(4/5 years)

Here are there requirements

Typical Entry Requirements (you must have the american equilivant)

A Levels
ABB (320 points), including maths and physics
Other Qualifications
AVCE: ABB (320 points), from double award and1 A level or single award and 2 A levels
Scottish Highers: AABBB, with AB from Advanced Highers, including maths and physics
Irish leaving certificate/WB: considered on individual merit
IB: 33 points overall, 16 at Higher level, including 5 in maths and 5 in physics
Hampshire Access: considered on individual merit.

Course Outline

Typical Modules

Year 1 (common)

Ship Studies; Computational Modelling; Fluid Mechanics; Graphical Communications; Maritime Transportation and Operation; Materials; Mathematics; Mechanics; Thermodynamics; Solid Mechanics; Electrical Systems; Methods for Ship Design.

Year 2 (common)

Ship Structures; Computing; Fluid Mechanics; Marine Engineering; Materials; Ship Design; Mathematics; Naval Architecture Dynamics; Resistance and Propulsion; Functional Design Ship Production and Technology; Ship Design and Economics; Management.

Year 3 (theme-dependent)

Individual Project Management; Marine Propulsion Engineering; Advanced Naval Architecture; Plate Structures; Materials for Design and Manufacture; Powercraft Performance; Free Surface Flows; Ship Control Systems; Finite Element Analysis; High Performance Craft.

Year 4 (theme-dependent)

Group maritime design project; Maritime Fluid Structure Interaction; Industrial Studies; Marine Law; Marine Safety and Environmental Engineering; Small Craft Design;Yacht Experimental Techniques; Computational Fluid Dynamics; Resistance and Propulsion; Plant Condition Monitoring; Digital Control; Structural Integrity;
Engineering Management.

I hope that is what you are looking for futuredesigner

Websites:

1) http://www.soton.ac.uk/study/undergr...p_science.html

2) http://www.soton.ac.uk/ses/courses/ship/courses.html

3) http://www.soton.ac.uk/ses/courses/ship/