I answer questions about UX, Information Architecture and other topics on Quora. A selection of these answers will be reposted on Medium with occasional, minor editing for clarity.
What are the best User Experience education programs based in New York? Are there any college accredited programs?
School of Visual Arts has a highly regarded MFA program in Interaction Design. The founder Liz Danzico is now head of UX at NPR.
Pratt School of Information just started offering a masters in Information Experience Design (M.S.). I took the courses for a UX concentration for my MSLIS degree before the program was formalized in 2015. The teaching staff is quite good, with many industry leaders in adjunct roles. Pratt also offers a design BFA and MFA that includes UX.
Parsons School of Design at the New School offers undergraduate and graduate programs that cover UX but are along more traditional disciplines (communications design, product design, industrial design, design and technology, transdisciplinary design). The idea is that UX is necessary within all these areas.
There are several professional programs that offer Certificate/boot camp courses. Recruiters are mixed on the value of the programs, but they are good continuing education options or for transferring into the field. They are not highly regarded as a replacement for a BA, though could be an alternative to a Masters degree.
- General Assembly (Coding Bootcamps, Data Science, UX, Business | General Assembly)
- New York Code + Design Academy | NYC Coding School
- Cooper Workshops (New York | Cooper)
An alternative might be to enter into a traditional Library and Information Science program. There are a few accredited LIS programs in the NYC area, including Pratt Institute, Queens College, St. Johns University and Long Island University in New York City and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. These programs teach the fundamentals of knowledge organization, information seeking behavior, taxonomic theory and related technologies, and have a growing interest in providing courses in user experience topics.