A Day (4) in the life

General Assembly UX Immersive

Plenty of people have been curious (and crazy supportive) about my time at General Assembly. This curiosity stems from astonishment that I left real estate to wondering if they should start the program as well to wondering what the hell UX is.

1. I will answer that first question on real estate in a longer blog post.

2. The second question is easy. Do it.

3. I’m still learning how to define UX, but I can talk about the program so far with clarity.

Vit

• Tuition: $11,000 — yup. Swallow that pill then think on the cost and ROI of traditional grad school. Salaries coming out of this range from $60-$80k and the hire rate is 99% within 90 days.

• Schedule: My day starts at 6am with meditation, journaling and working out (mostly just flexing in the mirror). At campus by 9am to kick off at 9:25am and kick ass until 5:30pm. From there it is normal to stay after class for between 1–3 hours to do homework and let the traffic die down. I’ve attached a screenshot to show off the daily schedule. It’s split about 50/50 with project work and formal lectures.

• Classmates: The best! But seriously this feels like grad school on three red bulls, two cups of coffee and a chip on its shoulder. We have people that have transitioned from all walks of life and range from 18–60. Everyone is driven and goofy as hell. My kind of people.

• Campus: Well it’s one entire floor of a building in downtown DC, so there isn’t really a quad. Plenty of workspace and informal couches to facilitate conversations (or naps).

• Alumni — already we’ve been able to talk to alumni to hear what they would have done differently and what they enjoy about their new careers. They also have come in to campus to look at our projects for our portfolios to give us feedback.

Dai

This is above and beyond the $11k that I listed at the outset. I will try to be as honest as possible for my current situation.

• Rent: $500 — This is NOT the norm. I am lucky to have a friend in Alexandria, so I would tell people to anticipate about $800-$1,300 for a shared space and $1,700-$2,500 per month for a single space.
• Transportation: $6 daily — Metro bus gets me in for $1.75 and takes me about an hour. Metro and bus gets me in about 35 minutes and costs $4.50. Uber pool is about $11 and takes about 15 minutes.
• Food: $30 daily — breakfast is a protein shake and a free peanut butter jelly sandwich at school ($1-$2). Lunch is a wrap or going out with classmates once a week ($4-$12). Dinner is honestly rarely at home due to getting home so late (and my penchant for needing to do something fun in the evening). That may be a simple sub or a happy hour fueled night out ($7-$50+).

• Going out: DC is the best. Ignore the internet trolls that say otherwise. That being said it’s expensive. Expect $25-$60 for concerts. About the same price per person to eat out for dinner. Beers range from $4-$13 (I saw one guy on a date accidentally order four of the latter. Poor dude just wanted a normal beer). That being said there are plenty of free and nearly free things that are incredible. From museums to book talks to walks to bike rides to those nights where you are at the monuments at 2am with your friends. Good city good city.

Overa

I can’t say how happy I am to be in the program, and I am happy to answer any questions that people have about it.